IT Colleague for the North of Cameroon

The work of CABTAL has been expanding and the last couple of years I was being told time and again that it will be good for me to visit our teams in the North for IT work despite the fact that my colleague Marcel Nko'o based in Yaounde goes there from time to time. I didn't really welcome this idea because it is a very long way for me to travel. Maybe about 1700km or something.
Meet Nathanael here.

ParaText Training with Aghem MTTs

ParaTex Training session with Aghem MTTs in Wum. It was an excellent working session. I trained Charles, Jessica and Zang the first day. Zang one of the translators thrilled us with this question: "Please sir, who taught the computer the Aghem language that it seems to understand it so well and translates it properly in English in a very short time?" The second day I told Jessica that she was going to train Alfred with me just watching. She did it with very little assistance from me.
ParaText helps mother tongue translators in several ways. In this case, they can now produce an interlinear back translation and a free or literal back translation. At the same time they are reading through their work and making necessary corrections. Also it saves cost of paper and printing and will greatly facilitate checking with a translation consultant who doesn't speak their language.
In Weh I installed a copier/printer/scanner for the team and they were so excited as they can now print, copy and scan right there!

Work in Mmen Project

We visited the Mmen Project and trained the Mother Tongue Translators to use a feature within ParaText called project interlinearization. This will help them to do their backtranslations easily, properly and even faster hence accelerating the process of Bible Translation. We also installed a laser printer for them to keep their office up to task. Pray for this people group and their community.

Adventurous Trip to the Awing Bible Translation Office

I went to the motor park to take public transport to Awing but because I went a bit late, I could only ride on the back/top of the truck! Yes it was embarrassing but that was the only option. Riding on the back/top of the truck on pretty bad Awing roads is very scarry. You have to grab the bars with both hands and struggle to balance yourself as the wind blows seriously on you. The only good thing however is that you can see everything around including lake Awing and the beautiful rocks and countryside. So I struggle to get some shots with my camera. I am very thankful that on my way back I got a comfortable seat inside the truck. Praise the Lord for safety on these roads.

IT work in Ngwo Project (Njikwa)

CABTAL IT Service went to install Solar power and Internet service in the Ngwo Bible Translation Office in Njikwa so as to accelerate the work of Bible Translation and Language development for the team. The roads to Ngwo are not very friendly. But with the expertise of Kenga Ernest and the CABTAL Landcruiser plus the absence of rain you can be sure to make it safely.

When we arrived in Njikwa, men just showed up from nowhere and gave us a helping hand in digging and mixing the sand and cement, breaking the rocks and all that was needed to setup the platform for the solar panels.
We were very happy for the help that several men came from no where and gave us.

We were able to train the typist and other ladies to use the computer to type in Ngwo, their heart language. Lovert was very happy to be able to able to use the computer to type Ngwo - her language.

The Fon came to see what we were doing. He is very encouraging and supportive to the Bible Translation Project. He has given the Land of Ngwo to Jesus! He even invited us to his palace that night. We were amazed to get to know and hear a lot from such an important personality like the fon of Ngwo.

Connections

Every time I go to my village, people always want stop by and say hello. Greetings are very very important and cannot be ignored. In fact, as one of my Physics teacher Mr. Seka Godfrey will always remind us when teaching us,"greetings are prayers" so do not ignore them. These two men with my mother are from my village. These are men I grew up and they have always been around. They have also been very healthy but age is coming real fast. The one on the left doesn't see very well but he is a very good organist. He hails from a neighboring village and I always enjoy him playing the organ in Church back in those days. It is amazing how long he treks even with poor sight.
The Pa on the right is my parents closest neighbor and family friend for as long as we moved into this area. He has been a petit merchant over the years. He sells just a few things moving around with them asking someone to open the market (tóʼ la wáy?). Actually he is said to have been the one who started our market in Sop which has grown to become a very big market but he still says just his few goods. You never see him at home with any such items to sell but what happens is that when he gets to the market, he takes them from other stationed traders and then moves around selling them. At the end he goes back with his own little gain.
He reminded me in appreciation something that happened sometimes ago that I had actually forgotten. He once asked me for money in the market when I just arrived from Bamenda and I politely told him that I didn't think he needed the drink. He was very surprised but I added that I am sure that he was in need of oil or soap or keresene and he gladly accepted. I provided him with cooking oil and that taught him a lesson. I was very happy when he told me that I taught him a lesson that he will never forget. God can work in ways that we cannot imagine. All we need to ask God each day is to use us. May we be His hands, feet and mouthpiece so that the world me may know even in smaller things.
They all belong to meeting together and they have their meetings on Sundays after Church service.

Do you like tethering goats?

When I was growing up, I didn't like tethering goats for several reasons. It was a very difficult thing for me to do because I was suppose to tether them when it was very cold in the mornings and I didn't like to leave my comfort of my warm blanket. In the evenings too, I could not stay out a bit longer because the goats need to get into pane??
As if this was not enough, some goats were very heady. Even more so, goats will chew up any savon around and we will be in trouble with either our mother or didn't even have any soap left for washing stuff.
From time to time a goat will let loose and eat up someone's crops and you will be in trouble. One day I went to tether goats and grabbed some grass and a snake was right there. It almost got me.
When I finally left the village, I had nothing to do with goats for a very long time except to have them in my place for I really like goat meat.
One day I had some money with my father and before he long, he told me he had used it to buy a goat. I was very mad at him for buying a goat with my money even without my consent. Actually my father bought the goat because the goat owner had some health crises and my father would not watch someone in need when he had the money and the person wanted to sell the goat. I almost told my father off about the goat issue but thank God I held my peace. Several months down the road, I received some money from my father that my goat gave birth and the young grow up and was sold. I felt so ashamed of myself in front of my father. This is my little goat that my cousin is tethering for me. It has another young again. Maybe I will eat that one with time since I like goat meat.