'Yogalo' is the name of our "Dobu" language helper. In these pictures, our team is learning from him how he makes his meals.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
More Scenes from Dobu Land
'Yogalo' is the name of our "Dobu" language helper. In these pictures, our team is learning from him how he makes his meals.
Putting it into practice!
Much of our training here in school has been focused on the four stages of language and culture learning. Right now we are in the middle of our Dobu practicum which is giving us the chance to put each of these four stages into practice. The 'Dobu' are a people group off the islands of Papua New Guinea. (Praise the Lord there is now a Body of believers on those islands!). The teachers here have worked hard to assimilate as much as possible life in the Dobu village before Christ was made known to them.
Our class has been divided into small teams of 4-6 people. Each team has a 'Dobu' language and culture helper. Through building a friendship with our 'Dobu' helper we are learning his way of life, what he believes and how he perceives the world around him. For the Dobu, we are finding out more each day that his life revolves around 'saying the right words' to the spirit-world so that he can manipulate the spirits to act as he wants them to.
Our team is learning how to build friendships, observe, ask good questions, record this information and make sound conclusions regarding the Dobu's system of belief. At the end of this practicum we will write a paper on how we would go about planting a church in this tribe based on what we know they believe - their particular areas of spiritual blindness.
This practicum has been my favorite part of the whole training here. I wish you could come and see for yourself!
Charting Genealogies
Check it out! Look at the key and find the symbols in the genealogy chart. These are they symbols we will be using in the tribe to determine how everyone is related.
A look at Kinship
For the most part, kinship is not as important to those of us in the western world as it is to those who are not. Many of us live hundreds of miles away from brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents etc. It is likely that we have relatives we have not even met and probably will never meet, and might not even care to! However, the vast majority of tribal cultures are organized around their kinship relationships. How/whom they fight, how they settle disputes, the work they do in the village, the gifts they give, their status in the village, obligations to each other are all determined by kinship relationships. You better believe that they KNOW who their relatives are!
The catch for us westerners is to understand that they more than likely don't view their relatives as we view our relatives. In the Hawaiin kinship system, a person calls all of the males in the first ascending generation the same thing he would call his father (i.e. all of his uncles would be called whatever he calls his father). The same with the females in the first ascending generation; all of the 'aunts' would be called whatever the person calls his mother. Because of this, the children of those 'aunts' and 'uncles' would be called that person's brothers and sisters, and they would relate to each other in that way.
There are four other kinship systems: Iroquois, Sudanese, Crow and Eskimo. These names were derived from the particular people group where the system was discovered. Each system has its own way of tracing descent and in turn, how they relate to each other because of what they call each other. In our thinking, we would naturally expect that our dad is more responsible for our well-being than he is someone else's kids. However, in one tribe, the father is more responsible for his sister's kids than he is for his own children.
Why in the world is kinship analysis important to planting a tribal church? That's what I wanted to know when we started getting into this! Kinship dictates how the people relate to each other through gift-giving, obligations, privileges etc. Understanding kinship is one of the keys to our understanding of why they do what they do and why they behave that way to each other - and even later on down the road how they relate to us.
Knowing this will help us to teach the Bible more clearly when we start talking about relationships in Scripture - God as our Father, we are His children - brothers and sisters in Christ, and even how God wants us to relate to those outside of the Body of Christ regardless of where they fall in line with being my kin.
SEE BELOW FOR A FUN SONG ON KINSHIP AT IT'S BEST! "I'm My Own Grandpa"
The catch for us westerners is to understand that they more than likely don't view their relatives as we view our relatives. In the Hawaiin kinship system, a person calls all of the males in the first ascending generation the same thing he would call his father (i.e. all of his uncles would be called whatever he calls his father). The same with the females in the first ascending generation; all of the 'aunts' would be called whatever the person calls his mother. Because of this, the children of those 'aunts' and 'uncles' would be called that person's brothers and sisters, and they would relate to each other in that way.
There are four other kinship systems: Iroquois, Sudanese, Crow and Eskimo. These names were derived from the particular people group where the system was discovered. Each system has its own way of tracing descent and in turn, how they relate to each other because of what they call each other. In our thinking, we would naturally expect that our dad is more responsible for our well-being than he is someone else's kids. However, in one tribe, the father is more responsible for his sister's kids than he is for his own children.
Why in the world is kinship analysis important to planting a tribal church? That's what I wanted to know when we started getting into this! Kinship dictates how the people relate to each other through gift-giving, obligations, privileges etc. Understanding kinship is one of the keys to our understanding of why they do what they do and why they behave that way to each other - and even later on down the road how they relate to us.
Knowing this will help us to teach the Bible more clearly when we start talking about relationships in Scripture - God as our Father, we are His children - brothers and sisters in Christ, and even how God wants us to relate to those outside of the Body of Christ regardless of where they fall in line with being my kin.
SEE BELOW FOR A FUN SONG ON KINSHIP AT IT'S BEST! "I'm My Own Grandpa"
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Here's a 'first' for ya!
Okay. I know I've been to a nursing home before, so that's not the 'first' in this entry. The 'first' for me is that, after being here for seven months, I am finally able to participate in the official off-campus ministry program! If my body (more specifically, my hip/back) cooperates, I'll be going every Tuesday from 2:00-3:00 p.m. Yesterday the Activities Director at the Home took me around and let me meet the ones that don't get as many visitors. For starters, I'll be giving my attention to the five ladies I just met. My time there will include being a listener, maybe reading to them (Scripture or other books), singing to them/with them, painting their nails etc. To serve in this way after being 'laid low' for many months is like filling my lungs with fresh air.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Zulu Language
Hey to all! We just finished up Phonetics II and had a lesson on 'clicks' and 'pops'. Our teacher played this clip in class to illustrate how clicks and pops sound in language. Zulu is a language group in Africa. Take the next few minutes to listen to it. It's definitely worth it!
Click To Play
Click To Play
Zulu Language
Sunday, January 28, 2007
First week back in the Ozarks
I left Kentucky on January 12th and flew into Kansas City, Missouri only to be greeted by the destructive snow and ice storm that made national news. On the way back from the airport to the school, we heard that an email had been sent out saying, "If you haven't left home yet, stay where you are until further notice." A little late for that! School was supposed to start January 15th, but it was cancelled until the 22nd. Camden County (where I live) was declared a natural disaster. Power outages, vehicles in ditches, crashed trees, ripped off branches, and downed transformers greeted us when we returned from our Christmas break.
Even Wal-mart was out of electricity for thirteen hours! Those of us here on campus were out of power for twenty-four hours so we kept our flashlights and candles handy. Walking around anywhere outside was precarious since everything everywhere was completely iced over. Freezing temperatures for six days kept all the ice solidly intact. One night around 9:00 we heard repeated gun shots very close to our apartment. We found out later that one of the men on the Grounds Crew was shooting ice out of a tree with a 12 guage shotgun. Because the tree branches were so heavy, they were in danger of falling on the power lines.
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