Access to Scripture in the appropriate media

One of the communities that we work with has been insisting that their scriptures should be made available not only in print but equally in audio as well as Android specifically in YouVersion format so that they can have it delivered unto their phones on a daily basis. To some people, it sounded as if they were asking too much for a start but to me, these are the formats that will make several people to really engage with the Scriptures very fast. This is equally an indicator that we need to listen to the people and provide what will serve them well not just what we think or want for them.
It was not until last Sunday in our Church that this became very clear to me as an older lady sat in front of me and I could see her using her Android phone to access Scriptures of course in English. Bambalang a language in the Ndop plain of North West Cameroon. So I greeted her in her language and you can imagine how she smiled back. I only know a few greetings in Bambalang though. Our SIL friends have been developing this language over the years. I have known the translators and we had a good relationship over the years. In fact, we just finished a workshop in which I was teaching the translators some tools they will use as they are nearing the completion of their NT and getting things ready for typesetting. I promised this lady that not long from now, she will access the Bible in her phone in the language of her heart and she is really looking forward tot that. She was surprised to hear that it is possible for her to have Scriptures in her language in her phone. She just come to Bamenda to visit her son. So it is encouraging to note that even people in the village access Scripture via their phones. I was just helping the translators as they are almost rounding up.

After Church, I made sure to greet her and told her that I really appreciate seeing her use her phone to access Scriptures. We got into a discussion and I sought to know what her language is. She speaks
I can see that with time more and more people will access Scripture this way. I need to get my mother an Android phone too as soon as possible. It is possible that accessing Scriptures in electronic formats like Android can also promote mother tongue literacy because people can easily switch between versions and read them. It is not easy to bring two Bibles to Church but carrying an Android device one can have more than one version installed. One good thing about electronic publishing too is that once a book is ready, it can be published and feedback can be gotten on the go as people begin to read it.

ParaTExt migration workshop in the Grand South

During the week of July 2, we got together with 14 translators, 2 exegetes and one consultant in the Francophone South of Cameroon to do a ParaTExt 8.0 workshop. This workshop was planned 8 months ago and closer to the time, I got word that there was no money. I am very thankful to the Chief Operations Officer, the National Translation Coordinator etc for having a good discussion and supporting me to see that this workshop takes place. It was a very interesting week with the devotions and the participants had the opportunity to share what they learned the previous day. We also had enough time to pray for each of the projects. Though I have challenges teaching in French, it was worth a try.

English Consultant Training in CABTAL

During the week of June 18, I was invited as one of the facilitators for the Bible Translation Consultant training that CABTAL organised. I had 3 sessions of 2 hours each to teach ParaTExt 8. I decided to sit in the other sessions so as to understand the needs and maybe see how I can tailor in with ParaTExt or other software tools. This was very very useful as I was able to see the needs. I was even able to answer some questions with some suggestions. During one sessions, one of the participants really asked questions to the translation that were purely LT questions, good enough I was there.Sitting in these sessions gives me a good overview of the Bible Translation process.

ParaTExt 8 migration workshops (Mfumte Cluster)

The week of June 4th, I had a workshop with 8 participants from 4 language groups in the Mfumte cluster in North West Cameroon. These teams have been translating the word of God and had some needs IT needs as well as how to use ParaTExt tools well. I sent my colleague Kengo Eliot there sometimes last year to train them on basic computer skills. This time we needed to get them out of the community for this workshop to be done properly because we needed access to the Internet.
The Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary (CBTS) gladly opened their doors for this workshop for which we are so thankful. There were also two translation degree students from Akwaya who just finished their course work and could not return quickly due to the crisis in their region so they took part in this workshop.
The translation degree coordinator was also very happy to be part of this workshop and I needed to setup Translators Worksplace (Logos) software on his laptop. This was a very good work as we stayed together in the same apartment, ate together and had sometime to watch an evangelism series "Walking with Jesus" by Campus for Christ.
This week was very eventful and very rewarding too.

Helping Hands...

I am so excited to see that my team is beginning to unfold. Eliot in Bamenda is able to trouble issues and mostly the one responsible for IT issues as I no longer sit in the IT office in Bamenda. Kadada does the same in Maroua though he doesn't have much work there as compared to Etienne in Yaounde and Eliot in Bamenda.
Although I still have to connect with them every so often to help them with one thing or the other, it is already evident that they are very very helpful. I went with Eliot to teach in workshop in Ndu and he could take care of lots of practical problems.
Etienne and I went to Bafia as I was doing a presentation on Bloom. Etienne did some basic computer training on the spot and that was very encouraging to see.
Etienne and I just did a ParaTExt workshop in Yaounde and he kept working non-stop in the background fixing things and resolving problems without asking me lots of questions. I appreciate the fact that Etienne is very capable of working on his own and only ask for help with he has to. In one photo pictured below, I described him as someone with five hands because he has two computers on his hand, looking at another one and yet paying attention to some other details.
When you have such people in your team and God blesses, you can be sure that there is going to be growth in the team, growth in the department, growth in the organisation and of course we will speed of the process of Bible Translation and Language development which is the reason for which our service exists.

Sporting activities at home

We have this ball at home and we even have some space but where is the time to play it. Whenever we manage to have sometime to play, we really enjoy ourselves as a family. I notice that when we start playing, some kids in the neighborhood will come to watch. They surely want to join us. This is a good opportunity to share with them. I look forward to arranging something one of these days.

Farming (my roots)

I grew up in the farm all along even though my activities makes it difficult for me to be in the farm often these days. My wife however, still enjoys the farm a lot. I tried to stop her but it won't work. She hired a farm nearby and planted some crops on it. One evening we decided to walk to this farm to see the crops and put some fertilizer. Here is how it looks like.
Caritas and Marie also enjoy the farm very well.