The Higby Herald - September 2009

Dear Friends,

A week ago Tuesday the rain started at 5:30 in the morning. A good steady rain that just got heavier and heavier. We were thankful that we had gotten the leaks in our roof fixed at the beginning of rainy season. Driving Priscilla and the boys to school, I could see the roads beginning to flood, actually driving through water up to our bumper to get into the school entrance. But the rain didn’t stop. For around 10 hours it continued, and our rain gauge measured eight inches – more than we’ve ever seen in our 15 years in Africa. It was also more than the city drainage system and dams could handle. Many vehicles were submerged and houses flooded or completely washed away. In many zones of Ouagadougou, houses are made out of mud brick which presented no resistance at all to the flood waters. Reports say that over 100,000 people are now homeless. Fortunately, the government is responding quickly with aid and is calling on other aid agencies for help. A number of the employees at our office and at the school were affected and we’ve contributed to a fund to help them rebuild. In a previous letter, I mentioned the battery backup system we were going to install for the Lobiri translation office. Well, the man who imports them woke up to three feet of water in his storage room. So I spent Saturday taking one of the units apart to see if I could salvage it. A missionary friend of ours is doing the same salvage work for the medical scanning equipment at a local mission hospital, submersed in the dirty flood water. The main city hospital is also shut down and medical care is unavailable for many. Please pray for the situation here, that aid would continue to come in and that the victims of the flood would be reestablished soon. Pray for the churches and missions here as they are offering shelter and food for the homeless, acting as Jesus’ hands and feet during this crisis.

It has been a while since I last wrote, following our whirlwind of a summer. At one point, Priscilla and I were at meetings in England, Roger was in Germany, Kevin was in Kentucky, and Henry was in Michigan. Each has many adventures to tell about, and we thoroughly enjoy our family times at meals, savoring the moments together and our family devotional times during Henry’s last year at home. College is beckoning, and this year will hasten by before we know it.

The Outilingua program of training language and translation software consultants across Africa has been very effective in the French-speaking countries, but this year we are finally able to extend the training to the English-speaking countries as well. Kent Schroeder is working with me part-time from Kenya and together we are organizing the first consultant training workshop in English for three weeks in October. Lord willing, this will extend our reach to the English-speaking countries where translation into the minority languages is being done, such as Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, and a number of other countries. Kent and I are busy preparing the course content and a website to keep it readily accessible at all times.

We started on Genesis nine years ago with the life of Abraham, and through the work of Ketil Vestbostad in Mali, the rest has been completed. Priscilla is almost done formatting the book of Genesis in Fulfulde and soon we will send it to the printers.

We hope your summer was enjoyable, and we wish you God’s richest blessings in Christ. We are grateful for your continued support and prayers as you partner with us in the vital ministry of Bible Translation.

Partners in the Gospel, (Phil 1:5)

Doug & Priscilla Higby

Prayer & Praise

• Praise God for the addition of Kent Schroeder to my team, enabling us to begin running an annual consultant training workshop in English as well!
• Praise God for safe travel this past summer, for bringing us back together again, and for the richness of our family time together.
• Pray for the flood victims without food, housing, or medical care. Pray for the rapid distribution of aid, and that the churches here would be places of refuge, caring for those in need at this time.
• Pray for the participants who will attend the October 12 consultant training workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. It has been very difficult to find qualified people to train, and one of them recently backed out. Pray that the training we offer will get to the most strategic people who can then train others.
• As Henry considers colleges, please pray for wisdom for both he and us. We'll be depending heavily on scholarships, and need to be on time with our applications. We trust that the Lord will supply.