Dear Friends,
We are rafting the rapids of time as our furlough approaches and we close out our 17 years in Africa*. There is so much to get done, but God has been surprising us with His faithfulness again:
- Another mission is taking over the house we are renting and is purchasing most of our furniture, making it possible for us to live at home till our June departure.
- The Lord provided a fully furnished house for us in Grand Rapids Michigan, while the owner and family take a yearlong sabbatical in Ethiopia.
- A couple has given us the use of their van during our furlough.
- A friend has offered to let Roger stay with her family when we need to travel and visit churches while school is in session.
With all of these blessings, we praise the Lord and are excited to see how He will use us in ministry in the US this next year!
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| The Irigwe language team |
This year we requested and received special funds to introduce new technology in Africa to jumpstart language projects. One of those projects we sponsored was in Nigeria, where literacy specialists gathered in order to learn how to use a new software tool called Primer Pro. In a primer, new readers are introduced to letters of the alphabet and diphthongs a couple at a time in diminishing order of frequency. For example, in your English primer, you will find Q and Z towards the back while A and T will be near the front. The Primer Pro software analyzes natural texts in the language and proposes the order in which letters should be introduced in the primer based on their frequency. The leaders of the workshop, Kent and Leila Schroeder, reported:
“We found that designing primers in Nigerian languages is a more complicated process than we expected! In English, we teach readers to recognize consonant clusters like fl, pl, st and str. Imagine a language which has clusters like these: nyrr, nywrr, nzhw, ngwrr, nggw, yhwrr, ‘gb, ‘hw and gbrr! That language is Irigwe and it has 24 vowel symbols too!”
Wow! Thank the Lord for specialized software to help sort this all out!
P.J. recently returned from a trip to France and Switzerland to meet with the English to French translation team. She has been corresponding with them for a while as part of her job, but was finally able to meet them in person and learn how she can better serve their needs. During her time there, she was able to introduce some new techniques that will help them to work more cohesively as a team and benefit from each other’s work. In a couple weeks, I (Doug) will travel to Kenya to speak to an Africa-wide gathering of language program coordinators. This year’s hot topic is going to be about dictionaries and Scripture on the web and on cell phones – something you are already quite familiar with if you’ve been reading our newsletters.
We are happy to report that after a long and arduous search, Kevin has been accepted to John Brown University in Arkansas with an excellent scholarship package. We think this is a great match for his interest in the Sciences. This summer, he will be working at getting his driver’s license and a car, and getting ready to start college in August. Kevin finishes his senior year here in less than a month, and then Henry flies here from Michigan to attend the graduation ceremony with us. We look forward to being together again as a family after ten months!
The political situation in Ouagadougou has remained tense, and various security forces have had their turns at protesting, from the military to the police, to the presidential elite security. It is rather telling about the state of affairs when on April 28 even the riot police started rioting! It seems to be a bit out of control and we are still under a curfew, now from 10pm to 6am. Fortunately, civilians are not being targeted, and we will do our best to keep our heads down until we leave on June 18 for the US. Pray that stability is once again restored in Burkina Faso.
Partners in the Gospel, (Phil 1:5)
Doug & Priscilla Higby
*If you missed our comments two issues ago, Doug's role as International Coordinator for Language Technology Use requires more travel than is possible from our remote location in Ouagadougou.
Prayer and Praise
- Praise God for Kevin’s excellent aid package for JBU, and pray that he will be well prepared for to start college in August.
- Pray for the political situation here in Ouagadougou, that it will stabilize soon.
- Pray for the African Leader’s meeting in Kenya, that Doug will clearly communicate the new ways to promote and publish Scriptures.
- Praise God for P.J.’s fruitful trip to Europe, and pray for good communication within the translation team.
- Praise God for the many provisions for the Higby’s furlough, and pray for the weeks of packing ahead of them.
