As the year draws to a close, it is the opportune time to reflect on the year gone by, and to be thankful for everything that God has blessed us with. Many will participate in the gift buying frenzy that hits shopping centres everywhere, but there is a gift one can give that cannot be bought at a store.
Bonifacio Paulo thought he was following the call of God to become a priest, but a chance meeting took him in a different direction towards Bible translation, as God showed him how life-changing it is to hear the Word of God in your own heart language.
Diane Lovell is an Australian serving as a Bible translation consultant-in-training in Southern Africa with The Seed Company, a Wycliffe Global Alliance partner organisation. Diane shares how God provided her a way to continue in her work after having a baby girl while balancing it with the responsibilities of being a new mother.
Through their unexpected journey into Bible translation Serge and Olivia Razafinjatoniary, Wycliffe staff members from Madagascar, are convinced that God has a place for anyone he is calling to serve.
Tell me about your family and your way of life?
Uekatara started with pointing to a nearby mountain and explained that he was born in the area in 1955. His oldest brother had an encounter with the Lord as he worked through “catechism” facilitated by the St. John’s mission’s outreach, gave his heart to the Lord and started to evangelize the whole family. His mother could also read in her later years and started to read the Herero bible.
Under a white bucket hat and blue-tinted glasses, Michael Kativa’s smile is as wide as his face and his eyes sparkle in mirth. His tall height and outgoing personality set him apart from many of his San peers.
The foundation for Michael’s vibrant joy lies within the confidence he finds in Jesus. Quite comfortable in his camping chair, he sat back, crossing his legs, and explained, “I am thankful I am saved and that my life has been transformed because of God’s Word. It has brought me peace with God.”
“I am thankful I am saved and that my life has been transformed because of God’s Word. It has brought me peace with God.”
Before he knew the stories found in Scripture, Michael would often get into fights and drink too much. His wife left him many years ago, and he has since experienced the death of his daughter and has become estranged from his son.
“The Bible exposes what is wrong in your life,” he says.
“The Bible exposes what is wrong in your life.
As a San elder, Michael desires a better life for the people of his home village, Kapatura. Michael lived in Nambia for many years, but returned to home 15 years ago. Now as an elder in the community, Michael says hopes to be a father figure to many of the young people that live nearby. He passionately lives a changed life in order for more lives to change.
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Many people in the community do not know how to read. For the San people, the life of Jesus is a story best told orally, around a campfire or under a neighbor’s tree. Michael has been part of the Bible storytelling project in Botswana since it began just over a year ago and he is encouraged by the changes occurring in Kapatura. Many more young people in his village have started attending Bible studies organized by field coordinator, Eben Le Roux. This is a big accomplishment because, “the young people are disillusioned,” says Eben. “Many do not believe that the Scriptures bring hope.”
Working as narrators with Eben and Michael, some of the younger community members have a huge opportunity to impact their friends and family. Michael desires to see them succeed and stays in touch with them.
As a narrator and a workshop attendee, Michael is learning more and more about how to deal with his neighbors in a Godly manner. People don’t always respond to the stories he tells and his values as a believer in the way he would hope, but that doesn’t stop him from continuing to share.
“I used to have a lot more hair when I started work for God years ago,” he told us jokingly. “It’s as if people are unaware that they are in a bush. They should come out of the bush, out of the woods and be in the open to learn about God.”
Kapatura‘s village chief also recently started to come to the meetings – a small act that could greatly affect the rest of the village. Michael has welcomed the chief with open arms and glorifies God for the opportunities ministering to the chief will create.
No matter the resistance or obstacles, Michael is set to change his people for the better. He is looked up to by many of the workshop attendees and his fellow narrators because he is knowledgeable but more importantly, because he cares about those around him. His confidence is not just a character trait, but clearly a work of the Holy Spirit. He is an elder set on changing the world around him only because he can proudly proclaim, “God is the same, He doesn’t change.”
“God is the same, He doesn’t change.”
Photos by Esther Havens
Written by Kelsi Williamson
“MY SOUL CLINGS TO THE DUST; GIVE ME LIFE ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD.” -PSALM 119:25
In this land, deep sands wash over hills and under trees, unavoidable by any living creature. In the middle of the vast desert landscape, our team joined small circles of San people; we listened as they shared stories, both ancient and new. As the first inhabitants of what is now known as South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, the San traditionally are a peaceful people speaking nine “click” languages.
Rich in indigenous knowledge, the San have long survived on nuts, berries and small game. Unrestrained by boundaries, they moved up and down rivers and lived in small family groups. In the last two centuries, other tribes have moved in and overtaken their homeland, pushing the San to the outskirts of land areas and society. They’ve been told their way of life is archaic, or worse, lazy. As a result, the San have suffered a loss of culture and tradition as they’ve been forced to adapt to the modernity surrounding them.
Although San villages now resemble those of neighboring Bantu tribes, the quality of life of the San people is often much more difficult. Like many other societies that experience degradation and dependency on other groups in power, the San now are grappling with social problems, including alcoholism and a lack of education. Forced off lands by government forces, abandoned by some humanitarian groups, or pushed toward doctrines and beliefs that fail to communicate the Gospel in a meaningful context, the San have fought hard to maintain a sense of identity.
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Eben Le Roux grew up among the San people of Botswana. He’s a modern missionary, ministering among the people he knows best. As a field coordinator, Eben is quick to dodge praise and just as quick to crack a joke. He often sits quietly for hours on an uncomfortable child-sized chair encouraging translators as they grapple for the right phrases to convey a Scripture passage in their language. His workload is heavy, yet he never complains. It’s not uncommon to see his curly blonde head streaking past as he sprints from sandy place to sandy place to complete the day, leaving enough time to spend with his three young daughters and wife, Phia.
Eben and Phia live on the family farm nestled on the Okavango Delta near the Botswana and Namibia border. At night, hippos grumble and munch on the grass in the family’s front lawn, and during the day a mix of Afrikaans and English chatter is heard throughout the house and yard. Although the family’s calling is not always easy, joy bursts from every corner of the farm.
The Le Roux’s are always first to share with their neighbors — Eben daily transports six or seven San people in his truck bed while Phia can effortlessly make a feast for 20 from a meal for five as she chats away about the weather and newest Disney release. This is the life most people should envy — filled to the brim, always surprising and constantly satisfying.
Eben believes in cultural preservation balanced with an eternal perspective. He says, “When we don’t have our land anymore, when we don’t have our resources anymore, our cultural identity anymore — we can have another identity in Christ. That’s something eternal that cannot be taken away from us.” At the same time, he says, “Christianity has had a long history in this area, but it has always been brought to people from the outside. It’s important to first see how God is working in a local area rather than coming up with your own plan and strategy for working with people.”
“Christianity has had a long history in this area, but it has always been brought to people from the outside, he says. “It’s important to first see how God is working in a local area rather than coming up with your own plan and strategy for working with people.”
The art of storytelling has a powerful impact on the way the San people internalize and begin to live out the Bible. “If you really want to hear a story, you’re not going to say, ‘Oh, let’s go listen to a tape machine,’” says Eben. “Instead, people say, ‘Please tell me that story,’ or ‘That reminds me of something else I heard.’ It communicates so much better if someone tells you a story in person.”
When a translation workshop begins among the San, tents pop up in a community space as neighboring villagers arrive. People huddle together around small fires in the morning, drinking chai and eating bread and peanut butter while the sun slowly rises.
During the heat of the day, everyone congregates under shade trees to work through a story’s translation. Sometimes the process goes quickly — other times, it may take a few hours to translate one or two words from Setswana or Afrikaans into the word that will make the most sense in a Sans language, and in this case, the heart language known as Khwedam.
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The Beautiful Complexity of Language
Setswana is the national language of Botswana, Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch, and Khwedam is one of the nine languages spoken by the San.
Some narrators (Bible storytellers) can read two languages and own a Bible; others have only listened to the stories on an audio device and may not be able to read or write, but are master storytellers. Despite their individual level of experience, the workshop setting allows the entire community to develop stories accurately.
As narrators tell stories, community members listen intently. Then the feedback begins. Some may suggest a different word here or there. Others may ask to know more about the characters in the story. Many think deeply about what they’ve heard, internalizing the wisdom and truths of God’s Word, and reaching out to know Him more.
As a group, they check facts for each story and equip every individual with the confidence and skills needed to share with the broader community. Once the group decides on a final translation, a back translation is done into English in order for a consultant with theological and linguistic training to provide an analysis. Demonstrating their dedication, the narrators return to the workshops every three months to fine-tune their translations. “Each part of this process is linked together and important to the overall accuracy of the Khwe translation,” says Eben.
“The goal of the workshops is to cause a chain reaction,” says Eben. “The people who attend take the stories they learn back to their communities and share them, engaging others.”
It’s hard to imagine anyone loving a good story more than the San. Storytelling is a rich tradition as old as their culture. And coupling Bible translation with the art of storytelling is resulting in a contagious life-changing love for God, His Word and each other.
Photos by Esther Havens
Written by Kelsi Williamson
