Listen to the song; #9 on THE LIGHTER SIDE OF ME
1984 - In this year, I committed to a short-term missions trip with International Youth Missions and Rick Johnson. At that point, everything became about preparing myself spiritually, physically, and mentally for the experience. I got involved with Rick in local Mexico missions and continued to go to the brick village in Tecate. When he wasn’t in South America, Rick worked with Spectrum ministries, which was based out of his home church, Claremont Emmanuel Baptist Church (CEBC). Spectrum had a route through Mexico each week, visiting four or five orphanages and providing much-needed supplies and treating children for head lice. In addition to this he hosted church groups who were interested in Mexico missions in excursions to the Tijuana dump, brick village, San Antonio, Carman Serdan, the Cocopah Indian reservation near Yuma, Cerro Azul, and many others. This was quite an accomplishment for a young man who was only twenty years old! This gave me some great experience and helped me learn the Spanish language. I was also learning Yanomamo in anticipation of going down to Coshilowateli (or Coshilowa village) way down deep in the Amazon jungle, near the tip of Venezuela.
I read several books including Peace Child by Don Richardson, The Yanomamo language by Margaret Jank (whose daughter Janice I came to know), The Cross and The Switchblade by David Wilkerson, Bruchko by Bruce Olson, Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot, among others. The mission field in South America sounded very exciting and dangerous. If the snakes, spiders, malaria, or tigers didn’t kill you, then the Communists or wild natives probably would. Honestly by the time we left, I felt as though I was ready to die if it came down to that. There was also a series of vaccinations we had to take to protect us from all sorts of parasites. We had to get our passports and resident visas too.The program itinerary went something like this: Desert boot camp, Jungle boot camp, Mexico / Latin America acclamation, fly large airliner to Caracas (the capital of Venezuela), fly small commuter plane into Puerto Ayacucho, (the last frontier town before the dense jungle), fly with Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) to Coshilowateli (if the dirt landing strip was dry enough to land), back to Puerto Ayacucho via MAF for overnight, fly to Caracas and spend two days debriefing, then back to the States. The song Coshilowateli was written during the Mexico phase of the program. We were staying at the San Antonio (Mexico, not Texas) orphanage and really loved the staff and children there, hence the line “We leave next week but you know we’d love to stay”.The “jungle kit” consisted of lots of deet insect repellent, a snake bite kit and various first aid items plus the bare necessities.We learned about “Groucho baushi” while in the desert boot camp phase of the program. Rick knew there would be tension and personality conflicts with the team of young men and one of the ways he helped to clear the air was to act silly and laugh. To help accommodate this, he was in the custom of bringing a pair of “Groucho” glasses with attached nose (to simulate the looks of Groucho Marx) for each team member and goof around to lighten the mood when things got tense. He told us the story of how he had done this down in the jungle among the Yanomamo and they immediately equated the Groucho glasses to their own ceremonial head dress which they called “baushi”, so from then on the dime-store disguise was dubbed “Groucho baushi”. “Ya jama juu” means“we’re coming to you” or “We’re coming soon” and “hon-hon” is how the Yanomamo express amazement and excitement. “Jenaja, ojodamo bluka ya tabo” means “tomorrow I have much work” which also infers that tonight I do not, or we will party now and work later.
COSHILOWATELI
Words & Music by Reggie Michaud © 1984
As we prepare ourselves, we’re working night and day
We leave next week but you know we’d love to stay
Getting on a plane, going to Coshilowateli
Pack a jungle kit and don’t forget the Groucho baushi
Well: Coshilowateli … ya jama juu
Coshilowateli … we ain’t there yet
Coshilowateli … ya jama juu Hon-hon! Hon-hon! Hon-hon! Hon-hon!!!
Coshilowateli … ready or not you’re gonna get wet
Now Rick is the man leading us to Venezuela
He’s a man of God and a missionary tailor
He’s taking us down further south than Puerto Ayacucho
It’s a world away; better learn to speak Yanomamo
Well: Coshilowateli … ya jama juu
Coshilowateli … we ain’t there yet
Coshilowateli … ya jama juu Hon-hon! Hon-hon! Hon-hon! Hon-hon!!!
Coshilowateli … ready or not you’re gonna get wet
Jenaja, ojodamo bluka ya tabo
Jenaja, ojodamo bluka ya tabo
Well: Coshilowateli … ya jama juu
Coshilowateli … deep into the jungle you bet.
1984 - In this year, I committed to a short-term missions trip with International Youth Missions and Rick Johnson. At that point, everything became about preparing myself spiritually, physically, and mentally for the experience. I got involved with Rick in local Mexico missions and continued to go to the brick village in Tecate. When he wasn’t in South America, Rick worked with Spectrum ministries, which was based out of his home church, Claremont Emmanuel Baptist Church (CEBC). Spectrum had a route through Mexico each week, visiting four or five orphanages and providing much-needed supplies and treating children for head lice. In addition to this he hosted church groups who were interested in Mexico missions in excursions to the Tijuana dump, brick village, San Antonio, Carman Serdan, the Cocopah Indian reservation near Yuma, Cerro Azul, and many others. This was quite an accomplishment for a young man who was only twenty years old! This gave me some great experience and helped me learn the Spanish language. I was also learning Yanomamo in anticipation of going down to Coshilowateli (or Coshilowa village) way down deep in the Amazon jungle, near the tip of Venezuela.
I read several books including Peace Child by Don Richardson, The Yanomamo language by Margaret Jank (whose daughter Janice I came to know), The Cross and The Switchblade by David Wilkerson, Bruchko by Bruce Olson, Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot, among others. The mission field in South America sounded very exciting and dangerous. If the snakes, spiders, malaria, or tigers didn’t kill you, then the Communists or wild natives probably would. Honestly by the time we left, I felt as though I was ready to die if it came down to that. There was also a series of vaccinations we had to take to protect us from all sorts of parasites. We had to get our passports and resident visas too.The program itinerary went something like this: Desert boot camp, Jungle boot camp, Mexico / Latin America acclamation, fly large airliner to Caracas (the capital of Venezuela), fly small commuter plane into Puerto Ayacucho, (the last frontier town before the dense jungle), fly with Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) to Coshilowateli (if the dirt landing strip was dry enough to land), back to Puerto Ayacucho via MAF for overnight, fly to Caracas and spend two days debriefing, then back to the States. The song Coshilowateli was written during the Mexico phase of the program. We were staying at the San Antonio (Mexico, not Texas) orphanage and really loved the staff and children there, hence the line “We leave next week but you know we’d love to stay”.The “jungle kit” consisted of lots of deet insect repellent, a snake bite kit and various first aid items plus the bare necessities.We learned about “Groucho baushi” while in the desert boot camp phase of the program. Rick knew there would be tension and personality conflicts with the team of young men and one of the ways he helped to clear the air was to act silly and laugh. To help accommodate this, he was in the custom of bringing a pair of “Groucho” glasses with attached nose (to simulate the looks of Groucho Marx) for each team member and goof around to lighten the mood when things got tense. He told us the story of how he had done this down in the jungle among the Yanomamo and they immediately equated the Groucho glasses to their own ceremonial head dress which they called “baushi”, so from then on the dime-store disguise was dubbed “Groucho baushi”. “Ya jama juu” means“we’re coming to you” or “We’re coming soon” and “hon-hon” is how the Yanomamo express amazement and excitement. “Jenaja, ojodamo bluka ya tabo” means “tomorrow I have much work” which also infers that tonight I do not, or we will party now and work later.
COSHILOWATELI
Words & Music by Reggie Michaud © 1984
As we prepare ourselves, we’re working night and day
We leave next week but you know we’d love to stay
Getting on a plane, going to Coshilowateli
Pack a jungle kit and don’t forget the Groucho baushi
Well: Coshilowateli … ya jama juu
Coshilowateli … we ain’t there yet
Coshilowateli … ya jama juu Hon-hon! Hon-hon! Hon-hon! Hon-hon!!!
Coshilowateli … ready or not you’re gonna get wet
Now Rick is the man leading us to Venezuela
He’s a man of God and a missionary tailor
He’s taking us down further south than Puerto Ayacucho
It’s a world away; better learn to speak Yanomamo
Well: Coshilowateli … ya jama juu
Coshilowateli … we ain’t there yet
Coshilowateli … ya jama juu Hon-hon! Hon-hon! Hon-hon! Hon-hon!!!
Coshilowateli … ready or not you’re gonna get wet
Jenaja, ojodamo bluka ya tabo
Jenaja, ojodamo bluka ya tabo
Well: Coshilowateli … ya jama juu
Coshilowateli … deep into the jungle you bet.
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