by Michael Richard,St. Tammany News Banner

	Bob Izpedski at work with the divers on Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast. The work of his organization to improve working conditions for Miskito divers is much appreciated in the local communities. The loss of human potential fom the over-exploitation of these youth is a tragedy that is virtually unheard of elsewhere. Photo: Jorge Giraldez-Benard

It was only three days since his return from the Miskito Coast, a strip of rainforested land running through Honduras and Nicaragua, and Bob Izpedski was tired. His weathered face had a pale cast and his voice was strained, the result of 15 days working with storm refugees and fighting the apathy of a local government that seemed not to care whether the Miskito Indians lived or died.

This trip into the rainforests of the region is not the first for Izpedski who, since 1993 under the auspices of Sub Ocean Safety (S.O.S.), has delivered humanitarian aid to the Miskito Indian divers living in Honduras and Nicaragua. Many damage themselves by diving too deeply and rising too quickly to the surface in their search for undersea delicacies.

According to Izpedski, the bends (formation of damaging nitrogen bubbles in the body, if not treated by way of a recompression chamber, can result in paralysis and a slew of other conditions that eventually result in death. As a former commercial diver, Izpedski was stricken with a deep-seated sense that something had to be done.

"As Fourth World members of a Third World country, 90 percent of the Miskito Indian's economy is derived from diving. One in four of those who dive are eventually damaged by the work," he stated. Before Izpedski began offering assistance through S. O. S. the Indians thought their most able young men were being stricken by sea demons. When they found out that the bends existed, and that they are easily avoided the people, according to Izpedski, took to the news "like a duck to water."

In the five years that Izpedski has worked on the behalf of the culturally and geographically isolated Indians, his faith in God has deepened, as has his conviction that faith not expressed through works is no faith at all. Often on a shoestring budget, S.O.S. continues to work with the Indian divers but, after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Mitch in Honduras and Nicaragua, Izpedski expanded the mission of his organization to include the salvaging of that already downtrodden subculture. "They live in one of the most isolated portions of country," he said. "There are no roads leading into their area, the only way in being the navigable waterways."

It was the waterways breaching their banks last November during Hurricane Mitch by, in some cases, 60 feet that has 100,000 Indians displaced and homeless, and another 2,500 missing and presumed dead. "As the flood waters receded," Izpedski said, "along with carcasses of cattle, were large numbers of the dead." Most of the 100,000 refugees found some measure of shelter in neighboring, less-affected communities, but this taxed already strained local resources beyond their limits. "The storm struck at the worst time. It wiped out their harvest and stores of seeds." Essentially, Mitch may have consigned many to a slow death by starvation.

Unfortunately, the Honduran government has responded slowly to the misery of the Miskito Indians, allowing, according to Izpedski, relief shipments of as much as 25,000 pounds to sit for three weeks or longer, ostensibly because of an inability to transport the supplies to the needy. Curiously, Izpedski was able to secure transport of the food and medical supplies to the Indians, albeit at great cost to himself, confirming his view that the Honduran government may be using the effects of the hurricane to remove a thorn from its side.

"The Miskito Indians live in rainforests rich in mahogany and other natural resources. Their absence would make it much easier to harvest the area," he claimed. Though his resources and those of S.O.S. are limited, Izpedski hoped to return to the Miskito Coast early this year. But this optimistic timetable is predicated on the funding and supplies he can gather in the United States.

Along with others, Izpedski has worked up detailed plans on how to further aid the Indians and what exactly is needed to get the aid and supplies to them. "Since the only way in is by the rivers and waterways, we have to transport the material by canoe. What we need are two 25-horsepower Yamaha watercraft motors. We'd like to deliver 340,000 pounds of food and supplies so we'll need $10,000 in gas to fuel the boats," he said. Izpedski is confident the supplies, motors, and gas will make their way to S.O.S., but his real hope is for unrestricted access to, and use of, a 110- to 120-man crew boat for supply runs to and from the area.

A problem found by many relief agencies in accepting donated goods and supplies is that some food items perish before reaching the needy. Because of this, and the overwhelming need of the Miskito Indians, Izpedski encourages anyone donating food to contact him first for a list of items most needed.

Other things that are unquestionably needed include antibiotics, vitamins, aspirin and acetaminophen, and basic construction materials and tools, such as hammers, nails, cement, and chain saws the Indians can use, not only to cut the wood for homes, but also to shape the canoe variants they use to navigate their local waterways. Ideally, S.O.S. would be, according to Izpedski, the first to respond to disaster, providing supplies directly to the victims, bypassing governments and agencies. The use of the crew boat would make this a reality. Of course Izpedski realizes that before anyone donates a substantial piece of property like a crew boat to S.O.S. he will have to plead his case, something he welcomes. Any organization or business interested in helping Sub Ocean Safety can contact Izpedski at 460-2957, 882-7286 or at Sub Ocean Safety, P.O. Box 834, Lacombe, LA. 70445, USA. Izpedski can also be reached at www.suboceansafety.org

Bob Izpedski risks health, fortune and the wrath of the Honduran and Nicaraguan governments in his battle to save the culture, and lives, of the Miskito Indians. The flooding caused by Hurricane Mitch wiped out the homes, crops and food supplies of the Miskito Indians, forcing most into neighboring villages or refugee camps with strained and limited supplies. Starvation and disease among the Miskito Indians, and the possibility of civil unrest, make concerted and timely aid paramount.