Habari za Mark March 2006

In the past few months I’ve been on two survey trips, had lots of fun with family and friends at Christmas, and moved to a country where you have to wear at least five layers of clothes to survive and funny white stuff falls out of the sky…

Rangi Survey

In November, Richard (a Tanzanian colleague) and I went to help the Rangi Bible translation team to conduct a dialect survey of the Rangi language. The dialect survey was an essential step before any books can start to be written in Rangi. One of the main goals of the survey was to identify a reference dialect that can be used for written materials. The sociolinguistic situation was fascinating, and I really enjoyed the survey and trying to work out the best dialect to translate the Bible into for all the Rangi people to understand.

I elicit a phraselist from three Rangi speakers

Christmas fun

At Christmas I had the excitement of being joined in Tanzania by my family and my girlfriend Laura. We had a really great time at Christmas, and I think they enjoyed seeing the few sights of Dodoma! It was the first time I’d seen my family in almost two years, so it was nice to be all together again and for them to experience a small part of life in Tanzania.

Suba Survey

In the middle of January I drove up to Mara Region in the northwest of Tanzania with Richard and Ganana – another of our Tanzanian colleagues. We met up with Dusty who is the survey team leader for the Mara Region, with the purpose of surveying the Suba language community and their languages.

One of the goals of the survey was to see if the Suba people in Tanzania could potentially use the Bible of the Suba people in Kenya, so we travelled to Mfangano Island in the Kenyan part of Lake Victoria. There we met with members of the Kenyan Suba Bible translation project, and recorded a short story which we later played to Suba people in Tanzania.

We prepare to board the ferry to Mfangano Island

After playing the story in several Tanzanian villages we soon discovered that the two Suba languages are very different and that there is no way they could use the same written materials.

After three weeks researching the Tanzanian Suba peoples, we found that many of the language varieties they speak are very vital and will continue to be used for many years. We also got some insight into which dialect would be the best to use as a reference for Bible translation.

Drought in Tanzania

Tanzania, like much of East Africa is currently suffering its worst drought for many years. Millions of people are hungry, and reliant on food brought in from outside. The government is doing everything it can to bring in enough food for the people, but there are still severe shortages in many areas. Thankfully very few people have died so far as a direct result of the famine, but the situation could get worse if the rains don’t arrive in the next few weeks.

The lack of rain has also led to major shortages of electricity due to the closure of vital hydroelectric power stations, meaning that power is being cut for between 12 and 18 hours most days. It is expected that the powercuts will continue for many months and it may be years before the water levels are back to normal.

Herdsmen and their cattle gather round a small water hole

Back to cold England…

In the middle of February I flew back to the UK where I’ll be based for the next 5 months. I’m currently taking a course in sociolinguistics (the study of language in society) and anthropology (the study of peoples and cultures) at the Wycliffe Centre in southern England. The course should help me to look back over many of the things I have learned over the past two years in Tanzania, and to gain a broader understanding of the concepts of language use in various societies.

Looking ahead…

At the end of March I’ll be flying out to the US to spend 4 weeks with Laura. She is from northern California and in her last year of university studying anthropological linguistics, and hoping to join Wycliffe at some point in the future.

I’ll then be back in the UK for May and June when I’ll be travelling around the country and speaking to individuals, churches and small groups about the work of Wycliffe and the work in Tanzania in particular.

I plan to return to Tanzania in the middle of July to continue with the work of language assessment in the country, albeit being based in the main city of Dar es Salaam.

Stuff to pray for…

Please pray for Tanzania at this time – for rain and for provision of enough food for all the people. Also for wisdom for the government and church leaders.

Pray for the translation project in the Rangi language, that the right reference dialect would be chosen and the people would soon be able to read the Bible and other materials translated into their own language.

Pray for the Bible translation project in Mara Region, of which the Suba people are a part. Especially for the church leaders as they make decisions about the project, which will hopefully lead to language analysis workshops being held in a total of 7 languages by the end of this year.

Pray for me as I’m taking the anthropology and sociolinguistics course at the moment – for good understanding as I read lots of books (something I’m not particularly used to…!)

For a good time with Laura next month. Pray that our relationship would be centred on the Lord and that it would be him who leads and guides us as we look to the future.

Pray for me as I prepare to speak to many different churches and small groups in May and June, that I’d communicate well the work that is currently going on in Tanzania and worldwide. Pray that people would see the need for Bible translation and the role they can play in that work.

My website: www.habarizamark.co.uk
E-mail: mark_woodward@sil.org

Wycliffe Bible Translators, Horsleys Green,
High Wycombe, Bucks, HP14 3XL, UK
www.wycliffe.org.uk
E-mail: askus@wycliffe.org

Mark Woodward, 12/03/2006