Aviles

A Time of Transition

The Africa we’ve grown to love.

Checking for the book of Acts starts this coming Monday. It goes for two weeks leading right up to Christmas. We were really hoping that Abdallah would be able to be the back-translator for this time, but once again, he said that he would not be able to go. This is a big disappointment to us because he has been the best back-translator we’ve had for checking. He is fluent in Dadjo, he knows French, and he caught on really fast as to what the consultant needed from him. The replacements that we’ve had to use the last few times have not worked that well, making the time for checking last a lot longer, along with increased frustrations of the team trying to help the back-translator through the meaning of the verses.

All this to say, another man was found that will hopefully/prayerfully work as the newest back-translator. We are leery about another man filling in because of the struggles we’ve had with past back-translators, but maybe this is all in God’s plan. There are some negatives in that he is from further North where they may understand some of the terminology differently than in the Mongo area. Also, because he has not done this before, will he be good at it or not???? On a positive note, he speaks his Dadjo like Izzo, he knows French, and he’s educated. Another note that may prove to be a big plus is that he apparently has some kind of background with the Catholic church. This is a big surprise to us as we’ve never heard of another Dadjo with anything but an Islamic background.

So we can pray not only that the next two weeks of checking go well, but also that this new back-translator will be touched to the core in hearing the Word of God in his own language.

 

 

 

"Please Fasten Your Seatbelts."

October 24th marks the date for Art to be back on a plane to Chad, Africa. Tickets have been purchased, we just received the Chadian Visa this morning, reservations for housing has been made, more work on Galatians and Colossians are being done for this trip, etc. There is still much to be done, including making sure that his vaccinations are up to date. He’ll also be missing our presidential election in November, so he’ll need to vote early:)

When Art arrives in Chad, it’ll be the end of rainy season. Even though the rains do a decent job of lowering the temperature for the rest of the year, the rains also leave behind a lot of humidity for the next couple of months. But the countryside is pretty in October with everything green, the low mountains, and the fields of millet ripening. The towns are a different story. Also, the roads around Mongo will be more easy to travel now that things are drying up.

Some good news we also received recently is that a door of two weeks opened up for more of the book of Acts to be consultant checked in December! We are so thankful for this slot of time. It is probably not enough time to finish Acts, but it will come close. And hopefully Abdallah will be available for the back translation. He is the best person for this, but has been unavailable for the last couple of checkings.

Chad, Africa: What They Eat

Some Chadians transporting their goats in the most loving way possible.
Some Chadians transporting their goats in the most loving way possible.

Chad, Africa is a third world country. In fact, Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world. For this reason, Chadians are forced to live a lifestyle quite different from your average suburban household. One example is in what they eat.

On the average day, Chadians mostly eat a pasty substance called ‘boule’. It consists of a grain called millet, which is their staple crop. Boule, served in a dome form, is eaten with the hands, and dipped in different sauces before it is consumed. Why boule? It’s cheap. That’s the best reason I can come up with, because, honestly, it doesn’t taste so good… at all. Chadians almost always eat as a group, from the same platter. It is part of their culture. Even though eating from the same plate is – we can’t deny – unsanitary,  the average Chadians does it without exception.

Now, on special occasions, or if it’s affordable, Chadians often eat common dishes such as goat meat (which the Aviles kids love). The goat meat there is not what you’d find in the States or Europe either. That’s because it is always tough. The goats run around all they want. It isn’t like they are kept in some cage and taught to just eat all day. The same goes for chicken, which is not consumed as much as goat. Chadians like their meat spicy, so they often use different sauces, or a crushed red pepper mixed with salt. Another food is rice, but rice isn’t eaten even close to as much as millet is. Chadians get most of their other food, such as vegetables, from the outdoor market.

Almost There! Consultant checking for the book of Acts

There are only a 2 more days of checking left for the book of Acts! We were hoping that around 12 chapters would be done in these two weeks(there are 28 altogether), but the work has been slower than desired. It seems that the consultant checking would go faster and smoother if the original back-translator would be available for these times of checking, but it has not worked out for him to participate in this way for quite some time now. We are thankful for the replacement back-translator and pray not only that he would be a good help for translation, but that he would be touched in an eye-opening way as he hears God’s Word spoken to him for the first time.

Back-translator: A person who interprets a document previously translated into another language back to the original language.

For example, he translates verses written in Dadjo back into French to see if the Dadjo translation is good.

The Question Everyone asks: What Millet Should I Grow?

Two different kinds of Millet, Chad, AfricaNow that rainy season in gone, although the humidity still lingers, the first harvest is ready for the people of Chad.

There are two harvest seasons because of the different millet (the main food staple) that the people in central Chad grow: red millet, which handles a drier rainy season better, and white millet, which handles a wetter season better.

Of course if the season is perfect, both grow great. A friend of ours had it bad for a few years. One year, it was just plain dry and nothing wanted to grow. The following year, he planted more white millet than red assuming another bad year. Unfortunately for him, it rained too much and drowned almost his whole crop. So the next year he went after the red millet, and you can guess what happened. It was too dry, and the red millet died leaving his family with another very poor harvest.:(

Make a hut in 5 steps

Almost all Chadians live in huts: “houses” made of mud-brick. The Dadjo people are included. The huts are about four feet tall and circular, with a thatched roof (roof made of sticks/hay).

  1. First, the Chadians take mud, and mix it with hay, or straw. This helps it to stay together.
  2. Then they shape the mud with molds. They want to make the mud into a usable, brick like form.
  3. After that, the people put the molded mud out in the sun to dry. They usually don’t bake them. The cheapest thing to do is to “sun bake” them.
  4. When the mud is nice and dry, they start building the hut. They pile the mud bricks to make a circular room with an opening for the door.
  5. After that, the Chadians put a thatched roofing on top.

Big families can live in these things because the huts serve as more of a shelter. The people almost always sleep outside, where it’s cooler. The yards, where the huts are located, are often surrounded by a wall, also made of stick like fencing. They do this to keep unwanted visitors away. In larger villages, or small towns like Mongo, people use mud brick to make their walls. Please comment!
Chadian huts

rainy season

It’s been rainy season for over a month now, but there has not been much rain to account for it. They have had a little shower here and there around the Dadjo villages, but they really need a good downpour to prepare the ground for sowing seed. Eventhough this kind of rain has not come yet, the people have started laying the seed anyway. If they wait any longer to plant, the millet will not have the chance to grow enough before the rains stop for the season. And yet, planting in the dryer soil could also be detrimental if some good thunderstorms are not soon in coming. Continue reading →

boko haram

The terorist group, boko haram, has been in the news recently for the hundreds of girls that they kidnapped in Nigeria. They have attacked several villages killing people. They have crossed borders into both Cameroon and Chad. They are not where we have been in Chad, but we do have friends who work too close to where they have been seen. You can pray for safety for Chad.

Translating Predicaments

Last week, Art came across a verse in Acts that mentions 4 words that can almost be taken as synonyms. This becomes especially hard to translate into a language that doesn’t have all the descriptive words that Greek does, or English, French, or most other well developed languages. For example, we have the words “beautiful, pretty, elegant, etc.” Dadjo only have “good” to cover all of those. The verse in Acts mentioned the words, “adore, worship, praise and thank” all together. How much fun do you think Art had with translating that?!