Time in the Village

Well, I'm sure you're wondering by now, ... did we survive the village stay?  Yes, we lived!  Actually, we had a great experience.  If we didn't mention it, we got to stay a couple of nights in a village 2 hours from where we've been living while one of the missionaries needed to go to the village to finish an interlinear of the book of Romans.  So, basically, we got to 'rough it' for a couple of days (no power, running water, etc.).

Basically this means that the national translators* have worked through Romans translating it into their language from a Swahili translation.  Then the missionary joins them and works to back-translate their work from their heart language into Swahili and ultimately into English.  This is then tested in a number of ways including comparing it with the original language of Romans (Greek), and a consultant** check as well.

While we did have the option to observe the missionary and national translators for a little while, we also understood that the majority of the time we wouldn't understand what's going on since it is all in Swahili, and they needed their space to finish their work, plus we have been able to help in some of this work back at the main compound we have been working at. So one of the national translators was given the job of being our tour guide/host, and he was a very hospitable host at that!

The first day we arrived, we barely had time to unload our stuff (which some of the village people took, placed on their heads and tromped off into the maze of houses, pig pens, small gardens, etc. to some unknown location), and we were off to see some of the village.  He took us for a hike up along a mountain stream which was beautiful, paused for a couple of minutes at a market before going off to another little settlement/school area to see their football (soccer field) area.  Along the way, he showed us buildings/areas of other missions, or attempt at relief work that had come through, some being 50-100 years old!  While at the soccer field, a couple of the interns and our host passed a soccer ball around hoping that others would join them.  Since that didn't work out, we were off again - this time to our host's home, but along the way we had to stop by and visit a hospital.

For lunch, we stopped at a back-alley 'restaurant' where our missionary ordered us some rice, beans and dugal (minnows that had thankfully been beheaded).  Matt was able to eat them, and thought that they were ok, but I was grossed out by even seeing their tiny bodies sitting on top of the rice.  YUMMY!  I've heard that they are like little pockets of salt, and their head if it wasn't removed tends to just be a pocket of sand.  mmm mmm good....

Supper was a different story.  We ate at our host's place and got to help prepare the rice, beans and fish (this style of fish was actually about size of a small bluegill which had been dried - head, fins and skin still attached).  But since there was only four fish, I was able to get out of having one! Praise God!!  Though Matt liked both of the types fish.

Matt and I got to stay with the national translator himself while two others stayed at different houses - family members (the other didn't want to stay in the village and instead slept in a 'hotel' not to far away).

Shortly after our host saw that we were up and moving, he want to get the other two, then we all went to the market to find our breakfast - cassava and sweet potatoes which were boiled with a little salt.  By the way, their usual time for eating chai (breakfast and tea) is 10:30.

Then, another intern and I stayed with the missionary to see their work and because we didn't feel comfortable/bring the right shoes to climb the mountain.  The other three got to climb a very steep mountain for an hour or so to see the village where everyone from the market comes from.

That evening we returned to our host's home and got to help fix pilao (a rice with garlic, onions and other flavorings) with some greens and meat.  It gets dark here around 6:30, and since it takes so long to prepare and cook the food, we ended up eating in the dark, sometimes around 8:15, so shortly after supper we would usually turn in for the night.

The third and final day we got to stay with them, we didn't go to the market, but ate breakfast early - around 8:00 AM since we had a lot to do.  Shortly after that we were off to visit a sugar cane factory (after a lengthy process of going through different levels of authority we were told that we needed a 2 week notice), and the village where our host does his field testing.***

While visiting the village, we also dropped into a Catholic school where we sat and chatted with the priest and some of the nuns for a while.  Then we were off again right at the time the kids were getting out of school for the day so they walked with us, playing and eventually holding our hands - there was a string of children holding hands with Matt, myself and another intern!

After leaving the village we then returned to our hosts' home for lunch and to pack-up our stuff and return to where the missionary is working.  After the missionary was finished we all loaded back into the truck and returned home.

In case you're wondering, since we didn't have running water/power, how did we live?  Well, we used flashlights when preparing/eating meals; and the meals were cooked over a fire or a small coal cooker.  Otherwise, since we didn't have running water, we had a community squatty potty which was a couple of houses down from our host.  This is as it sounds; it isn't like the outhouses that we used to have with a seat, but basically a hole in the ground with bricks on either side for standing on.  There are walls, but you're not totally concealed.

Speaking of being concealed, there's the joyous experience of taking a bath.  Our host graciously provided water - actually warm water over the fire for us to take a bath with, but the location really didn't provide any privacy.  There were some walls, but they were about waist high or lower, and the entrance had no covering so the other interns, host, etc. had to turn their backs so they wouldn't be exposed.  Praise God that our bath time was at night, but even so, our white skin can stick out at times, and the people living in this village are used to wandering around at night without flashlights, could they see us??? Good question—it is a possibility.

Both as we were traveling to and from the village we got to go through a national wildlife preserve. From the road we were able to see several exotic animals. We saw gazelles, elephants, giraffes, zebras, etc. (I would talk about the monkeys but those are about as common everywhere over here as dogs and cats are in the States.) It was quite an adventure to say the least. We are also looking forward to 2 weeks from now when we will get to go back just to see some of God’s creation. (We are praying that we will get to see some lions. While they are in the park they are harder to see.)

*A National Translator in Africa - is an African individual who works to translate Scripture from the trade language (Swahili in our case) into their mother tongue.  They've had up to 4 years of training before they can fully participate in the work.  The missionary then works with them to test the translation through a number of checks from the original language (Greek or Hebrew), then writing an interlinear, field testing, consultant checking and more (it is definitely an extensive process to say the least).  Typically there is a team of three national translators per language group.

**Consultant - is often times an individual who has a Ph.D. and/or someone who has already completed a translation of Scripture into another language.  This individual will check the translation, looking for tough theological terms such as bloodguilt, propitiation, etc. to ensure that the translation is an accurate representation of Scripture's original intent.

***Field testing - a method of checking the translation to ensure an accurate and smooth/natural translation. The translation needs to be understandable by the common person. If it is too literal most will not comprehend its meaning and then they will avoid reading Scripture. And if the translation is too much of a paraphrase then it will lose its original intent.

P.S. Before I forget, I've played around with the settings some on the comments, so I think the troubles that you've been having should be taken care of.  Please let us know if you're still having problems and we'll try to get it figured out.  Thanks for being patient with us.

This has been what a day in the village has been like. It wasn’t too terrible, and praise God we did survive.  Actually, we enjoyed the blessing of getting to meet some of the national translators, see where they got to do their field testing, discover others who had come before (other religious organizations and relief efforts).  But what truly was a blessing was the chance to interact with the people of Africa – to meet the adults, see where they live and play with the kids – actually they had a lot of fun laughing at us as we tried to speak Swahili to them.  Blessings.