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Mwakaata! In the last few months I have moved house to Dodoma (the capital city of Tanzania), attended the SIL Uganda-Tanzania branch conference in Kenya, been on my first language survey trip to study the Nyiha language in southwest Tanzania, northern Zambia and northern Malawi, and been eaten by lions twice. Well, most of that’s true…
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A Sichela village | Moving House
In June I moved from language school in Morogoro to Dodoma, which is where we have our main office in Tanzania. I am sharing a house with Garth, a South African guy my age who is working as an aircraft engineer for MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). So now I know slightly more about 206’s and Caravans (types of aeroplane…!)
SIL Branch Conference
In July we flew to the Kenyan coast for our branch conference. It was partly meetings and partly fun stuff (not that meetings aren’t fun…!) We had a great time doing things like playing in the warm clear blue sea, eating lots and lots of yummy food, and… debating the branch constitution. It was great for me to be able to meet so many other people who are working for SIL throughout Uganda and Tanzania.
Nyiha Language Survey
In August, after weeks of preparation and trying to get the car fixed, we finally left for Mbeya Region to carry out a sociolinguistic survey of the Nyiha language community. The survey included finding out about several different people groups…
1 - The Nyiha of Tanzania
We spent most of the first 3 weeks studying the Nyiha speaking people in southwest Tanzania. There is already a Bible translation project underway in Nyiha, and our job was to see if there were  any major dialectal differences in the language. The language is changing very rapidly at the moment due to a number of factors, but we concluded that if the translation team held to one central variety there shouldn’t be too many problems in understanding. We also discovered that the Nyiha area has probably the most stupid chickens in the whole of East Africa.
2 - The Sichela of Tanzania
The next 3 days involved a journey to one of the most remote places in Tanzania. The Sichela people live by Lake Rukwa, about 6 hours drive from the nearest paved road. This was where one of the suspension springs on our vehicle broke, but with the help of some strips of rubber it lasted another 2 days until we could get to somewhere to replace it! The Sichela people are virtually unknown, even in the local district, and were desperate for us to tell people about their daily struggles. These people are very poor in many ways – physically they struggle to get clean water and enough food, and spiritually they are in great need of the salvation and hope of the gospel. Please pray for the Sichela people.
But despite all the hard things in the area, they did have some really cool pigs and 4 little mice who ran around your room at night laughing at you…
3 - The Nyika of Zambia and Malawi
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I collect a list of short phrases from a group of Nyiha speakers |
We went into Zambia not knowing if there were any Nyiha speakers there, but God led us to the right people and the right places! We were able to talk with the chief of the Nyika people (as they are called in Zambia) who assured us that they spoke the same language as the Nyiha people in Tanzania, and would be overjoyed to be able to use the new Nyiha Bible translation! Please pray that their desire to have the Bible in their own language would become a reality.
4 - The Nyiha of Malawi
This was yet another Nyiha/Nyika group, which we only found by “accident”! As we made a detour to southern Tanzania to get fuel we met some people who told us there were Nyiha in the far northwest of Malawi! This was truly God leading us, since when we arrived in their area we found a people desperate for the Bible in their own language. Many are using the antiquated Tanzanian Nyiha New Testament (which is written in old language and is hard for even the Tanzanians to read) and some are even copying it out by hand into notebooks because they want their own copy! Please pray that their desire to know God better would be met with a translation that really speaks to their hearts.
5 - The Nyika of Tanzania
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Anna takes a wordlist in Malawi |
Are you confused yet? Anyway… this final Nyika group in fact turned out not to be a group at all. It appears that maybe 50 or 100 years ago they were their own tribe with their own language, but nowadays they say they are part of a larger group in the area. This larger group already have a Bible translation. Please pray for the (former!) Nyika people, that they would have the ability and motivation to read this Bible and know God for themselves.
Thank you so much for all your prayers and support for me and the work I’m doing. It’s so encouraging to know that there are so many people praying for me, and that God can even answer prayers from thousands of miles away!
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If your contact details change, please let me know
at the following address:
31 Pound Close
Semington
Trowbridge
Wilts, BA14 6JP, UK
(01380 870784)
My address in Tanzania:
SIL, Po Box 1369, Dodoma, Tanzania
www.habarizamark.co.uk
mark_woodward@sil.org |
Wycliffe Bible Translators
Horsleys Green,
High Wycombe
Bucks, HP14 3XL, UK
www.wycliffe.org.uk
askus@wycliffe.org | | 