English

With me pulling so near to the end of my language study time I was told by my CLA consultants that I could have a go at translating some literacy books to start to familiarise myself with the translation process.
I’ve now finished all the paperwork I need to do to complete my language study time and I’m just waiting on a speaking test. The test is scheduled for August 27, which is further away than I hoped for. I asked what to be doing in the meantime so I don’t drive myself and my language helpers crazy just doing practice speaking sessions with them!

One of the villages in Kovol, and in particular, one family, is extremely eager for us to be here. Even after four and a half years of us being here, they are very willing to teach us and often make the 1.5-hour hike to come see us. When we first got here, Mongongam had told me she would teach me all about how the ladies hunt. We would go hunting rats, frogs, and all kinds. I had always said, “I will at some point.”

Now that Alice and Millie are bigger, it’s doable for Steve if I go away for a night. Also, summer break from school means I have more time for language and culture learning. So I planned with Mongongam to finally make this long-awaited trip to their place so they could teach me all about how ladies hunt.

Following our 2 week’s break in Goroka it’s time to reset, pick new goals for this next little stint and get stuck in. Oscar is now on summer holiday having finished year 1, leaving Gerdine to experience a change of pace to looking after kids on summer holiday while trying to squeeze in language time.
I’m looking at what may be the last mile of the language learning marathon.

When we finish culture and language study (hopefully within the next 2-3 months!) the next work on the schedule is to prepare a literacy program. An alphabet is an essential part of that, and while we missionaries have some ideas it’s always good to check. It’s their language after all, what symbols would they like?

As I continued working through our culture study I came to “birth and dying”. I needed to dig into questions like “What happens when a person dies?”, “Is there a road to getting to heaven?”, “Are the dead conscious?” and “Does anyone ever return from the place of the dead?”.

In December an older Kovol man died. This man being a clan leader meant that it was a fairly big deal and people from all 7 Kovol villages came to mourn. There was tension at the time and fights almost started. In January a rumour was going around that the village the man came from was making accusations of sorcery. At a meeting in January, these were declared to just be rumours and everyone was “one stomach”.

Can you believe that near the end of my language learning journey, I had no idea what the Kovol word for “laugh” or “funny” was? It’s crazy the gaps there can be in vocabulary and it’s another reason our system of learning language by making sure we cover all aspects of the culture is really helpful.

As I near the end of my culture and language study and my ability to use and understand the Kovol language keeps increasing I’m able to dive into some deeper areas of the Kovol culture. A big, important area for the work we do is that of gods and spirits.