Saved by a Chicken!
By Kerry A. Olson

Though still hot and humid, the sun was going down in the remote Chinanteco Indian village in the southern state of Oaxaca. On this particular four-day, cross-cultural evangelistic trip, I was accompanied by 10 missions students and missionary, Alejandro Izquierdo. We'd split the team up into several groups to do "door-to-door" (or rather "hut-to-hut") evangelism prior to the evening church service. Suddenly, a determined chicken ran directly in front of me and started pecking an 16-inch coral snake (I had not seen!) to death. I promptly assisted the chicken in killing the reptile!

Francisco, the local pastor, later told me that several people in San Felipe de León had died due to coral snake bites in the past couple of years. He went on to say that the antivenin is no longer available locally and that the closest medical clinic was 5 hours away by foot, which is also the maximum time required to receive the antivenin. A decision had been made to discontinue storing it some time ago, as it required refrigeration, as well as 11 injections over ten days at a cost of $110.00 dollars each injection!

I don't know that the coral snake would have struck at me, but I was certainly thankful to God that a protective mother chicken saw the snake before I did!


(Taken from our OLSON MINISTRY NEWSLETTER - Winter 2004)


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