March 14: meeting set up by Schalk Botha (Bible Society of Namibia) with Wilfrid Haacke. We discussed details on background of the Khoe (meaning ‘person,’ which Haacke says speak the ‘Hottentot’ languages) and the San (meaning ‘gatherer,’ also spelled Saan, but more commonly as San, which Haacke distinguishes as only being the Bushmen. Some use the term ‘Bushman’ for both Khoe and San people. A major language spoken by a large group of Khoe, San, as well as Negroit people in Namibia is Khoekhoegowab (meaning ‘person person language’ or ‘a real natural person language’). These people have a complete New Testament that has just been revised and Old Testament translation is on the way by the Bible Society of Namibia. In contrast I understood that there is a group of maybe only 6000 speakers of Khwedam in Namibia, Angola, and Botswana with only some basic literature for academic purposes. Haacke’s suggestion is to work with only the few that show possibilities from an academic, literate, and logistic perspective. From my understanding, he doesn’t seem to consider ‘readiness’ a key factor. He acknowledges that there is some academic advance among maybe two of the San groups, but his specialty is in Khoe and he mostly is able speak of the San from a perspective of comparison with the Khoe. Haacke’s does acknowledge that music and poetry (which he feels is almost extinct) may have played an important role in the culture, but he is not sure where it fits currently. With the Khoekhoegowab, the Bible Society of Namibia discovered that poetry is still very alive and it is part of their school curriculum (current and past materials).
March 15: meeting set up by Schalk Botha with Marlice van Vuuren, who heads up the N/a'an ku sê Foundation (www.naankuse.com). They support the !Xun-Ju/'hoansi community through their schooling program, a clinic, and more recently, an orphanage. She grew up with these San in the Gobabis area and speaks the language fluently and has seemingly peer kind of relationships with some of the people because of her obvious love for the people, despite employing a group of about 20 San and their families working for the lodge and wildlife sanctuary of N/a'an ku sê. They even built a village for the !Xun-Ju/'hoansi workers, but the clinic is actually near Gobabis with involvement of more !Xun-Ju/'hoansi. Marlice is very open to us observing and learning from her experiences and with her as a catalyst already having good and deep relationships with the !Xun-Ju/'hoansi, the readiness for a pilot project is great in this context. Her approach currently focuses on giving the !Xun-Ju/'hoansi an equal place to function in Namibian society like any other people and therefore literacy and academic training are key factors in her program. In meeting together with the chef of the lodge restaurant, I learned that even though the chef shared proudly that she was able to read, that she didn’t read any in the !Xun-Ju/'hoansi language due to the few materials available.
March 16: participated in the trauma healing convening session by Schalk Botha and Margaret Hill for about a dozen Namibian participants (including one lady from Zimbabwe). Aside from the program structure currently used, trauma healing is a key issue to be considered in Scripture engagement. It can be a door opener, a bridge, a catalyst, and foster discipleship if used as a natural factor in holistic ministry. Schalk does have a perspective that ties into oral base approaches applying engagement principles in carrying through with trauma healing beyond it being a mere tool or program.
March 17: travel via Gobabis and Ghanzi to East Hanahai in Botswana. Meeting set up by Schalk Botha with Dirk Kotzee, pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church among the !Xun-Ju/'hoansi in the Gobabis area. Dirk, locally is already known after two years of service in the area as the ‘White Bushman,’ has a heart for the !Xun-Ju/'hoansi. He is actively reaching out and involving !Xun-Ju/'hoansi in building their own congregation. He knows a little about orally based approaches, but he is very open and his desire is to empower the !Xun-Ju/'hoansi. He has a great vision, which at this point would use a lot of outside motivation, funds, plans, etc., but seems ready to learn and see what real empowerment towards Scripture engagement means. This also may be a good place to evaluate further for a pilot project, maybe in coordination with Marlice (they know a bit about each other and Marlice is originally from the Gobabis area, while one of the San people, that could play potentially a key role, already has a relationship with both Dirk and Marlice.
March 18: learn a lot from Hessel and Coby Visser as they take me to East Hanahai, a Naro settlement, where I get to experience village living and a church service of one of the sub- congregations of the Reformed Church of Bostwana led by a Setswana speaking pastor (leading weekly Bible studies and the church service once each month) expressing himself more like Bantu church leaders (he is Sotho), dressed in black suit, white shirt with a tie. The service is predominantly in Setswana, with a little English (probably for my benefit) and there is translation in Naro. According to Hessel and Coby, when the pastor is not there, the service is much less formal and more Naro is used (sometimes translation is from Naro to Setswana). There is great potential in this small congregation if the pastor is open for it, but he first needs exposure to a different approach without feeling threatened in his position of authority. The people seem all completely oral from a cultural and worldview perspective (even though many may read at least some), yet the church service has a literate and traditional Dutch Reformed liturgical feel to it. People are asked to come up front and read out loud and, except for the Vissers serving as a catalyst for San songs, most songs are Setswana in this particular service. They also make their own songs and sometimes Coby and Hessel as surprised to hear new ones (about Scripture). There is a quartet of ladies that has a repertoire of about nine songs… they feel they need a key board, but if their burden to sing grows beyond that, they could potentially be a great source of Bible songs in Naro if they realize that potential themselves and develop a vision for it.
March 19: I met with the three people of the Naro translation team in D’kar and through a devotional and fellowship time started to see enthusiasm developed for Scripture engagement with the mindset of empowering the people. I also visited the local cultural museum and Kuru Project art school. The museum gives a history of the Naro in general and it zooms in on D’kar and the history of the work in the area. The art institute encourages and trains the Naro to use their own art forms and there is much expression of their culture in the subjects the Naro choose, sometimes even expressing cultural stories (their art is sold worldwide for good money). Together with these two things and several books that have recorded San stories, historical anecdotes, and history, there should be a good source from which the San themselves could look for bridges and door openers between their culture and the Bible. The Vissers, together with the Naro team, also have developed many great tools that could be used in a wider Scripture engagement strategy.
March 20: travel day from D’kar to Gaborone. Meet with Bible study group of Dutch Reformed Church near Rehoboth Bed and Breakfast where I find that there is an appearance of great interest for the peoples of Botswana, but no awareness of the needs or the diversity of languages. One person right away would like to help as short term volunteer; others realize the need for funds and prayer.
March 21: meeting with Rev. Eddie Rantshilo of the Bible Society of Botswana in Gaborone. The Bible Society, as an established organization in Botswana, is ready to serve in the partnership by helping with needed visas, etc. as well as publishing and distributing materials as needed in country. Eddie confirms the lack of awareness of the Botswana church in context of the need for Scripture and its access in the minority languages of Botswana and the church is not really aware of the opportunities there are to engage. Eddie is not sure how to engage the church, but I believe that there are opportunities to make the church excited and see how they may engage to serve the San and other minorities in their own country. Part of it is that I suspect the need for the church at large to engage at a deeper level with God’s Word in a relevant way. This in return may help Scripture engagement in the Botswana church as a whole and beyond that increase the work and profile of the Bible Society of Botswana. Currently the Bible Society uses primarily printed materials, while there is an option to use audio materials, but budget and personnel are not sufficient (for example there is no public relations staff member).
March 22: travel in morning from Gaborone to Lobatse. Meeting with Len and Sanet van Onselen with Word to Africa (part of the Every Nation Family, PO Box 941, Lobatse, Botswana, tel. (267)71404434, email wtabadmin@botsnet.bw). They are working with the Khwedam, Naro, !Xõo, and several others in the North of Botswana and around the Kalahari Game Reserve (KGR, see Botswana map). Recently some of the San have been allowed to return to the KGR and they want to include these groups too, as well as others where they know that no work is going on. Their current approach is to send a person to live in the area who seeks to establish a relationship with a ‘man of peace’ and through the ‘man of peace’ start discipleship from the scriptures and develop house churches without a church hierarchy. They started this way of serving in 2004 and I suggest that it will be good to get a closer look at what is happening and how scripture is used in this context. Word to Africa is very open to work together and also for me to come along and take a look at the projects with Len, when he goes and visits the projects (he does this twice annually). From what I understand, their teaching style is still more conventional based on preaching, but they have a systematic approach in addressing essential issues for discipleship from Scripture. Still, the people are not directly engaging with Scripture. Len and his teams have observed that the San love to tell stories, but their current way is for entertainment, sharing of things that happened and they like to embellish them.
From asking questions, the interactions, my reading, and my initial observations it is obvious to me that a potential for real advance of the San really engaging with God’s Word can (except for a miracle of God) only come through local empowerment using relevant strategies that look at forming bridges between the San culture and their worldview to the Bible and its values. I believe all communication art forms need to be considered (especially in context what already has been done and what the government is stimulating or dictating), but that oral expressions will form a foundation and majority for a healthy church become a reality (where people really enthusiastically engage at depth with God’s Word and grow to maturity). From my perspective, training in understanding and integrating worldview relevant communication strategies, including the orality component, will be an essential foundation needed for most people involved. There will be many obstacles and it won’t be an easy or quick road, especially where certain ministry patterns already have been formed and where other partners are involved that may insist on their current approaches. The best approach for all projects is to start with a clean slate and use what already has been done only as is relevant and in a timely fashion.
Respectfully submitted,
Durk Meijer, Wycliffe RTS Scripture Engagement Consultant
