Bakwe' Mission
Kjell finished up teaching the small business seminar today at noon. He said that it was just great! This morning, as the class went over the data for a small corn growing business, they were really getting into it and starting to see what kinds of questions they need to ask before launching into such a business activity. Kjell said it was quite animated. I (Csaba) will have to ask Kjell to write up something to post here soon. But for now, here is a picture of Kjell with the participants on the last day with their certificates of participation in the seminar.
Cobra welcome
Cobra kill
We arrived safely in the village after a safe uneventful road trip, thanks to God. Just after we parked the truck behind the house, we heard a yell from Moïse, the night watchman: “Snake, snake, cobra …” We all ran down to where he had set a trap and caught five cobras recently. Sure enough, there was another one, still caught by the head in his snare. The young men ran around and got a long stick and whacked it thoroughly in the head. It was probably just over seven feet long. I’ll put up a picture here when I can get it uploaded.
Moïse took it home to eat. Later in the evening he brought over some for us. We tried it; it tastes like chicken! I’ve had it before, but for Scott and Benjamin it was a first! They thought it not too bad!
This morning we went out and greeted the village at 6am by going around house to house greeting people as they woke up. This is a Bakwé custom and very important to do. It was a misty, foggy morning. There were many people surprised to see four white guys going from house to house greeting! They were happy to see us. Everyone asked about Lisa and the kids and how they were doing. For me, it was good to be back and see so many familiar faces and everyone’s children who have grown so much since the last time I saw them.
We got back at about 7:30am and had breakfast of coffee and French baguettes before starting our work day. Kjell prepared for teaching the small business seminar that starts tomorrow. Scott and Benjamin worked on getting the solar powered back-up power system ready for installation. They were able to test part of it by the end of the day.
It is wonderful to have so much competent help! Today I mostly spent time visiting with people.
Scott helping Csaba
Scott and Csaba
My hard drive died after the first day of translation checking. When Scott arrived he lost no time in getting my laptop back up and running with a new hard drive. He recovered my data.
Scott is making progress configuring the new computer equipment we brought out.
Checking Luke
Here are Csaba, Perez and Alexis working on checking their translation of the Gospel of Luke into Bakwé. Cracking jokes in French and Bakwé from time to time helps relieve the intense hours of focusing on verse after verse.
Tomorrow we should be done with chapter 12 by noon; praise the Lord!
Benjamin writes …
Benjamin and Perez
For me (Benjamin) everything is as crazy as remembered, for Scott, the different sights and smells are blowing his mind, “like something he is used to seeing in pictures or on TV.”
The translation work is going well, albeit somewhat slow. The internet connection both here and over in Senegal has been somewhat sketchy. Dakar is the capital city of Senegal, and has been having power outages during the past few days. This has led to some dropped connections every so often. The work is going forward, however, and Csaba will be done checking the translation through chapter 12 of Luke by noon tomorrow (Saturday).
Scott has been was able to help the local web administrator fix the internet connection by removing some faulty equipment from service. Scott has also been working on setting up the computers for the internet connection via a mobile phone modem. The connections are finally operational after a lot of work. He has been a huge help to Csaba as well in getting everything completely backed up and creating an easy restore process for the guys to follow when they have computer problems in the future.
I have been working helping Scott by translating things into French as he has been working to keep the internet going so that Csaba can keep the checking going. I have also been working on fixing the audio recording equipment that is damaged, and recording the Scriptures, and training Csaba’s Bakwé colleagues, Perez and Firmain, in how to use the new equipment. To date we have recorded Galatians, and James, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and some of the Gospel of John. The recording quality is really high and the guys are picking up on the new mixer and software well. And for a real point of praise, I accidentally broke a piece of the audio gear today, but am able to get a replacement taken out by Kjell who is leaving 6am Saturday morning. So thankfully beyond the extra work of finding a replacement and arranging for Kjell to pick it up, things will be able to continue without any problems. God is very kind. I am looking forward to giving the guys additional training on the audio equipment tomorrow and next week.
So overall things are on track and going well. God has been prospering our work… and we are looking forward to being in the village after a few more days of Abidjan.
Benjamin, for us all