Postscript

Edward and Diane are both Canadian Chinese originally from Hong Kong.  They both currently serve SIL Cameroon in the Extreme North of Cameroon in the city of Maroua.  We visited with them for five days.

Diane works in the SIL office in Maroua helping with finance and office management. Edward is working with a team on a revision of the Fulfulde Bible.  He’s an exigete, which means that he’s the person on the revision team primarily responsible for making sure that the translation accurately reflects the Biblical texts.  His teammates concentrate more on ensuring that the text reads naturally in Fulfulde.

Photo by Zeke Du Plessis

Fulfulde is the mother tongue of the Fulani people, but is a language of wider communication throughout the Extreme North of Cameroon and in parts if Chad, Nigeria and Sudan. Approximately 1 million people speak this language.  The first complete Bible was published in 1983, and the hope is that this revision will be complete in less than 5 years.

As we talked with Shu-Mei and then Edward and Diane, we learned that Asians share some cultural values with Africans that many Westerners don’t.  For example, in Asian cultures and African cultures age and authority figures are given great respect, harmony and community are valued above the individual, many African and Asian cultures understand status in a different way than most Westerners, also many Asian and African cultures share a shame and honor cultural paradigm. There are still differences, but these similarities can position Asian colleagues in the gap between the cultures of the West and the cultures of Africa.  This can be a valuable asset on a multicultural team.

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Photo by Zeke Du Plessis

It may look like we are in Asia, but we’re actually still in Africa.  We’re now in the Extreme North of Cameroon in a town called Maroua visiting with two colleagues–Edward and Diane.  More on them later…

While we were with them we spent an evening visiting with the Chinese community that live and work in Maroua.  Here we are in Cameroon–making Chinese dumplings with people from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.  The Chinese we visited with are in Cameroon for a variety of reasons: four were Chinese teachers at a local university, two were either miners or oil drillers (can’t remember which), and one lady had a small shop in town.  Of course,  Edward, Diane and Jennie were also there and they are connected to my organization. The teachers have all their expenses while living in Africa paid for as part of a Chinese government program.

The Chinese influence in Africa is growing and diaspora communities of Chinese can be found all over the continent.  In every country I’ve visited in Africa I’ve seen evidence of Chinese presence and influence–new roads funded by them, trucks and supplies at ports coming from China, posters announcing visits from Chinese officials, Chinese businessmen on my flights in Africa, signs in different African countries advertising Chinese language classes, a Chinese missions conference for Chinese diaspora living in Africa in Nairobi…

When I see these people movements, I wonder how the Lord will use them.  Perhaps Chinese coming here will be ministered to by Christians in Africa, or maybe Chinese Christians will use these opportunities to minister to Africans or to Chinese diaspora living in Africa.

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This is Rob.  He was our pilot for our domestic flights in Cameroon. He’s just a little older than me, and has been serving as a pilot in Cameroon for a few years.

Some areas of this country are quite remote, so pilots like Rob provide vital transportation services to the staff working in those areas.  In addition to transporting people, they sometimes transport mail, and medical and food supplies.  They also may assist with medical and emergency evacuations.

Photo by Zeke Du Plessis

Rob flys and maintains a five-seater helio courier airplane. He is one of small team of pilot/mechanics assigned to SIL Cameroon (SIL is a partner organization of Wycliffe).  One person on that team flys a helicopter in order to transport staff in areas where it is not possible for a plane to land. Training for pilots who want to serve in a role like Rob’s is extensive because pilots must learn to take-off, fly and land in unconventional environments.  They also must be thoroughly trained as aviation mechanics.

Moody Bible Institute is one school that offers a missionary aviation program. But, even with this training often additional training is required before a pilot is ready to fly in remote areas where Wycliffe staff serve.  JAARS, a partner organization of Wycliffe, provides testing and training for pilots desiring to serve with Wycliffe abroad.  More pilots and aviation mechanics are needed in Cameroon and elsewhere around the world. Learn more about transportation needs and careers in Wycliffe.

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…more than just giving people a book, even if that book is the Bible.  Discipleship is also about believers having relationship with God and other believers, and believers learning to apply the principles of scripture in their everyday life.

We’ve been with Shu-Mei the last few days learning about her and her role in Cameroon.  She is originally from Taiwan, but spent several years in Paris before coming to Africa.  She works in Cameroon as a scripture use worker. Scripture use workers help communities where Bible translation is in progress or complete learn to interact and use scriptures in church and every day life.  They may conduct Bible studies, help communities create scripture media (scriptures in an audio format, etc), help communities interact with social issues using scripture (e.g. AIDS), and more.

We flew to a village called Yimbere where Shu-Mei worked for a couple of years with a couple who were translating the New Testament into Kwanja, a language group of about 20,000.  Martin and Joan Weber began translation work in 1982, and the New Testament was completed and then dedicated in December of 2006.   The Kwanja now have scripture in their own language, but having a book is not the end.  Scripture use was part of this translation project all along.  Shu-Mei and a small team contributed to helping this project by conducting workshops with church leaders showing them how to conduct Bible studies and how to integrate mother-tongue scriptures into their church services (previously conducted in the national language, French).  Some churches in the village are now using the Kwanja New Testament often and have incorporated what they learned in scripture use workshops into their services.  A couple of people that Shu-Mei worked with are now teaching the principles she taught them to others.  The translation team there is now working on translating the Old Testament into Kwanja.

It had been a while since Shu-Mei had visited Yimbere, but while we were going around with her, it was clear that she was remembered and missed.  We heard people call out greetings to her.  Children were yelling, “Shu-Mei, Shu Mei.” Men and women would come up to her and greet her by name.   Her closest friend from the village invited us to her home where we talked, ate and prayed with her.

Photo by Zeke Du Plessis

A highlight of our visit to Yimbere was going up a nearby mountain to pray.  We prayed for Africa. We prayed for the Kwanja people that God would touch their lives and transform the lives of more individuals as well as the whole community.  We prayed for each other.  We thanked God for His goodness and faithfulness.

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Yesterday, the first New Testaments translated into the Nomaande language were dedicated by the community that speaks Nomaande. We, that is my little media team, were present for their special celebration.  The lady in this photograph was an usher at the event.  It was so neat to see the excitement on her face when she held the New Testament in her own language for the first time.

It was my first time going to an event like this.  Music, special dances, special speakers, presentations–it was a full day including a big meal at the end. We took many photographs and some video clips of all the different aspects of the event.

Above: The directors of SIL Cameroon and CABTAL (two organizations involved in this translation) holding the New Testament in Nomaande.

Below: A few shots of those of us who were gathering photos and video footage at the event and around it.

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