Here is just a sampling of the pictures taken on my most recent trip to Nigeria. Additional photos have been uploaded to Google’s Picasa photo viewer (here) and even more photos from other team members will forthcoming in the future.
I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed the trip.
I recently received an email from a Seed Company’s colleague with an update on the BGAN satellite deployment activity. His comments and statistics were so exciting I decided to pass them on. I trust you will be excited to.
Ken
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Hello Connectivity Team,
Here is a brief summary of what we have been able to accomplish together so far this fiscal year. Not everyone or any one group had their hand in each of these items. That’s part of what makes us a good team and makes these kinds of results possible. I am constantly getting reports of immense gratitude from consultants who are now able to accomplish what they had always wanted to – helping their national colleagues build the Kingdom while they are not able to be present in the field. God’s work is being propelled forward at an astonishing rate and you had a hand in it. Thanks for all your effort.
98 – Total # of languages connected by our team in the last 8 ½ months. These languages have 15.8 Million speakers.
Broken down:
Other noteworthy accomplishments:
There is still much work to be done, so don’t look back for too long.
To God be ALL the glory.
I noticed that Ken tried to post a blog while in Nigeria, but only half of it has shown up. Apparently something went wrong while it was uploading because I’m sure he finished his thoughts before he sent it. But this is a great illustration of some of the things other missionaries and nationals must deal with on a regular basis in Nigeria and many other parts of the world. Sketchy Internet access.
Well, Ken is now starting his long trek home. He is on the road from Jos to Abuja where he’ll sit in the airport for many hours until his flight out at 11pm Friday night (5pm EST). He flies from Abuja to Frankfurt, Germany, waits another three hours and then flies to Munich where he has just one hour to catch his flight to Charlotte.
If all goes well, he will land here at 3:30pm Saturday afternoon. I will be waiting for him.
Afterall, it will be our 28th anniversary that day so who better to pick him up from the airport?
Thanks again for you prayers. I’m sure he’ll be writing a great update very soon for all of us.
It was about 95 degrees out and we were hot and sweaty. My colleague, Phil Harms, and I packed our luggage in the back of a Toyota minivan and, with expensive satellite terminals and luggage piled high behind us and our driver and translation consultant in front of us, we proceeded out the drive. We were finally deploying BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) satellite terminals for the purpose of accelerating Bible translation. This is what the nine of us came for. The countless hours of preparation, the numerous weekly meetings, printing and sorting documentation, purchasing the materials, vaccinations, and all other miscellaneous preparations all led up to this moment. It was happening.
So why was I so nervous?
We were told that Phil and I were headed to southern Nigeria. Not “south south” Nigeria, as they call it, because this the area where the oil is produced and people are kidnapped for ransom. We were only driving “south”, a mere 11 hours away, and the translation coordinator would be coming to meet us.
Arriving at our first location and meeting our mother tongue translator colleagues, the Lord stilled my heart. The warm reception, the smiling faces, the eagerness to receive and use this new technology suddenly cast away all the fears, the uncertainty, the anxiety I was feeling.
I trained the mother tongue translators how to set up and use the BGAN while Phil worked on their computers, installing software and cleaning the system of viruses. The process went smooth and the translators were excited 
to supplement their local, sometimes unreliable connectivity for something more stable and dependable. They were incredibly excited, as much as we were. We repeated the process for the Mbolizia language project, the second village we visited. You can tell by looking at the smiles on the face in the picture below how thrilled they were to receive this new technology.
We arrived back at the NBTT (Nigerian Bible Translation and Trust) center and immediately received feedback that the program was a success. “This is fantastic,” a visiting translation consultant exclaimed. “I have already received an email from the translator with some attached translation text. In this past, this would have taken six months or more!” I’ve recorded another translator’s comments on video. You can view it here. It was working. I’m stoked!
God is using this technology to accelerate the Bible translation process and people all around the world are taking note, even CNN!
I returned to the US physically tired but mentally and spiritually exhilarated. The Lord is indeed using us and this new technology to complete his mission.
Here is the latest from Ken:
“It’s now 9:45 Wednesday evening and we just returned home from dinner. We drove 11 hours today from Jos to the south of the country in an area called Abapliki [Abakaliki]. The roads were quite interesting to say the least. Similar to what we’ve experienced in Mexico and Indonesia where people pass all the time, there is the added excitement of road potholes big enough to swallow an elephant. A little exaggeration, to be sure, but they make people go around them – at 30, 40, 50, 60 mph! So, when passing, one not only looks for oncoming traffic but for potholes as well. It was not uncommon to find us in the back flying from one side of the car to the other as the driver swerves from one side of the edge of the road to another. And I mean that in all sincerity. I never felt in total danger but there were times when my breath was taken away.
We were also stopped frequently along the way, either by the police or the military. It seems both were looking for money. At one stretch, we were stopped it seems every quarter of a mile. Each had the ability to question the driver, demanding paperwork, etc. We were told that they were primarily seeking additional food money, Indonesian style. Often times, they would ask who the white people in the back were and the response was, “missionaries.” That seemed to calm their spirits and each time we were told to drive on.
We arrived here and were met by Joseph, the pastor translator. He had arranged for us to spend the next three evenings in a guest house built by the Dutch. The area is very hot with high humidity so just placing my luggage in the room caused my shirt to be drenched. I took a quick shower and immediately began sweating as I came out of the shower!
The room is fairly nice though, has a fan, and even an air conditioner! I suspect they will turn it off though sometime during the evening. We’ve had to spray it for mosquitos and that smell is still hanging in the air.
We went to dinner with Pastor Joseph, the translator coordinator, John (who was with us in the car all the way here), and the driver. I had gari, their staple food. It’s a series of dough, half mooned shaped, that you pick up with your fingers, roll in a ball, and dip it in a bowl of what looks like spinach, other vegetables, with fish in it. I thought I had ordered fried rice and fish but got this instead. Figure that one out! However, it wasn’t bad at all. I’m glad I tried it.
Tomorrow, I’ll train Joseph and another translator on the BGAN satellite Phil works on cleaning up his computer from the viruses, installs Thunderbird and sets up the email account, and installs Pidgin chat. Once that’s done, we’ll have Joseph try from scratch turning on the satellite and sending/receiving email. We’ll eat at another guesthouse for lunch and dinner tomorrow and return to this guesthouse to sleep. Then’, Friday morn, we’ll travel /2 hr. to Niger and start training them. Saturday morning we’ll drive back.”
As I was writing this post I received a text message from him that said they had a long but good day setting up the BGAN for two translators that have been working 20-30 years. It was pouring rain but he was in his room. He asked that we pray for the sun to come out or else they would have to stay an extra day before driving to the next village. It is from 1/2-2 hours away (not sure, got two different memos about the driving time).
Tomorrow is a repeat of today, with training on the BGAN as well as cleaning up their computer. Then the next day, if all goes as planned, the long drive back to Jos.
Thanks for praying!
BTAK – Bible Translation Acceleration Kit.
I’m all packed up and have tested the BGAN satellite equipment. My backpack and computer bags are ready.
Testing BGAN satellite connection the night before departure
Although I’ve traveled extensively, I feel a little nervous about this trip. Weight restrictions, travel connections,travel safety all come to the forefront. Last night though, as I lay in bed, I felt this overwhelming peace that people were praying.
I leave the house at 1:00, meeting a colleague to drive together to the airport for a 5:00 Charlotte airport departure.
So, I’m expecting good things. I’ll keep you informed but please keep praying.
Ken tests out his mosquito net prior to leaving on his trip.
There have been times in our ministry history when we truly have felt carried along by the prayers of friends, family, and supporters. I am hoping that this will also be the case during this upcoming trip to Nigeria on June 4th through June 17th.
This is my first time to Africa and I would be less than honest if I didn’t communicate that I am somewhat nervous. I’m not quite sure why other than the realization that there are many connections to me made, a lot of technology that needs to be configured and operating properly, and a great deal of country to traverse.
But, through it all, I am truly expecting great things from God. Will you pray for me and help make that happen?
Sometimes I’m asked if technology really speeds up the Bible translation process knowing technology itself is fickle and breaks down, gets viruses and bugs (literally and figuratively speaking!), is lacking in certain parts of the world, etc. Well, I believe the answer to the question is a definite YES! But then again, I’m a little biased.
We’ve been deploying Bible Translation Acceleration Kits (BTAKs) and there’s at least one other person that believes in them. Read the Technology Speeding Up Bible Translation article about Wycliffe Associate’s CEO, Bruce Smith, on his recent trip to Nigeria for more.
What do you think?
I spent the last week at Wycliffe Associate’s headquarters meeting my team colleagues and becoming oriented to the task we’re involved in. And now I’m stoked! I’m working with a great bunch of guys that are dedicated to accelerating the Bible translation task by leveraging the “4th Wave”.
The 4th Wave in Bible translation builds largely upon the use and leveraging of internet and web technology to connect mother-tongue translators (MTTs) in living in very remote locations with their translator consultants through email, live chat, and a growing number of web applications. Of the 20 countries where 90% of the remaining need for Bible translation exists, a major Asian country has the most languages (488) with translation needed in more than 50 – representing over 27 million people without Scripture in their heart language. One of my colleagues was on site in this country where he’s helping to deploy Bible Translation Acceleration Kits (B-TAKs) for those MTTs. He has also participated in workshop, providing computer training for MTTs, consultants, and area staff, and a local IT support person. Read the rest of this entry »
At a Good Friday service in 1980, Leonard Bolioki stepped to the front of the church he attended in Cameroon and began to read the story of Jesusʼ crucifixion. Always before, this passage from Johnʼs Gospel had been read in French, but this time the priest had asked Leonard to read it in the local language, Yambetta.
As he read, he became aware of a growing stillness; then some of the older women began to weep. Read the rest of this entry »
The Haugh Herald 