MozamWeek

We have been in Mozambique for a very long time. This is our oldest daughter visiting a village a half hour out of town in 2003. This was most of what she knew about the world at the time. This village was new to her, but not scary or strange. Our home was surrounded by a green, lush garden. Tea time under a guava tree was a daily ritual with Rosa and Maria. I admit, this looks a little "colonial" in some ways. But that is just life in Africa: our kids are white and everyone else is not. When you have a picnic this is what it looks like.  By 2012 my kids were happy in their school. The translation project was well under way. I was out and about visiting friends and finding places to share Nyungwe stories. There weren't many. Not many people were interested yet. We were on the verge of a new big thing, but we didn't know it.  After our "furlough" for a year in 2012-13, we returned to Mozambique. Little Zebra Books started publishi...

I am entering (have entered) a phase of transition - again. Every 3-4 years we have a big shift from Africa to Sweden and America. It marks a year-long flip-flop of joy and frustration. Some people derive great comfort from knowing what is ahead and plan meticulously with great conviction and joy. I don't. It is just over a year to the count-down and I'm dragging my feet in naming my destination. USA? Sweden? You see, this is the last time we do this. We will be leaving our ministry base of 20 years at the end of NEXT year. (Every time I mention this people think we are leaving now. No. Over a year from now. Wanna come help us pack?) I can't decide yet. I just can't. Everything we've worked towards is preparing us for careers in Africa. We really like working in this part of the world where our skill can be stretched and used. We hope to come back to southern Africa, but it we won't be based in Tete, Mozambique, next time around. Reality is that we must leav...

I have been a frustrated literacy specialist for about 15 years. I'll just admit it. I haven't ever taught anyone to read. I never have claimed to teach, but to train trainers and develop materials and to research how two very different languages can be used in education of some very special people in a very difficult situation. Now that it is out in the open, I can get on with it. I believe that my impact on a community can only make a difference if I can replicate my initiatives. I talk a lot about literacy and materials in Nyungwe and about using Nyungwe to teach reading. I believe that we only learn well when we can relate new information to something we already know. Theories sometimes describe these as hooks or scaffolding to connect new info with our own experiences. On Monday, I stepped into a Mozambican classroom in a Mozambican school with Mozambican students for the first time. I am grateful for a school director and a district administration that trust me with a...

Yesterday I shared about how I believe Nyungwe  RED ZEBRA BOOKS  will have a positive effect on all literacy skills of Nyungwe children studying in Tete schools where Portuguese is the medium of instruction. Today I'll talk about how these Simple Nyungwe booklets are giving teachers confidence and adding reading comprehension strategies to their lessons. Just having the books published increases the connection between home culture and literacy. Knowing that Nyungwe is a "real" language is a good start in helping people feel that what they know is valuable. Through  RED ZEBRA BOOKS , the younger generation grows curious about the knowledge their elders can share. City kids see that the language they hear at home is a valid means of communicating in writing, too.  Back to how  RED ZEBRA BOOKS  fit into the picture. Teachers are mandated to teach kids about local culture and use the local language,* but it is complicated to make up lessons th...

Some of my friends and acquaintances on Facebook or otherwise will know something about the  RED ZEBRA PROJECT . This is a non-profit organization currently based in Cape Town, South Africa, started by dear friends who love the Nyungwe people as much as we do. In the next few days, I'd like to share how  RED ZEBRA BOOKS  came to Tete and are making a difference around here. At the edge of the provincial capital of Tete, a good 90% of kids speak Nyungwe 90% of the day. For many, school is the only place that Portuguese, the official language of Mozambique, even seems important.  Nyungwe  RED ZEBRA BOOKS   are colorful and chock full of local culture. Children are presented with stories written in their own language for the first time.  We were shocked when our simplest idea became the overall favorite.  "The Bean Book" is simply numbers 1-10 with the respective number of beans and the Nyungwe word for each number. Even teenagers, pu...

There are parts of Bible translation we don't really think about... We just got an email asking about how we plan to write numbers. Do you spell them out or do you write the numerals? There is a "rule" in English where anything over ten you usually just use a numeral in a text. (Though I noticed this isn't followed in the English Bible I use.) There just aren't any norms for this in Nyungwe. There aren't lots of books written, so you can't just see what other people are doing. Besides, it is a bit more complicated than following rules. In many African languages the counting system is a little cumbersome. It takes a lot of long words to spell out a big number. It is common to hear English or Portuguese numbers spoken in the middle of a Nyungwe or Chewa conversation. It isn't that the numbers don't exist in the language, but they just use English or Portuguese numbers because they are easier or they are used to them. So this morning, we were t...

After my past few months of activity, I'm finally getting back into the real work of linguistics and literacy in Tete! In July I headed off to Botswana for a conference where I presented a little paper. Once back, it was regroup time and then off to Nampula for our conference. Back from a month away, September was school for the kids and painting projects to finalize our renovation that dragged on for a year! Last week I had another little trip for another meeting, and came home to kids on "spring break" this week! So, as I'm finishing the clean-up from that painting job and swapping everyone's rooms, I've dug into old photos and stacks of papers awaiting attention. They'd been moved to the living room during the paint job and I refused to bring them back into the bedroom without sorting and filing. I'm getting to the end of that process and I can now see the floor in the living room! Today is the day for data entry. I got Katie to help sort all th...