May 2006                                                          #3.4

Choir in action during the choir concert

Paseka

Paseka (Easter) is always a big deal here. People do not travel to their homes, but travel to the headquarters of their churches. I went to the Tabernacle Christian Church in Bobonong with a newly arrived mission worker from another organization. This was his introduction to Botswana. We travelled about 6 hours north of Gaborone on Good Friday. Worship was in the partially completed home of the Bishop with an old army tent pitched over what will one day be the living and dining rooms. A welcoming worship time started in the late afternoon for a couple of hours. Things really began however at about 10 pm. We began worship with preaching and singing followed by praying and dancing. (I admitted defeat at about 3 am and went to bed.) Saturday morning we had a tour of Bobonong with the Bishop, and relaxed and snoozed.

Saturday afternoon there was a choir concert, which is a fundraiser where various choirs sing and people can pay to get a particular song sung or a specific choir to sing it. One pastor kept paying so that he could sing with various choirs.

  Doing dishes in the kitchen

Worship we were told would begin again at 10 pm. When I woke at 9 I found no one up, so returned to bed. At about midnight I heard singing, and we got ready to worship again. There was preaching again this time everyone being invited to contribute which almost everyone did. Later we participated in a dramatic recreation of the Easter morning events. Several of us went out to b e the guards (or angels) at the tomb while the women came out singing as they came. When they arrived they asked about the body and were told that Jesus was not there. Then together we all sang our way back to the church.

Things wrapped up by about 7 am. Breakfast was served and people travelled back to their homes tired but renewed by God’s spirit.                                                                                                Glyn

The Makings of a Bible

During our jaunt around Botswana we stopped to visit Hessel and Coby Visser in D’kar. D’kar is a small town near Ghantzi some 600 kms from Gaborone. The area is populated with the people from the San (Bushman) tribe. This has been a place in the past where Mennonite volunteers have worked.

Hessel and Coby are juggling lots of things in their everyday responsibilities but their primary responsibility is Bible Translation. Translation of any sort is an incredibly demanding task and takes a lot of patience, knowledge of the subject and of the language.

First one of the translation assistants makes a rough translation. This translation is checked by Hessel who is the supervisor. Both make use of a number of resources including a commentary that is designed for translators. Hessel makes notes based on the issues raised by the commentary and on his experience with the language. It is then gone over again by the assistant who takes into consideration Hessel’s notes.

Next all of the translation assistants and Hessel read through the text and test it out. Glyn joined them for their weekly staff meeting. Currently they are working on John. That day they were doing John 7:19-31. This is a time consuming but essential part of the translation process. Not all languages use words or concepts similarly, and so one translates not just the words, but makes sure that the correct words are used in the various contexts. They will continue to work on a passage until all of the people feel good about the translation. One of the assistants told Glyn that with this process they could translate a chapter in about 3 weeks.

Literacy and creating an environment where people can read the text is another aspect to the job of translation Many of the people doing Bible translation in Botswana are dealing with languages which have never been written. So first they must determine the written language and teach people to read, or at least to read in their native language. They also have to work at creating a climate of reading in that language, not only reading the Bible.

Hessel and Coby would love to have a short term volunteer who is interested in Bible literacy join them to help the next task of the translator. Getting the written Bible into the hands of people. Anyone interested in a challenge???

Upcoming Events

June 9-12 Trip to Lesotho to deliver funds raised to help the St. Elie Morning Star Church with their building fund.

June 23-29 Phil & Christine Lindell Detweiler co-workers in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa will visit Botswana with their children.

July 5-11 Joe & Anna Sawatsky co-workers in Mthata, South Africa come to visit with their children and Anna’s mother.

Vy with kids in D’kar	<>Basket making and babysitting	San rock paintings
Vy and Adriaena on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi	In the final week of the kids fall break (May 1-9) we travelled with Vy Waller, a friend from Ontario. We travelled south and West through Ghanzi to D’kar, a centre for the San people in Botswana. A community development organization has done amazing things teaching the local people various art forms and crafts to provide income. We then travelled north to Etsha, a centre of basket weaving. Then we proceeded further north and spent 2 nights beside the Okavango river and visited the Tsodilo Hills, an ancient site with many rock paintings. Next we went north into the Caprivi strip, part of Namibia, and turned East travelling into Zambia, camping on an island on the Zambezi river near Victoria Falls. We spent one day doing nothing but sitting on the island reading and relaxing. The second day we were there we went to see Victoria Falls. Our last visit was in August and the water was low. This time the water was high, and there were many places you could hardly see the water falling for all the spray. We got soaked. We then headed south spending one night in the Nata Sanctuary on our way home.	Crossing the Zambezi with our camping gear
San paintings in D’kar	Drying out at Vic Falls	Adriaena in the Tsodilo Hills

... Our ICMB (Inter-Church Ministries Botswana) colleague Zipporah Ratau. In January Zipporah’s daughter Linda went to South Africa and has not been heard or seen since. Please pray for Zipporah and her family in this time of uncertainty and especially Linda’s 9 year old daughter.

... the family of a South African expat friend who died today, May 26. He had been in hospital in Johannesburg and their two children have been staying with us so they could attend school. (Both are in the same standards as our girls.) Please pray for his two children as well as his wife as they deal with a very tough situation. Please also pray for us and our girls who have been all been touched deeply by this death and this family.

Continue to pray for...

... Bible Classes and Leaders. On June 8^th we will be gathering together with the Gaborone leaders to talk about classes and future direction. The classes in Old Naledi have declined in numbers significantly in the past number of months. Pray that they will be able to think positively about future directions.

... All of us as we continue to study and learn. The Girls are back in school for term two. Glyn and Susan are studying Setswana in a more formalized way this term.

Give Thanks for...

... The friends from Canada who have visited us since January. Their time here has been an incredible gift to us!

... The way in which God reveals God’s love and compassion to us during very difficult times.

... A new roof on the rondavel in the village!

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which includes pictures and previous newsletters:

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Mennonite Church Canada WITNESS

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