On the edge of the deep issues

Written April 24.

There has been a lot of activity recently with the construction of the literacy classroom. People have been coming and going as the roof has gone on and this week the benches and desks were all carved from jungle trees and installed. As all this activity was going on one of the Kovol guys caught me alone to invite me to come to his house.

He had obviously waited until there was no one around. He wanted me to hike over to his house on Thursday morning so that he could “give me some talk”. He said that this talk would make other people angry if they heard it and so he wanted a private audience at his house. I agreed to go and give him a listen and the date was set. He would send a child to come and get me at the right time and show me the road. I wrote it in my calendar so I wouldn’t forget, and then promptly forgot.

Thursday morning then the child turns up and reminds me that I’m going on a hike to hear a story. I quickly get my hiking shoes on and go for a 45 minute hike. It had been a while since I had been away from our own little area and I was once more reminded of the intensity of jungle hiking. I’m in good shape and can keep up with Kovol guys uphill, but downhill there is no chance. They speed ahead as I slip and slide in the mud. The slopes are at times near vertical and part of the road takes us along a wet, slippery, rocky river. The Kovol people are amazingly well adapted to such hard hiking, they are really amazing people.

45 minutes later I arrive sweating profusely and go into the house to hang out and wait for all the family to turn up. I keep myself busy with small talk and going after vocabulary for the upcoming Bible lessons. One of our theme statements will likely be “God is merciful” and I needed to know how to translate that.

Once everyone arrived it was time for the important talk. I pulled out my voice recorder and got 30 minutes of talk in a mix of Kovol and Tok Pisin. Upon my return home I wrote some notes and loosely translated what was said for the benefit of my coworkers. They’ll need to give it a listen and see what they catch from it. I’d put my comprehension level at about 80%. 20% of the time, even re-listening to the recording I’m not confident on exactly what was said. I just wanted to say that to give you an idea of how tricky it is to understand what I’m hearing.

Below are the notes I wrote. It is long, so feel free to skip ahead. Alternatively give it a read and see if you can figure out what this important talk is that I was summoned to hear.

0-1m

I went to Nate and was with him. Nate said he would give me a road. Nate would send word to Germany and give us work men. I said the first talk Ai, U, I I said. I was saying that.

1m-2m

I was with my talk. You saw and came. I said Ai, U, I. I did work. I went and a fish came, I ate it and said it’s true. My ancestors said it, I said it today, I said the first talk and fish came

2m-3m

I built a house. I got posts at the water, threw them and did the bamboo and sat inside. I said work and you came up good? I said it’s true. That’s the talk. First I built the house then I cut a garden, cutting bushes and trees and making a fence. I held the food work.

3m-4m

I did the work and it went well and said dad talked true. I am here nothing. My dad stood on that, said work and fruit came, today I did it and there was fruit and I say it’s true. My plan was I wanted to tell you at my house. Everything to get and eat my Dad’s work I did and it became good

4m-5m

My dad said a true thing. My talk was Ai, U, I and my work became good. I want to do work and it is good. My dad’s talk is with me. I am doing work

Here’s where I feel as if I have to guess to connect the dots. My guess is that the idea is that the Kovol people inherited inferior power to white people. The prosperity of white people is proof that their secret words, or their godliness has power. Telling me their secret words and thinking invites me reciprocate and reveal mine. Then, knowing the secret words of the white man they will be able to enter the paradise garden and live like we do with technology and comfort.

5m-6m

The food is good. I have eaten what my Dad gave me. He gave me food and meat. (Discussion, Go outside kids, the talk became good).

6m-7m

(Discussion). It’s like this putting the root. This. Before it was dark. All things were there in the middle it was dark and light didn’t hit it. He spoke

7m-8m

He spoke and water and sky came up. Saw and said good. Morning came, there was dry finished, said it was good. Grass, trees and all things he said they came nothing. Finished and saw day it was dry. There was shade and a big garden came up

8m-9m

Animals and food came up. They went in, finished and he saw there was everything. Woman and man (probably meaning just animal male and female) went in and they (planted?) food. There was food to eat, but no people. There is no man to look after. God put food in the paradise garden and he held man

9m-10m

Finished. He put wind. He came alive. He said something garden. God saw ? there is one. He took a rib and made. In the garden. He said you guys are in the garden there is food and meat

10m-11m

Give them your own names he said, take, eat and stay. You can eat anything, just one thing not. Don’t eat it. 3 trees. Just 1 is not for eating. God said that. They broke the talk and ate. They saw they had done bad, they hid. God knew. He saw them. The 3 talked you have eaten the tree I said don’t eat

11m-12m

He said, you have broken the talk the stuff will will not stay, it will go away and you will be. We are in this place we break talk and we are in this place. You will get hardship. You have not followed the talk you will get children with pain

12m-13m

You will work hard to garden. There will be pain and sweat to get food. God knew that their food and everything would become bad and we are. We follow the talk. The one talk and Cain came up with Abel.

13m-14m

Cain broke God’s talk. Abel followed God’s talk. Talk… Day 1 you went past the talk. Days 1-6 everything was done and God rested. I am and you are.

14m-15m

The root talk I have come up. Cain came up, Noah’s child Ham came and Jacob, Esau. The breaking talk line. Jacob is you and Abel. Cain went to me. You came today. That’s my story, it came up.

15-16m

I said he would come and tell the story. The talk is with me and I told you. There is difficulty. God’s word was broken. Talk following man?

16m-17m

Our thinking here in (village name) is that (Steve) would come and we’d tell him.

0-1m

Before there was talk, the talk made man. Before that was light. There was nothing to break the light. He saw everything come up. Give light he said.

1m-2m

Darkness didn’t cover the light. He talked and everything was created. Finished and he saw and thought that the ground was too wet. He put the sun by talking and the ground was dry. He spoke and vegetation came up. He saw it was good.

2m-3m

The sun was really close to dry everything, then he sent it up a bit. It was good. He talked and the trees and things became and he saw it was good. He put a garden with food and animals in it. The garden of Eden. He came inside and it was all good. He saw it was good.

3m-4m

He saw all the things were there but there was no man to eat it, or look after it. There wasn’t a man for cleaning and fixing things. He thought and he got ground and he made man, he finished and he gave him wind. He gave wind and he got up and he talked and said look after this garden.

4m-5m

Look after all these things. He was looking after and he saw that all the animals were male and female. Ancestor Adam thought this. He was one. He got a side bone from him and made a friend. There were 2. Get everything, give it a name and eat it and you stay. 3 trees you are not allowed to eat. He said this and they were looking after everything.

5m-6m

He named everything and got food. They were and the fruit of the tree you cannot eat, they ate. Number 1 thinking came to Adam and he left it, Eve talked again to Adam and he followed the talk and took the food and they shared it.

(New speaker) I’ll just add to this. God said he was tired of making man, he had done enough.

6m-7m

I’m putting it into your hands now for the population to grow big. The spirit went inside of Adam and said I’ll be here now. All times, good times and bad times I’ll be with you. God didn’t stay in all places, he was now in Adam and he was going to make people. So the thinking we have, we say all the things of this ground and all the things in all places he isn’t. God marked me and God is inside me.

7m-8m

He gave me this thinking and understanding so he won’t hurt me or kill me because he himself will be with me.

(Other man speaks in Kovol) Our planting? food that my relative spoke is like this. It’s name the relative is talking about is sperm. God is with us and that is how we plant? Planting? food is like this and the root I have spoken clearly. I’ve told you. I’ve seen it’s true.

8m-9m

(Back to other speaker) I’ll explain that in Tok Pisin. The word for our water is sperm. It means water. We say sperm in Kovol.

(Back to other speaker) The water of life that’s there we’re talking about God put in Adam and it came up our ancestors got it and it was. My dad told me about this

9m-10m

I am here ?? sperm. The water of life is that. Our community came from that our food planting? Food coming up is that.

(Back to other speaker) I’ll explain in Tok Pisin. Sperm means it goes and it goes and it’s still there and it will still go. 2 married people will put sperm inside and another child will come. They do the same and another child will come.

10m-11m

That’s the meaning of this.

(Back to other speaker) We have this thinking and we’ve told the story and come. The plan was for you to come and hear this. I’ve spoken. My child spoke, my dad spoke, my relative spoke and it stood up. Today I said you should come and I will give.

(Other speaker) So when God put this into Adam and Eve

11m-12m

God put this inside and Adam came up. Adam put this and Kein and Abel came up. It is. We are like that. I didn’t want to tell you at your place so I gave it to you in my house and we’ve spoken. So it’s there. In our language it became A, U,true, I will work. A, U, true, I will work.

12m-13m

I will work means I will work and work and everything will come up I will see it, get it, eat it and be. It’s like this something? people we see speak and we hold them.

I will work, our language is I will work, making man. The talk I will work and it comes up. Me with my wife when we were newly married. I sat down and dad gave me a wife I took her and went and at night I wanted to make. In Tok Pisin we say making, in our language I will work.

13m-14m

Things that are man talked them. Talk is that, my language. You and me we all we will make. Our language we say I will work. We will work. One person says I will work many people say we will work. I make all things and it comes up good. That’s the root of the language of our 7 villages. We will work. We work and things come up.

My impressions

So, how does it sound to you? Nonsensical? Can you see how much is left unspoken? The purpose given is that I can hear this talk, but there are no explicit statements that reveal why it is significant. It is very significant for them and so they assume it will be significant and meaningful to me. They tell me the story and look at me expectantly as if I know exactly what they are talking about and why it is important.

Part of learning an unwritten tribal language is not just understanding the words, but understanding the culture. The translated words above are probably meaningless to you without the cultural keys to unlock the meaning. I’m not confident, but here’s what I’m piecing together. I’ve heard things similar to this several times.

There seems to have been “magic syllables” and words that were passed down among the Kovol people. “Ai, U, I”. Different versions of the story have given me different syllables and words. It seems these words are thought to give power/luck. The speaker refers to speaking to Nate to ask for missionaries and building a house as two events that went well because he spoke those sounds. His father gave them that knowledge

That ancestral idea has been blended together seamlessly (in their minds) with the Genesis story. I’ve heard people tell me that Adam spoke those magic sounds when God made him. Then there is the idea of God giving life to man, putting this life inside him and giving him the ability to pass that life on. What seems to me a unrelated idea is followed by them telling me the sounds again, so they must go together.

It seems on the whole then the idea is about inheriting power. The speaker thinks he inherited power to have good fortune with the magic words, and the power to have children. What isn’t clear after all that is why do I need to know? Why do they feel the need for me to know this? Why is it a secret that has to be told in the privacy of a house?

My confidence that this is what is going on is inching upwards, perhaps to 60% now, but the real question is what to do about it. As we move forward with preparing Bible lessons what do we do with this background thinking? Do we ignore it? Challenge it carefully and implicitly? Challenge it openly? As we teach, the message will be filtered through their existing world-view grid. How much of what their final understanding is is our responsibility? If we teach as clearly as we can and people come away misunderstanding us how much is that our responsibility? What can we even do when I’m not sure myself the extent and meaning of this background thinking?

For now it’s a little bit of cultural knowledge added to the pile. I’ve been praying that God would provide us with the conversations we need to understand the important things we need to be aware of before Bible teaching starts. Perhaps this conversation was part of the answer to that prayer.