 Hi everybody, just a quick update to tell you about our trip to survey the Fipa and Nyika languages in western Tanzania. First of all I want to say thank you so much for all your prayers – we really felt God’s guidance and protection in everything we were doing,
from car problems to almost getting stuck in the mud, to getting stuck in the mud, as well as trying to make decisions about where to go when we didn’t have much of an idea where to start. God led us to the right people and the right places and we have come away feeling we have a decent understanding of a very complicated language situation, and a good idea of which languages/dialects could potentially use which Bible translations.
Here’s a quick update on the specific prayer points I mentioned before the trip:
Health and safety
We enjoyed very good health for virtually the whole trip, with only one or two very minor problems. We were kept safe as we drove over 5,000km (3,000 miles) in 4 weeks.
Car health
The car had a few minor problems (and still does) but we were able to go to all the places we needed to. We had a few punctures, but nothing that seriously hindered our work.
Rainy rain and muddy mud
We had one or two days of rain early on, but the main rains didn’t really start until the last few days we were there (2 weeks later than normal), meaning that all the roads to the villages we were working in were passable. We only got stuck once, but that was a fun experience… There was only one day where we were in a village and the rain was threatening to rain, but miraculously it rained hard for 2 hours a couple of miles away and we didn’t get a single drop, meaning we could get all the work done and get back without getting stuck. Praise the Lord!
The team
We got on fairly well as a team and were still all talking to each other by the end which was good! Richard (the new Tanzanian guy) seemed to cope very well with the work and was fun to have around. We’re hoping he’ll start working with us on a permanent basis from January!
Witchcraft and bad stuff
We heard plenty about the witchcraft which is practiced in the area, and how so many people are slaves to the fear of witchcraft. Praise God – he protected us from any serious form of spiritual attack, and we were able to carry out all our work as planned. Please continue to pray for the Fipa people, many of whom, especially in rural areas live every day with the fear of witchcraft. We heard of cases where people are afraid to work hard in the fields because if they get more crops than their neighbours they’ll be accused of using the witches’ “medicine”.
If you’re interested in the language stuff… it transpires that “Fipa” is a broad name for several different languages/dialects, whose peoples don’t necessarily have the same origin, but were given the name because they lived in the same area. From our preliminary analysis it seems that Bible translations in 3 of these speech varieties would be sufficient for all the “Fipa” to understand. Please pray that we would be able to write the report well and that the Bible Society of Tanzania (who asked us to do this survey) would take it on board and act wisely in carrying out the translation project(s). The last few days were spent with the Nyika people, who it seems definitely need their own Bible translation. They speak a language which isn ’t similar to any other surrounding languages, although up until now they were virtually unkown outside of their region. Please pray for wisdom as we start to write this report and add the Nyika to the list of Bible translation needs in Tanzania.
Thank you so much for all your support in prayer over the last month or so – it has been really really appreciated, and we have seen God answering those prayers in many different ways. For more details (and some pictures of lions, hippos, big waterfalls and mud…) you can look at my website – www.habarizamark.co.uk
Please continue to pray for the Fipa and Nyika people that they would soon be able to read the Bible in their own language! Have a good December wherever you are (I’m still waiting for the frosty mornings and freezing rain but they haven’t started yet. Oh well, I’m not complaining…!)
Mark | 