This last month has seen the literacy classroom getting further and further along. After an initial few days of being on hand to answer questions and provide “encouragement” the community have settled into their own rhythm. They have never built a classroom before and were uncertain about how to do it “right”. As time as gone on it has been great to see them taking initiative as they have grown in confidence.
We’ve been without internet for 3 days now. I’m sitting to write a post anyway that I can put up when internet returns. With our first week back in Kovol after 9 months away behind us it amazes me how familiar everything feels. We feel like we’re home. For the Read more
This was the week we returned to Kovol. It was a little later than planned, but not too much really. We are glad to be back and we made a quick video so you can see what a helicopter flight into such a remote area of Papua New Guinea looks like.
Goroka town has become very familiar to us, but a moments reflection makes me realize how different it is to life back home. Just over a month ago we were in the Netherlands and the UK. Shopping there, when it isn’t done online, looks like this. Drive the car to a large supermarket or shopping centre, park and then quickly get what you need and get home.
I enjoyed several office days of drafting portions of Genesis and carefully checking my drafts to make sure I hadn’t missed any meaning contained in the original. With an upcoming supply flight into Kovol though, I had to step away from “work” to spend 2 days preparing supplies for the flight.
The office time this week then, has been in Bible translation. The first start of the process is an exegetical draft where I study the paragraph to be translated and do my best to translate all the meaning there into the Kovol language. That is something I can work on alone while we are here in Goroka, and so it was to that I turned. It’s a huge task. My attitude has been one of just making sure I put the hours in as that is the only way to keep chipping away and making progress.
I’m building up a stack of drafts, so far Genesis 1-9 that are all waiting for me to sit with Kovol language speakers to start the transfer process.
Oops, there go the plans that all seemed to be lining up. As there will be follow-on appointments it doesn’t make sense for us to fly into Kovol on Monday as we had planned. We’ll need to push things back 3-6 weeks while the wrist heals. It wouldn’t be wise to be a 45-minute helicopter ride away from the doctor if there are complications.
Life in Papua New Guinea is so very different from back in Europe. After a week in PNG we’ve been acclimatising again. We’ve been finding that it feels at the same time familiar and different.
We’re recovering from our 36-hour journey back to PNG this week. The jet-lag is still making us mega tired in the evenings, but otherwise we’re happy to be back in beautiful PNG!
I remembered to get my camera out on the journey and the result is a video that shows you a little bit of what it is like to leave home and travel to the other side of the world.
It is now our last week in the UK before starting our journey back to PNG. We will spend 10 days in the Netherlands to see family before hopping on a long flight for Goroka.