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Archive for the ‘Africa’ Category

Nigeria: a call to serve

02 Apr


Taken from http://wycliffe.org.uk/blog/2013/04/nigeria-a-call-to-serve/

Nigeria: Africa’s most populous and most linguistically diverse nation. And, not surprisingly, its the home of one of the greatest translation needs in the world.

A boy looks in at a barred church windowYou may recently have seen Nigeria featured on the news or cropping up at times of prayer at church: conflict in the northern part of the country is putting many millions of Christians at risk. Not only that, but they live with that fear day-to-day without the comfort and hope that the Scriptures provide because, of Nigeria’s more-than-500 languages, only 20 have a complete Bible.

If you think that you could serve the brave Bibleless Christians of Nigeria, and if you want many more Nigerians come to know the truth revealed in God’s word, you could be part of God’s plan for that nation. And you don’t need to be a Bible translator or a linguist – you just need a willing heart.

Wycliffe is currently looking for someone to serve Bible translation in Nigeria as the director’s assistant for a partner organisation there. This role runs from May this year to February 2014. You would be responsible for enabling the director to manage and lead a multinational team of Wycliffe workers.

If you think that God might be calling you to step out of your comfort zone and serve his people in Nigeria, this is your call. If you are looking to see if mission overseas is for you, this could be the short-term role for you. Contact us.

Please pray with us that God would provide the right person in good time to fill this role.

 
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Posted in Africa, Wycliffe

 

Why does Bible Translation take so long?

16 Mar

There are many many reasons that Bible Translation takes a long time. A good translation will be accurate and easy to understand. It can take a long time to bring a Bible translation to this very finely negotiated balance. The most 'understandable' phrase isn't always the most 'accurate'. Sometimes lengthy discussions and extensive testing is required just to get one word right.

The story below is from our Wycliffe collegue in the USA who travels to Nigeria to work with Bible Translation projects. 

 

As the Mbe* translation team in Nigeria was translating the Gospel of Luke, they came to chapter 2, verse 7, where Luke describes the first moments of Jesus’ earthly life: “She [Mary] gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.”

The translators took time to ponder how to translate some of the words, but not “manger.” They immediately used the word “ókpáng.”

“What’s an ókpáng?” asked their consultant, John Watters. “Tell me what it looks like.”  One of the translators drew a picture on the whiteboard. It was essentially a cradle hung by ropes so that the newborn could be laid in it and swung.

“Read the Translator’s Notes again,” John suggested. “What do the notes say about the manger?” (“Translator’s Notes” is a series of commentaries in non-technical English that are especially helpful for Bible translators for whom English is a second language.)

The Mbe translators read the notes and saw that “manger” referred to an animal feeding trough. Joseph and Mary apparently stayed near the animals, since there was no room for them in the part of the house where people usually stayed, and so Jesus’ first bed was an animal feeding trough.

Even as the Mbe team read the notes, they objected. “We have always used the word ókpáng. We have used it for years, and that’s what we should use.”

John pointed out to them that it wasn’t just a matter of tradition. God expects us to find the words that express the original meaning as accurately as possible. Furthermore, this word tells us something profound about God. “When He came to live among us and bring salvation to us, He came in the lowliest way possible. He did not come and sleep in a nice ókpáng like every Mbe mother wants for her newborn. Instead, He showed us his unbelievable humility,” John told them. “So we need to find your best word for an animal feeding trough.”

Suddenly the one who had argued most loudly for the traditional term offered, “We feed our animals out of an old worn-out basket that is not usable anymore except to feed the animals. We call it ‘ɛ́dzábrí.’”

“Then try that term,” said John. “Put it in your rough draft and test it with Mbe speakers.”

The next weekend they read the story of Jesus’ birth to all kinds of church groups and individuals in Mbe villages. Often people asked about the word for manger. They understood what ɛ́dzábrí meant, but they weren’t sure it was the right choice. “We always say they laid Jesus in an ókpáng,” they said.

Each time they were asked, the translation team explained the reason they had chosen the new term. Jesus really did lie in a place where they fed animals. In this way, He demonstrated the humility that would characterize His years on earth.

As the Mbe people listened, they were visibly moved. Picturing the newborn Baby lying in the animals’ feeding basket, they recognized in a new way that Jesus was willing to do whatever it took to reach them. As an adult, He would humble Himself by washing the disciples’ feet and then by dying on the cross. And this humility started right from birth, when He was born to a young peasant woman under questionable social conditions and laid in an animal feeding trough.

No word in Scripture is too unimportant to translate carefully and accurately. Even the word for a baby’s bed—accurately translated—can show people the lengths to which God will go to reach them, to reach us.

And no language community is too unimportant to merit the Scriptures in the language they best understand. John says, “Translation in the heart language respects the people who speak it, and through the process it frees them to have a relationship with God in their own words and terms.” 

There is nothing God wants to say to a language community that He cannot say in their own language. The translated Word frees people to respond to the God who humbled Himself for them, and it frees them to worship the exalted God in the language that best expresses their joy and adoration. One day every knee will bow and every tongue—speaking every language—will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

 
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Posted in Africa, Ali's Work Life, Bible, Tim's Work Life, Wycliffe

 

The Risk of Sovereignty

09 Mar

There has been plenty of Nigeria in the news of late and some of the incidents have provoked me to really, frankly… Well, how can I put it? I feel like I’ve had a kick up my complacent backside about why I am here, doing what I do.

Recently I was involved in some conversations that led to some friends looking at moving out here to join our ministry. BRILLIANT! Then I saw this post on facebook. At first, it made me giggle. 

loves her son, last night's take was "so there are no earthquakes, tsunamis or tornadoes in Nigeria" (me – not that I am aware), "so we just have to be careful about diseases and getting shot, that's good"…

It reminded me that everywhere has it’s up and downs. So I replied, twice.

 HAHAHAHA brill. no tornados or tsunamis — not liable to earthquakes.. all good!

 actually getting shot isn't too high a risk either!

Sometimes it just appears like a high risk, because that is all the information we are reading about. Someone else posted a comment in the same conversation

Malaria, mugging, kidnapping, rape and killings of white people are very high, in my stats, so why would you put ur lifes at risk?

My jovial thought about a 7 year old’s mind at work was brought to a resounding sudden halt. I decided that I could give an answer to that, but firstly was it my place to answer?

Then I remembered that of course it was. I am in said country that is being questioned. Maybe I could share my experience and help out.  So after a couple of drafts (yes maybe I should have got someone to proof read it for me!) this is how I responded.

GREAT question! I’m not sure the reality of where we are living is accurately reflected in the news and by other sources – Malaria is a problem everywhere, but mugging and kidnappings, rape and killing of Ex-pats is none- existent in Jos. Yes such things have happen elsewhere in the country and there is a risk attached to living and working here.   Personally for us, God hasn't called us to a safe life.  He has called us to minister in this country of HUGE need.  We believe our lives belong to God and when we pray, 'God let your will be done' we are re-asserting his sovereignty over our lives.  If harm came to us  yes it would devastate some people it would probably affect our ministry here (maybe for the better) – BUT that doesn't change God's status of sovereign. And besides we'd be in Glory with him :)   We live with the risk because the people here causing the trouble are exactly the ones who need to know God for themselves, i also appreciate that everyone has different levels of acceptable risk, living out here isn't for everyone and that is okay, because God can use you where you are!  People are in need everywhere.  Hope that TINY insight helps – if not, sorry for wasting your time reading this comment.

As I pondered it even further I realise more and more that my life is not my own and maybe it has taken getting my butt out to risky Nigeria for me to truly give it up.

I’m an aspie (Asperger's). It means there is a control freak in me and it rears its head worse when I am tired or hungry or under stress. But I survive because I maintain control – and so to give up that control is a REALLY super hard, super scary and super tiring. If I give up the control it only works if I completely trust the person I am giving it up to. Gaining that trust is hard. Re-gaining after it has been broken is even harder.

I have learnt that God is trust worthy. His sovereignty isn’t something I can really test, though. God can’t earn that status – it is simple fact of life. God is sovereign.

I got some more info from the original poster and I started pondering some more and eventually replied in a message.

I don’t know what it is like trying to relate to family who aren’t Christian, I can only imagine how ridiculously difficult it must be. I wasn’t trying to stir the water, just give an honest answer to her question. God’s sovereignty is a concept that non-believe (actually many believes for that matter) don’t’ grasp. It is a work his is doing in me at the moment! To live is Christ, but to die is gain – that hard to walk balance between effectiveness and risk.

Since coming to Nigeria I have become more and more aware of 2 things.
1 – The cost of missions goes FAR beyond my comfort level. It is also a cost/potential cost to other people. I have lived far too long ignorant of the cost my decision to be involved in mission is to other people.
2 – I cannot live any longer ashamed of the gospel, not my part in getting it to people who don’t have it. A great verse that has really come out fresh of late 1 Cor 1:18 “The cross is foolishness for those who don’t believe”. They are never going to understand why we do what we do where we do it. They are going to consider it foolishness. That is tough – on them and the result I guess is that they are tough on us.
But damn it, 300 languages without a single word of scripture, I have to do all I can in the time I have here – who knows how long that may be!
 

Right now I am re-ignited about why we are here doing what we do. I’ve been complacent about it. Maybe our lifestyle is too easy-going that I’m not being kept on my knees. But I have never been more convinced than I am now of the need for God’s word to be available – in a language that people can understand.

The only way to build trust is to get to know someone. The way to get to know God is in his word. If people can’t understand his word, they’ll never get to know him any better. How will they ever trust him and rely on him and be prepared to lay their lives down for him?   

Our family is here living with those risks – the instability, the crappy power and everything else – to help make that a reality for the millions of Nigerians in the 300+ languages that don’t currently have any scripture. 

 
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Posted in Africa, Aspergers, Bible, blogs, missions, Nigeria, Tim's Work Life, Translators, Wycliffe

 

Mother Tongue Lanuague Day

04 Mar

imagesYou may or may not know that last week UNESCO held their annual Mother Tongue Language day.  For most people the day passes every year mostly unnoticed and this year was probably no exception, at least for most of you.  Our ministry is all about helping to get Bible into those mother tongues.  I may seem simple or even unnecessary; we are sometimes asked why can’t they just use the English Bible?  The speak English in Nigeria right?  For some people that might be true but to be honest for the vast majority of people here, a Bible in English is completely unintelligible.  A Mother tongue language is the language that used at home from birth, it is the language that a person understands best of all, the language they think in, process in, pray in, some might say dream in.  

Nelson Mandela said “if I read in my mother tongue language, then I know exactly what the Bible means” so simple but so poignant.

Ali shared this story in our email update a couple weeks ago.

I recently heard of some translators from a Nigerian language group who were working on a translation of some portions of the gospels into their own language. They were blown away when they finally understood that Jesus had died for THEIR sins; they had always thought that he had died for his own sins.

A subtle miss-understanding but rather fundamental to understanding the Christian faith!  Something we probably take for granted when working with other Christians but in this case it was all because they had never before had it in their own mother tongue language.  That is EXACTLY why we are involved in Bible Translation ministry. 

A local Nigerian paper just featured an article all about Nigerian languages, it speaks very highly of the ministry we are involved in – it is quiet long, but an interesting read.

 

 

 
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Posted in Africa, Nigeria, Wycliffe

 

Life in Nigeria

19 Feb

crossLife in Nigeria is complex.  We struggle to decide how much trouble is enough trouble that we should leave vs the need for the Gospel to prevail and vitality of ministry out here.  How ever sometimes things happen that get attention and so our office have released this statement that we feel might be helpful to you.

Many of you will be aware of the kidnapping that took place over this past weekend (16-17 February 2013) in northern Bauchi State, Nigeria.  Seven foreign construction workers were taken from their company’s camp and a security guard was killed.  The nationalities of those taken are still to be confirmed, but apparently includes at least one Italian, one Greek, two Lebanese, and possibly some British.

 This situation is the latest in a series of incidents that have been taking place in northern Nigeria.  Kidnappings of expatriates are on the rise in the north of the country as a strategy of terrorists and militant groups.  The most serious events have been in the far north of the country—quite a long way from Jos, where most of our staff live.  In light of our assessment of the situation, the Nigeria Group Director Team has put in place a travel restriction to places north of Jos for our expatriate staff.  We continue to monitor trends and events across the country and will make adjustments as the situation changes.

 We appreciate your prayers for us all as we seek to honor God and advance Bible translation in Nigeria.  Please do contact us if you have questions or concerns.

 
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Posted in Africa, Nigeria, vision, worship

 

Cost of being a missionary – freedom to drive.

17 Nov

Okay, so maybe this one doesn’t quite fit into the series, but having to get from A to B is part of life.

It is different everywhere you go.  Back home, you hop in a car, and the questions are:

  • Do I take the toll road, or not?
  • Which nice clean service station will I stop at to use the toilet?
  • Will there be traffic on the M25?

(OK, that one is more of an observation than a question!)

So driving here can be… umm… well… not always quiet so straightforward.

Pot holes for starters.  Not only in winter, but all the jolly time.  Some bits of road are better than others. If you drive the bad ones often enough, you can get a sense of where the bad patches are.  Dan isn’t so keen on all the snaking around we have to do when we drive for a few hours – he has been known to throw up :(

Other drivers. At home, doing driving lessons, they teach you that you need to be observant and predict what other drives might do.  You driving is fine, it is the other road users you have to worry about.  Well out here, multiply that by 100 and that is driving here! Overtaking on blind corners, blind summits (where there is a truck coming straight at you), taxis pulling over, or just stopping at a moment’s notice if you are lucky!

Around town it is even worse.

Police. Yup, I know at home they pull you over for speeding, for being on drugs, for driving like a lunatic.  Over here they pull you over because they fancy a chat with the white man, or because you drive a slightly flashy car and they want a ‘dash’ from you, or some water, or after they find out you’re a missionary they want a Bible – even if they can’t read.  There are 4 or 5 different groups of people who could stop you, all after something different, and that isn’t even the ones manning the ever increasing number of road blocks.

Next time you are in a bit of traffic, be thankful there isn’t a guy with an AK-47 chatting to you through the window. What I would give for the M25!

 
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Posted in Africa, Nigeria

 

Driving – maybe a typical journey?

07 Nov

Over the past few weeks I have been to Abuja and back 3 times. Not such a big deal on the whole, different routes, different passengers. I enjoy driving and talking with people.

One of the challenges here is being stopped by the vehicle inspection officers, or police, or whoever else. One journey I got fined for not having one particular piece of paper that showed the change of ownership of the vehicle I was driving. It not being my car, I hadn’t look through the papers closely enough to check what was there, so he fined me.

It is rubbish, but sometimes it isn’t worth the fight. But sometimes it is.

A different journey, I was stopped but a particular set of people and they were checking that people had a copy of the highway code in the car. It was our understanding that you didn’t’ need to carry a copy of it, but this guy was insistent. I offered to take a test, and the officer’s questions was “ How many corners are there between Kano (north) and Lagos (very south)?” A distance of several hundred miles. I laughed and said I had no idea. The officer responded say there are only 2; Left hand corners and right hand corners.

Needless to say, I laughed! The officer told me that clearly I didn’t know the book and that I needed to buy one from him. I insisted that I didn’t and eventually I had to call a barrister that I know to tell the guy to let us go. But 30 minutes of lost time sat in a hot car is not fun for anyone.

That same journey we were outside Abuja at a petrol station. We had been in line for only a short amount of time, but the van in front of us had got filled up, appeared to have paid for it… but he wasn’t moving. People started shouting, someone started pulling their car out, people started fighting, I was looking around wondering if we could get out of there if things got worse. Eventually, the fight stopped and the guy gets in the car and headed out. While receiving my fuel, I asked the girl at the pump what it was all about. Turns out she didn’t have the exact change – N30 (12p) to be precise – and the guy wasn’t moving his van until he got it.

It is not uncommon for people to have to send for change, and it is not uncommon for you to move away from the pump until they bring the change. No-one knows why the guy in the van was so grumpy, but it was also hilarious to the 5/6 guys hanging around after the occasion do a post-match analysis of the whole situation.

Just another typical day driving!

 
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Posted in Africa, Nigeria

 

Trip to Ghana in 05

26 Sep

I was checking out some old files on the hard drive and stumbled across this piece I wrote after my Trip to Ghana with a team in 2005.  It’s funny, 7 years later reading about the struggles, it all seems so familiar!  This was also the summer we won the Olympics and there were bombings on the underground system in London, both of which happened while in Ghana.

 

1WYnet Co-ordinator

2 Trainee leaders

4 Student missionaries

1 Team

1 God

1 Word

 

 

 

3 Days of training

1 12 Seater minibus

#84 British Airways to Accra

1 15 seater minibus

1 Team

1 God

1 Word

 

 

 

6 Days in sanko where

4 Projects are run 2-gether in all things

½ the normal time required 2 get those projects done.

1 Team visiting

1 team working

1 God

1 Word

 

 

 

2 Taxis 90 minutes late

2 Trotros 2 changes to make

280 minutes on the road1 large mountain to climb.

2500 ft up

1 guesthouse

1 new project to get started

1 Divine Munumkum

10 days

8 villages to visit

1 Team

1 God

1Word

 

 

 

 

0 Curtains

0 Flushing Loos

0 Taps

0 fridge

0 aircon units

0 TV

0 radio

0 babies to tickle

0 reception on my phone.

1 dead paramount chief

1 case of malaria

3 days of treatment

0 malaria

4 dodgy stomachs 2 many mouth ulcers

500 litres of water drunk

0 enthusiasm

1Word

1 God

almost 1 team

 

 

8 Villages visited

1 message from divine

“This is your project not mine, I want to help you get your language written down and eventually translate the scriptures”

7 white people causing a stir

1 message from Divine

“These friends have come from the uk to help you with your project.  To Pray, To visit and maybe help in others ways that none of us understand yet”

8 Enthusiastic Villages

7 enthusiastic white people

1 very enthusiastic divine

1 humongous send off

1 paramount chief stand in for the send off

1 New project started

1 team

1 God

1 Word

27, 000 people a set closer to getting that word in a language that speaks to their heart.

 

 

 

 
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Posted in Africa, Bible, missions, Wycliffe

 

Oh when the saints.

11 Sep

There are so many things that you see in Nigeria that you wouldn’t see in England. Today’s treat was a funeral procession in pick-up trucks on the main road. The first truck and a bunch of what I imagine were boys’ brigade lads trying to persuade the traffic to part for them. The second truck had the coffin and the third truck had more boys’ brigade lads, but these ones were armed with trumpets and drums and were merrily playing away as they came up behind us and eventually passed us. We often laugh at the things we seen in/on cars and trucks on the road this but was a very different attitude towards burying the dead.

 

Photo courtesy of Sharon Sweeting (Blue house rules!)

 
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Posted in Africa, Humour

 

Cost of being a missionary – electricity

24 Jul

I know I know, we all take it for granted in the UK -  my friends from America are finding it amusing how much social media has had to say about the power cuts in the us in June.  Reality is, when you move to a third world country – even a city the electricity supply is problematic. Any thing we have plugged into a Nepa* outlet must have a voltage stabilizer plugged in first.  The stabilizer must be big enough to cope with the demand placed on it and there is no guarantee that if there is a spike in the supply, that the thing or what ever is plugged into it will survive.  We knew about the power situation, it wasn’t a surprise, but I guess I am minding it is one difference between short term trips where you are pretty much prepared to cope with almost anything and living long term.  Long term you have to put more things in place to cope.   2 weeks after arriving, we stumbled upon a house and moved in and bought the contents.  It save. A lot of running around and figuring out, part of that package was a battery back up system with two 12v deep cell batteries and chargers and inverters.  We never really heard of such systems let alone though about having one.  It was such a blessing, a bunch of lights attached (yes some rooms had 2 lights, 1 Nepa and 1 battery whose switch was in a cupboard down our corridor), and the ability to charge laptops and plug the fridge in was brilliant.  but they are only good if there is charge it he batteries.  We had them hooked up to charge from Nepa, so it was fine if you got a few hours of Nepa each day but 2/3 days without and the batteries aren’t any good to you.      We are lucky not to have lost any food out of our fridge or freezer yet, but a few months in we did decide to invest in a generator that wasn’t something we had previously considered needing.  Both these things have proved invaluable to us, but the up front investment, cost of running, upkeep and maintenance are a whole lot of grief.  It does mean I got wise when we moved house and engineered our battery system. Through our fuse board to power 1 light in each room, through the normal light switch, which means we don’t have to run down a corridor to trilogy’s on, and we don’t always have 1 bulb that is not in use :) . We haven’t yet invested in solar charging system, nor a wind turbine like our neighbors (thought it’s brake keeps getting stuck on :(  )but there is still time for those additions.  Our projects however often don’t have power unless we buy a generator (small investment huge running costs now) or a solar system (large investment but as long as it works, zero running costs).

I’m not sure if it really counts as a cost, but the hassle involved here does take its toll and so I think that is a cost we pay.  I hope the real cost of losing a piece of equipment or an appliance is one that we will never have to face.

 

*Nepa is our power supplier it has such a bad reputation that a few years ago it changed it name to PHCN the Power Holding Company Nigeria.  However, everyone still refers to them as Nepa.  Among the numerous explanations of. The acronym is my favourite Never Ever Power Always.

 
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Posted in Africa, Home Life, missions, Nigeria

 
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