Passion for computers

Proverbs 10:5 Wán wo wù sə́ yè wov é ghan sé ŋkav dzə̀ wo wù kér vifií, wo wù buúne e ghan se vifá vi biyin, shoor tàr wov.
Proverbs 10:5 A son who gathers in summer is prudent, but a son who sleeps in harest brings shame.
Kasina is a young boy from Weh who is in High School (lower sixth). For the past several months he has not been to school because of the current situation in Cameroon. Pastor Eugen found him and is encouraging him to learn computers. Kasina is very passionate about it and is a fast learner too. He came to our Bloom class and did very well. The way he handles the computer doesn't look like someone who has not learned how to use computers before. He did all his assignments well. He is the kind of person who can learn on his own. Besides his work on Oral Bible Stories, Translation and his studies, Pastor Eugen and his wife also have a passion for identifying young people in their community and building their capacities in very meaningful ways that can bring about life transformation. This is a very significant way of ministry among his own people. Equipping people this way can with time have a great impact in their lives and the community as a whole.

Bloom Training in Weh

This week I have been working with the Weh team. They had requested to learn Bloom so that they can make their literacy booklets. I was very excited to go there and spend time with them to train them. They can now make basic books in Bloom. I was also able to help them with some ParaTExt issues as they are preparing to publish two Gospels in the coming months.
It was good to stay with Pastor Eugen once again though at this time, his wife and two children are in Yaounde so I missed the entire family.
Weh is very nice and they have water 100% constant. The only problem is that the quality of the cellular network is poor so the network is very shaky.
We also spend time sharing Scripture and praying together. It was good to process some LaRed principles and see how they share from their hearts.
In the next coming days, they will have a Gospel and culture workshop. This is really going to be an eye opener as the notables listen to the Word of God shine the light in their cultural practices.
May the Lord bless this community and the people group.

Working in Isu

I traveled to Weh in Menchum Division and spent the night with my colleague Pastor Eugene Weh. My other colleagues Ernest and Bolak spent the night at the hotel. First thing in the morning we went to Esu where I was heading to help the language project setup their Internet Connection so that as they do their work, they can be able to send/receive ParaTExt files. Communicate with their consultant. Send/Receive emails and update virus definitions plus a whole lot of others.

I had gotten news that they now have good cellular connection so I purchased an MTN wifi modem but unfortunately the technology I took down there was higher than what the MTN towers can provide. I have to return back and look for a kind of mother that can really work well for them.

It was good however to meet them and see their environment. Now I have a good understanding of the situation and where they come from. Now I even know what they go through to travel from their community to Bamenda.

I left for Weh to work with the Community there and my colleagues are running a workshop on "Gospel and Culture". While I was still there, I saw the notables already arriving for this event. Gospel and culture is an opportunity to engage the community with the word of God in a relevant way that shines the light of the word of God in their daily practices. It is very challenging but a good eye opener to each an everyone who comes. Even goes back with a different world view with an even broader understanding of God's will for us all.

Make Communication Clear

God bless our new copier machine

We recently purchased a new copier/printer for our center. I sent Eliot to Yaounde to purchase 15 laptops and one copier. All these business equipment will help staff and project workers around Cameroon to expedite the work of Bible Translation and language develop as CABTAL seeks to continue with its mission so as to see its vision realised.
Personally, I was very happy to have Eliot leading the way with the purchase and setup of this equipment. In the past, I will have to deal with everything but these days, I am playing more of a consultative role.
Lord please bless me to lead well as a team leader.

Mirielle & Bright (My little niece & nephew)

It was really fun to have little Bright and his sister Mirielle visiting us for just a couple of hours. My kid sister (Mildred's) children has been to Nso for holidays and were on their way back to Yaounde. They stopped over for the afternoon and spend time with us before getting reading for the night bus to Yaounde. It is really hard to see how fast these children grow.
What a blessing to have these little angels as my niece and nephew. I pray God's blessings on their lives as they grow up.

Be an Encourager

During the last ParaTExt workshop, Ma Sciphra Nde from Ngwo was very scared of the computer. I made a joke that she is looking at her computer and the computer is looking at her. I challenged/encouraged her to try using it. I told her that she can make it. On the day the workshop ended, she walked up to me and congratulated me for being a good teacher. She promised me that when next she comes to the office, she will have been typing. Today she walked into my office with a problem. I was happy to see her holding the laptop. I solved her problem and she was very happy. I was very happy too especially as she told me that because of my encouragement, she can now type. She told me that she is learning a lot. She made my day.

ParaTExt 8.0 plus consistency checks workshop, July 2017

The Regional Translation Coordinator Pastor Joseph Nkwelle invited me to train 2 teams to do basic ParaTExt on their text and prepare the Gospels of Mark and Luke for publication. Even before now, there has been a need of such a training for several other teams in the region two of which are nearing the typesetting of the NT. Instead of visiting and working with each time individually, I decided to organize a workshop at the Bamenda Regional Training Center (BRTC) to bring all the teams together for this workshop. I also arranged for a typesetting staff to be present so that we can teach this course together and he learns more about ParaTExt 8. Also this was a good moment to introduce the teams to begin using ParaTExt 8.0. This way, they can begin to use the new features in version 8 to check their text especially to do consistency checking on their text.
23 people were present for this training that lasted for 4 full days.
Participants expressed that they had learned a lot and will be putting this to use.
This workshop was mostly hands on with the projects using their own data to work on things. This was particularly important as they are preparing to publish two gospels.
It was an opportunity to continue mentoring Eliot. I was particularly happy to see one lady I had been working very closely with from the Bakweri project in Buea step up and help others. This gives me joy to see those I have trained put the lessons to use and even help others.

the CABTAL website is up and running!

After several months of very hard work by different people. 8th August 2017 at exactly noon, the cabtal website went operational. We are very grateful for Kalaam Media who is our host. We are very grateful to the team that worked so hard to get things to this level. Our website is still work in progress but visit it and have fun. Also leave us your feedback for reform.

Our roads! our roads!! our roads!!!

After a very tiring day in the office and trying to head back home to your family, sometimes you begin to wonder what next as you begin to see strange signs on the road. Even going to work sometimes you are not sure that your car will make it before the industry close to our office that deals with logs for electric poles always does wonders. If their huge trucks have not blocked the roads, they will have made it impassable. One day they had two trucks on the road so the entire road was completely blocked. I stood there for a while and no one even recognised my presence. I had no choice than to look for the back road. In is interesting how the truck drivers always consider themselves as the "kings" on the high way. Well we have to give way to the big vehicles else they crush us. Sometimes we have to pack our vehicles in the neighborhood and head to the office trusting them in the Lord's care and protection. Our Lord never fails us, he keeps watch all the time. The good news is that on the flip side, the road through our neighborhood is being worked on, for which we are so thankful to the Lord.

Special outfits made with love

When I was in Thailand in 2016, I came across this particular fabric and thought it was very nice. So I immediately got a piece. I knew very well that Lilian can work on it and produce something very beautiful. This weekend, she was very busy and look at what she produced for both of us! Now Caritas has not been to school this academic year because of the political situation. However, she has been spending her time learning how to design and sew and look what she is able to make. She can even make her own clothes now. I admire my wife and daughter for this special talent that they have to design and make outfits.I consider these as made very specially and with love too.

ParaTExt 8

I have setup ParaTExt 8 on about 25 laptops for 11 language projects. One remarkable thing is that I not had any difficulty at all in running the setup. One particular computer will not accept 7.5 but ParaTExt 8 installed smoothly. So these teams have all migrated to ParaTExt 8 and have had some training to use it and are using ParaTExt 8.0 successfully except for the slowness issue which has just been addressed by that updated. At least I downloaded the update and tried in my computer and it running well now.

Recently, I was working with one of the projects as we process their text as they prepare to go for typesetting. They are really taking advantage of the new features in ParaTExt 8 especially those that help in running basic checks, Wordlists, Key terms and Parallel passage checks. One of the translator (Christian Alomofor point on the screen) is also an exegete for other languages in the cluster. He is very happy to learn various tools in ParaTExt and sees how this prunes their work and now wants to encourage the teams he works with to begin using the checks and don't wait to introduce the checks at the very end. This is what I have been promoting and pushing over the years because when I train translators my expectation is that exegetes/consultants should enforce the use of various ParaTExt tools since they are in contact more often.