Literacy Archives - Christ Church

Bakwé Teacher Training Seminar

Bakwe' Mission on September 9, 2008

Twenty six adults, from ten villages, came to our Bakwé teacher training course which ran from September 2nd through the 5th. Pastor Firmain and Perez ran the course and, from what I hear, did a great job. Four of the participants that came were women; two were non-Bakwé interested in teaching reading and writing in their churches. All the participants enthusiastically entered into the discussions and some brave souls even participated in getting up in front of the class to demonstrate what they had learned. On the last day of the four-day seminar, the group voted in a new committee for Bakwé literacy.

We are happy that Bakwé reading and writing classes are spreading into more villages every year. This year we have classes starting in the furthest village North and South of the Bakwé area. These two villages speak different dialects of Bakwé but are still able to use the primer with the teachers making some local modifications for their audiences. There are three main Bakwé dialects.

Primer

Our reading and writing primer is almost ready for its third printing. After a number of years of experience, we divided the primer into two separate volumes; one for beginner level and another for the intermediate level. We have third primer that we use for adult pre-literates.

Communication

We are still having trouble from time to time with our Internet connection in the village. This week the break in communication was caused by Perez’s computer crashing. Alexis got it running again by Monday the 8th and we’re good for now. What a blessing Skype, Google Calendar and Google Documents have already been when we have the connection! Skype is an Internet chatting application. Google Calendar allows us to see each other’s work schedules. Google Documents allows us to jointly edit documents online.

You can read more personal news at the passworded area of this site. To receive the password, please contact Csaba by email. Then you click on the words “login” in the top right-hand of the page. A password box will appear. Type the password in and you will be in.

Sowuta of Gblétia

Bakwe' Mission on June 16, 2008

While we were on the porch this evening before dinner Perez brought by Sowuta, an older woman from Gblétia, a village 30km to the north of us. She has learned to read and Perez, one of our Bakwé literacy teachers, was so proud of her. Other people had told me about this woman. She had some gray hair and was obviously older. She said that she had never gone to school, but that she has learned to read in our literacy classes. She has amazed everyone! To prove it to us Perez handed her the Bakwé primer and she read the first several pages that had pictures and words under them. I praised her but I was wondering if she had just memorized these, but then she turned to the very back of the primer and began reading the last and hardest story about Rat and Lizard. She read fluently! She handed the primer back to Perez.

Then, she fumbled with her bag and pulled out a well worn copy of the Gospel of John in Bakwé. I could tell it had been well used because it had oily brown stains where you flip the pages and some pages were bent at the tips. She opened it up and began reading from John 1:1. Again, she read fluently. Tears came to my eyes. After several verses he stopped and explained to Perez how she had read the whole book, all the way to where it talks about Lazarus dying and Jesus raising him to life, and to where it talks about Jesus dying. She was so proud. She said the Baoulé and the Mossi had their Bibles, but the Bakwé didn’t for a long time, and she now can read it in her own language. She also said that many Bakwé don’t get it; they don’t see the importance in reading. So she is on a campaign. She tells everyone she meets to come to class and learn to read or themselves. I was so encouraged and you could tell that Perez was proud of her too.

It makes it all worth it to see someone excited about reading God’s Word! And someone who had no access to it before this! Praise God who blesses the work of our hands and the sweat, the tears, the malaria, the typhoid and the fatigue)! On our way to San-Pédro on the 24th we will leave here at 6:30am and stop in the village of Petit Gabo on the way to San-Pédro just to observe another reading class in action. This village has literacy class at 7am in the morning before going to the fields.

Harris Church Meeting

Bakwe' Mission on May 21, 2008

Last week our Bakwé colleagues met with a number of regional pastors and youth leaders of the Bakwé Harris Church. The Harris Church is an African Independent Church. You can read more about it here. The point of the meeting was to solicit the help of the Harris Church both in translating the Bible and promoting literacy in the church. The leaders were encouraged and promised to help us. They asked us to call another meeting in the near future so that more could be present. Representatives from Kpéhiri asked for us to help start a class in their town (the furthest Bakwé town in the north of the Bakwé region).William Wadé Harris, the founder of the Harris Church, emphasized the importance of God’s Word during his preaching tour in the early 1900’s. Finally today, almost 100 years later, the Book is being translated into Bakwé! But, a Bible that cannot be read is not very useful. This is why we are training teachers and helping start up reading and writing classes in an increasing number of Bakwé towns. We also are preparing to provide an audio recording to go along with all of our printed literature. About 40 titles are now available in the language ranging from health booklets to folktales. Also available are the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of John, and the Epistles of John. Galatians and James will be published this year with Luke and Acts next in line. Some of these publications are now available as PDF files here under the “télécharger” drop-down menu.

Bakwé Flashcard Parties