Bruce Olson

Bruce Olson (born 1942) — known among the Motilone-Barí as "Bruchko" — is a Scandinavian-American Christian missionary best known for his work bringing Christianity to the Motilone-Barí people of Colombia and Venezuela. At age 19 (1961) he traveled to South America with $70 and a one-way ticket, seeking out the Motilone — a previously-unreached tribe whose violent reputation included clashes with oil-company workers. He spent decades among the Motilone-Barí; they ultimately received him, and he became the catalyst for substantial cultural-and-spiritual transformation. Current estimates indicate 70% of the Barí people are now Christians; the Motilone-Barí have preserved 95% of their traditional land (83,000 hectares in Colombia) and have built 48 schools, 20+ health clinics, farming cooperatives, and university scholarship infrastructure with Olson's missionary-development partnership. Olson was kidnapped by Colombia's ELN (National Liberation Army) in October 1988 and held nine months before being released — substantially due to indigenous-community advocacy on his behalf. Bruchko (1973, 300,000+ copies) is his foundational autobiography.