Report 2014, February 8 to 15, San (!Kung, Ju/'hoansi), Namibia

• San Scripture Engagement 4th follow through workshop (!Kung and Ju/’hoansi in Mangetti Dune)

Paticipants: Shotty, Jafet, Petrus, Josef from !Kung, and Isak (church leader from Mangetti Dune, who is not !Kung and is chaplain at the hospital and can join most of the week), as well as Ju/’hoansi elders Maarten (N!aici) from Aasvoëlnes and Gerrie from Tsumkwe.  Hendrik van Zyl is the overseeing pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church and host of the workshop.

Topics to be covered:

1. What oral Scripture passages have been prepared until now and how well do people know them
2. How are they used and are people engaging with these oral Scripture passages
3. What do we need to different and how can we do things better
4. Development of story sets
5. Integrating oral Scriptures and relevant engagement strategies into overall ministry work.
6. Practicing oral Scripture telling en engaging with the Scripture passages
7. What is consultant checking
8. The reason for consultant checking
9. The relevance for and need to develop local primary level consultants
10. The importance of addressing the key principle issues Scripture addresses
11. The importance of making disciples
12. How to mentor and make disciples
13. The importance of repetition
14. Evaluate the storying venues and various communication art forms used in practice
15. Hone scripture telling  skills and do community testing
16. Improve the process of internalizing (discover and own) the truths communicated in the Oral Scripture

February 8:

• Travel from Cape Town to Grootfontein.

February 9:

• Travel via Kano Vlei, Amatako, and Mkata to Mangetti Dune.  Hendrik van Zyl, as overseeing pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church/Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk, ordains Shotty (in Kano Vlei) and Jafet (in Amatako) as pastors now they have completed their training with the Dutch Reformed Church.  They join us after the ordination services, as well as Josef and Petrus from Mkata.

February 10:

• First all day workshop session starting at 8:00 AM. Hendrik starts with a devotional time.
• Next I lead us in a review of what we have accomplished over the first three workshops and share with them what to expect during this week.  We realize that the spacing of the workshops has not been ideal and that some progress was lost due the length of time between them. 
• I ask four people to model a narrative passage from the Bible orally for our devotional times (one each day), while the two other !Kung speakers will lead on Wednesday afternoon a story telling session as part of community checking in Mangetti Dune.  We also plan for the following workshops and set the dates for March 31 to April 4 in Tsumkwe and October 20 to 23 (preliminary dates and place to be determined) Hendrik visits the area for one week every other month and he is able to offer three of these to us each year.  Most of the men also travel the alternating months for a week of training to Grootfontein, so these men may be gone one week of the month throughout the year.  The !Kung and Ju/’hoansi men are scheduling to come for the March 31 to April 4 workshop, but Hendrik may not be able to come, so I plan to see if Eben can join me.
• Then we reconfirm the difference between storytelling and oral Scriptures.  Our focus is on helping them prepare oral Scriptures in their language and through relevant engagement strategies allow them to become part of their communities.  These oral Scriptures can be recited and we want to prepare a recorded standard that will be the start of an oral Bible in !Kung and Ju/’hoansi.  Narrative passages of the Bible will be very suitable for this start and we agree that we will aim to use that word instead of story, since the popular meaning of story is not oral recitation of Scripture and can cause confusion since people will naturally think about storytelling from the Bible. In this way people can use storying strategies using different communication art forms as relevant with the oral scriptures in their own language being their primary (or sometimes only) ‘Bible.’ (In languages where written scriptures are available, they can for literate people become of course also a key source)
• Tying in to the fact that we’re actually doing Bible Translation and looking back at the 3^rd workshop in Tsumkwe with Hessel Visser being there as consultant we discuss:
  
  • What is consultant checking
  • The reason for consultant checking
  • The relevance for and need to develop local primary level consultants
• After lunch I model Luke 10:25-37 about the teacher of the law who comes to Jesus asking what he should do to inherit eternal life.  They identify names that need explanation, words that are they don’t understand, words that they don’t have words for in their language, as well as words that they need to check through community checking for accurate and clear understanding.
• I model drawing people into the story by using questions as follows:
  
  • Who are the persons in the story (teacher of the law, Jesus, God, A man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, robbers, a priest, a Levite, a Samaritan, and an inn keeper)?
  • Starting with the teacher of the law I lead them with questions through the story, making sure the whole story is processed in detail
  • Next I ask what they like, don’t like, without any real response, which confirms again that for the !Kung and Ju/’hoansi these abstract questions don’t work
  • When I ask who they would like to be in the story, then there is a ready response (all of them Samaritans)
  • I then ask some questions helping them to think further what the Samaritan really did (he had compassion, he helped in a dangerous area where the robbers also could rob him and hurt him in his vulnerable position of helping the wounded man, he used his own material to bound the wounds, as well as his wine and oil, he transported the wounded man on his animal, he took care of the man at the inn, when leaving the inn he paid for the wounded man to be taken care off without any financial limit)
• After talking about the importance of repetition, they go in teams of two to practice the story and discuss what words and other issues need special attention

February 11

• Josef models Daniel 6 about Daniel and King Darius.  The narrative lacks some details, but is accurate enough for Josef to draw us into the passage through questions.  There is a lot of need for me to coach Josef with the questions, since this approach is still new for him as well as most of the others. This makes our time to engage with the story also a great teaching time.
• Next they make the following list of words that need to be discussed from Luke 10:25-37:
  
  • Expert or teacher of the law
  • Teacher
  • inherit
  • Law (of Moses)
  • The Lord your God
  • Soul/life
  • Neighbor (Afrikaans: naaste)
  • Jerusalem
  • Jericho
  • Half dead
  • Priest
  • Levite
  • Samaritan
  • compassion
  • (olive) oil
  • Wine
  • Inn
  • The money paid by the Samaritan to the inn keeper (two denarius)
• In our large group we process these words and test some of them with an outside person.
• The group practices telling the narrative two by two.
• We also talk once more about the relevance of proper introductions and how all the stories fit into the context of where we find them in the Bible, as well as that they are part of the overarching story of the whole Bible.

February 12

• First Jafet models Luke 13:11-32 and the narrative is shared well, but the processing of the passage is still not an easy thing to do and it provides more opportunity to teach the principles of taking the listeners through the narrative using questions.
• Next the group once more practices telling the narrative two by two.
• We process next what community checking looks like when using oral narratives.
• We talk about a purposeful focus to help the listeners learn the narratives and tell them on in their communities.
• We ask all participants to identify at least one person within their community that could come to the next workshop that can be trained as a story teller and that can maybe also help in preparing narratives.
• We finish up deciding which words should be checked in community testing and what words they will use for the testing.
• The last session of the day we go into Mangetti Dune and use Luke 10:25-37 through a !Kung story telling session for community testing in two different locations where some of the Church elders live.  Shotty and Petrus have their first opportunity to share.  In one location the audience includes a pastor of another church, as well as a few other people that ask a lot of questions and there is good discussion about the narrative, as well as the words that needed to be tested. This session last a couple of hours. In the other location we learn that most people care gone to the fields, but we agree to come back around 6:30 to 7:00 PM.  Since there are many people scattered in the area where the other team is, we find a location in that neighborhood to share.  One of the listeners responds afterwards with saying: ‘You need to come every day.  This is the first time we hear stories like this.  When will you come back?’
• At 7:00 PM we go back to the other location and the elder of the church and a few others are ready to listen.  Josef leads the session this time and people are interested in the questions, but they still need to eat their evening meal, so we can’t go on very long.  Through the questions in all three sessions we learn that people normally all would like to be like the Samaritan.

February 13

• Maarten (N!aici) leads in a session using the narrative from Genesis 4:1-12.  He is normally shy and introverted, so this isn’t easy for him and it takes quite a while to narrate the Scripture passage and leading us in processing the story.  He does seem to understand the concept and some of his questions a very insightful, but he lacks confidence.
• We debrief on the community checking sessions of the day before and the attendees realize that it is important to:
  
  • Need to plan ahead and if possible let people know about the storying time
  • Find times that will work for the people (not when they are farming, gathering wood, or preparing the evening meal)
  • They need to know the narrative well
  • The is an openness to be able to share in the extended family communities or kraals
  • Encourage people individually to come to a session, as well as to respond to questions
• I also talk about the importance of making disciples and how this approach through telling the stories publically in the community can be part of that process.  In their own training from Degnos (the Service and Witness centre of the Dutch Reformed Church in the north eastern part of Namibia and in Afrikaans stands for: Diens En Getuienis Noord-Oos Sentrum), they already receive training in this area and they are encouraged to go share outside the context of the church and the church building. 
• We prepare to go do further !Kung community checking in the afternoon.  One team will drive to Amatako and Kano Vlei, while the other team will share at two places in Mkata (they only find people in one place and leave it at that).  I am part of the session in Kano Vlei where Shotty leads.  Without prior announcement, there are 14 adults and 10 children attending in the heat of the afternoon.  Shotty initially is a little nervour, but once the story has been shared and people start to respond to the questions, Shotty calls with a big smile out to me to see if I notice that the people are responding to the questions.  He says that this is his first time to share like this in the community and outside the church.  In Amatako, where we have about a dozen of adults and an equal amount of children, I get a similar response from Jafet.  Afterwards he tells me about telling the narratives of the Bible in the community: ‘Actually this is the work we need to do.’

February 14

• Gerrie starts the day with modeling the narrative from Genesis 41:1-32, which has many details and some repetition of information.  He tells it well, but still struggles with some of the details.  The engagement part using questions works a little better.
• Next we debrief from the community checking on Thursday and the issue around most of the words is resolved.  For example, the word for wine is not known in either language and they will use a borrowed word from Portuguese (via Angola) that is commonly used (viño) and for oil they use the name of the oil from a local berry that looks like an olive and has healing properties, to make sure it won’t be confused with engine oil.  They agree to continue checking the words they are using for clarity and accuracy.  I encourage them to continue have story telling session like they experienced, maybe in the same places and on a regular basis (like weekly).
• Then I review with them the principles involved of developing story sets that are relevant by showing them once more the detail picture of the skin of a cocoon.  All of them are puzzled again by this picture, but they remember it when I show them the picture of them looking at the cocoon in the tree where I found it.  I then remind them that we can show a few details of God from the Bible that people won’t be able to relate to.  We first want to show them an understanding of what God is like, just like when we walked to the tree and saw the cocoon in its context and when people understand that we can show them more details.  I also use the drawing of a stick person again to remind them that we need to give people a basic overview of the important issues from the Bible first.  Then we put a puzzle of a picture together, where they learn that we need to start a puzzle with the easy parts that make sense to use and work from there to complete the puzzle connecting to parts they already have put together.
• They agree to work separately on an initial story set in both languages, with each participant preparing four narrative passages to recite for the next workshop in April.  By February 28 they will report back via Isak and Hendrik to me with the stories they have chosen.  They can include the stories that they have been working on but not the story we used this week or for the 1Kung Luke 15: 11-32 passage which already has been consultant checked in October 2013.
• They also will look for words that are difficult to communicate in their language and flag them to be discussed, as well as look for good introductions to the stories they are preparing.
• They are encouraged to tell and test the stories telling them at least five times each week, including the ones they already know.  Hendrik will try to fit in a few hours to review what is done at the next Degnos training sessions in Grootfontein in June.  Hendrik will also look when we can schedule the next workshop where we should finalize the stories for the initial story set and then maybe take the people back to their communities after three days to practice the stories in their own communities.  Then coming back from Tsumkwe we can check on each location how it is going.  Later, when the stories have been completely finalized, tested and consultant checked, we plan to record them to canonize the official versions and make them available for electronic distribution as relevant strategies develop in that context.
• I close with confirming them again as the local experts and that they are part of a very big thing by helping their people to start having a ‘living’ Bible through the stories that can be told in every kraal. Isaac then prays for all of us.
• In the afternoon I travel with Maarten (N!aici) and Gerrie to Aasvoëlnes where Maarten leads a session in his own community.  There are about 25 adults present and a dozen children of various ages.  Maarten has much more confidence in his home community, but still Gerrie and Maarten work together through the questions.  The session lasts almost two hours and the people engage very well.
• In the evening Gerrie shares the story at a small farm community in Tsumkwe (which is part of the wholistic ministry approach of the Dutch Reformed Church).  There are about 14 adults and 7 children present, including Leviet (who attended the previous workshops, but is on leave recovering from TB).   The people engage well and Leviet even helps in asking questions.

February 15

• He wants to try to re-record Genesis 41: 1-41, but the is loud music outside and it wouldn’t work.  I share some of the audio files with Gerrie (Genesis 41: 1-41 as recorded in October of 2013, as well as Luke 15: 11-32 in !Kun  and Luke 8: 40-56, Luke 10: 38-42, Luke 19: 1-10, and John 8:1-11 in Naro.
• I leave right after 9 AM to travel via Dobe to Shakawe in Botswana where I arrive eleven and half hours later, traversing 358 kilometers.  The Botswana unpaved roads are very unpredictable (especially in the rainy season) and thanks to the cautions of Hendrik van Zyl I was able to travel safely, despite getting stuck once on the way.  In this context it is my recommendation that until the Botswana unpaved roads improve and become more stable that during the rainy season travel between Tsumkwe and Shakawe or Ghansi will be, as far as Botswana is concerned, via paved roads.

My overall impression is that it went very well.  It was crucial for the participants to get some practical experience through the community testing effort.  The assignment for the next workshop we agreed on for each individual is to:

1. Identify at least 1 person that can be trained to help with the oral scripture program (a local story teller and/or a person to help preparing oral scripture passages.
2.  Learn 4 new stories that can work together (and the list is to come to me via Isak and Hendrik by the end of February)
3. Tell the new stories at least 5 times publically each week

The progress made still needs to be considered in context of the unique situation of these people groups and, from my perspective, it continues to reflect the newness of using relevant oral scripture engagement approaches, by preparing oral scripture passages and using stories from the Bible in a cultural relevant setting and addressing issues that the people can relate to.  For them to start sharing the stories in their communities themselves is significant.  Sufficient time and workshops need to be given in order for them to grow in ownership of the project, as well as allowing them to progress at their pace to establish a firm foundation for them to see this approach effectively work and for it to become well integrated in their world and ministry as pastors and elders.  Currently most of these people still don’t have access to easy transportation, their area is also not mobile phone accessible (but they are building a tower in Amatako), most of them don’t have electricity and running water, and their planning is from day to day.  Besides the monthly interactions through Degnos, they have no workable support infrastructure and work in their own communities, except for the men in Tsumkwe who have phone and possible internet access.

Note about the Olympus recorders: Petrus brought back his Olympus audio recorder, which ran out of battery power and when they replaced the battery, it wouldn’t work anymore.  It showed significant wear of having been used, but no appearance of having been tampered with after they opened it up.  He said that he used it a lot recording songs etc.  I’ll try to find someone who is willing to check it out further and recover the recordings they made.  Typically these units are only fit to be thrown away when they break.  Even though the unit was shared with them to be used and not given to own, it was interesting that they did claim ownership.  Gerrie showed me his, which he had not used yet since he received it in October of 2013.  I shared all the recordings mentioned above with Gerrie putting them on the Olympus recorder that he keeps in Tsumkwe.

Respectfully submitted,

Durk Meijer, Wycliffe RTS Ethno Communications Specialist

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