I wish I could just upload my thoughts directly to the page right now because today has been so awesome that I know my hand will hurt from writing when I’m done. (It’s a long one so get ready!)
Our first planned event for the day was to go to Meadowbrook High School to participate in their morning devotion time. The Bible Society translation team was scheduled to come and speak to them about the translation project. When we arrived they were beginning to sing some praise songs…songs that most of them probably knew from going to church, because most Jamaicans do go to church. It is a huge part of their culture in general. It’s very obvious when you drive around town, because there is a church every two buildings or so.
After songs, Jodi, Lloyd, and Bertram were invited on stage to make their presentation. Jodi started by briefly talking about translating the Bible into their native Patois language, followed by reading Luke 5:17-26 in Patois. Lloyd followed with a shortened version of his Sunday sermon. The students standing on the edges of the crowd (where we were) were definitely more easily distracted, as any high schooler might be, and didn’t pay attention as much as those in the center and front. For the most part, it seemed like they were very receptive to what they were hearing, and I think the translation team would agree that the majority of the students would probably agree that what they were hearing, in Patois, was easier for them to understand than what they usually hear in English, in church. Then, Bertram closed their devotion time with a prayer in Patois. Afterwards we stayed a while and spoke with the Headboy of the school who was very enthusiastic about the project.
Next, we headed to the Bible Society of the West Indies headquarters, where the translators work. We sat in on their morning meeting where they discuss their goals, progress, and/or lack of progress, as well as upcoming meetings, etc. We met the big boss (Secretary General), Rev. Courtney Stewart, who led the meeting. Think about James Earl Jones, and the big guy from The Green Mile…that is the kind of voice that Rev. Stewart has. We also really liked the sign on his office door.
(David learning about the translation software)
Then we went to have lunch across the street at an Indian restaurant (Bombay) where we had curry chicken, curry goat, and roti sandwiches. It was delicious, very filling, and cheap!
We returned to the BSWI and got to observe some of the group review time. The way it works is that one translator will send what they have translated to the other translators and they will go through the scripture verse by verse, and often word by word, to make sure that the translation is accurate and would be understood properly with the words used in Patois.
Today, a portion of Jodi’s scripture was being discussed. Beginning in Galatians 1:1, Jodi read in Patois and Lloyd and Bertram commented and asked questions when necessary. Their big debate today was about the best way to translate the word “brothers” or “brethren” in this context. Since Patois is a gender neutral language they just wanted to make sure that the way they translated it was accurate to the way Paul wrote it. …who, specifically, was being included in the word “brothers” in this letter… They considered the Greek, the English translations, the context of the letter and previous letters Paul wrote and in the end they decided to leave a note for the exegetes to add their opinion before they make an official decision. This kind of debate happened often within the first 2 verses of Galatians to ensure the accuracy and understandability of the Patois translation, as it has been done in the past for other translations. These translators are picking apart scripture word by word for the entire Bible. They know this word so well! How often do most people thoroughly study and think about God’s word in this way? Well, if it’s not our job, and we don’t have our workday set aside for it, then most of us probably haven’t. We’ve placed our priorities elsewhere and we’re missing out!
We left the Bible Society and headed to a local transportation center and at this hour, most students were awaiting their busses home for the day. Our goal now, was to take some of the already translated portions of scripture out in public to spread word about the project, so that people can hear it, and to make sure that what they were hearing was clear and understandable. The range of reactions we saw was very interesting.
We started by speaking to a group of three high school aged girls. Lloyd started most of our conversations by asking them if they spoke Patois – you may wonder why this would be a good conversation starter, but if you remember what I wrote in my first post about Jamaica and the opinion of Patois vs. English it might make a little more sense. In about 50% of the interactions when Lloyd would ask if they spoke Patois, they would say “no.” The other half would say “yes, but only with friends” or something similar. So, in this first group of girls there was one girl who very quickly, and with a negative tone, said “No, I don’t speak it” while one of her friends said “yeah, I do.” From there, Lloyd’s strategy, to prove to the resistant girl that she did speak Patois was to question her in Patois, and once she responded she would prove to us and herself that she does speak it. That helped soften her view on things, but it also helped that she had a friend that was interested in talking with us.
Soon into our conversation with them, three other girls jumped into our circle (probably just to see what was going on – since David and I stuck out amongst all the Jamaicans) and they immediately said that they spoke Patois and were interested in trying to read some of it. Lloyd had his copy of the book of Luke (Di Luuk Buk) and he read some of it for them just so they could hear and to see if they thought it was easy to understand. They said it was. But, at that point, the resistant girl said that it would be a waste of time to translate the Bible to Patois since they already read the Bible in English, plus she wouldn’t even know how to read it, so it would be a waste of time and money. This is when Lloyd asked them to try to read the cover of his book, and after that we gave them each a bookmark that had the Lord’s Prayer (Di Laad Prieya) on it. They all tried reading it together, and with a little guidance they did very well. Eventually the resistant girl warmed up to the idea of the translation and said “Yeah, I could read that.”
Next we went into a bakery, Swirl, where it wasn’t as noisy and where Jodi knew someone who worked there. She gave us permission to speak to the customers. There were a few younger girls and a lady who began talking with Lloyd. One of the girls was open to talking with Lloyd without any reservations but the lady began by saying that she didn’t know Patois at all. Lloyd used his “talking to her in Patois” technique and was able to get her to respond. But she was still extremely negative about the language.
Then Lloyd asked her what language Jamaicans speak and she said “English,”
Lloyd: “But you speak Patois too, right? You speak two languages.”
Lady: “Oh, two languages…yeah I guess so.”
Convincing her that she was bilingual made a big impact on her willingness to hear about the translation project. Then Lloyd read to them from Luke and we gave them each a Lord’s Prayer bookmark and encouraged them to try to read it. A group of young boys approached looking over my shoulder (…I must be short because they weren’t that old) to see the brochures I had, so I gave them one plus a bookmark and they tried to read along as well. At this point, the lady in the corner began reading too and when the younger kids struggled with a word she could figure out she began to help them! It was a pretty big transformation within the course of about 10 minutes. These people, once they see they can read it, really desire the acceptance of their own language! And how cool that it begins with them reading their own language for the first time from the word of God. That is how people used to learn how to read English in our country…from the Bible in Sunday school classes.
Then we stopped to talk with a very well dressed man who was sitting next to a much poorer looking woman (I think they were talking prior to our arrival, but I’m not sure). The woman never said very much, although she was very smiley.
From the very beginning the man was incredibly excited about the idea of the project and when he read the Lord’s Prayer he read it very loud and with enthusiasm. I think it was because he was just thrilled to be able to read it! It was great. He asked for details about the release date of the New Testament and how to find out more in general.
Our next encounter was, by far the most interesting. We walked up some stairs right to a woman who was trying to hand us something. (I will leave out the belief group she was representing) I bet she didn’t think that someone would be trying to give her something while she was out. She gave the defensive “No.” to Lloyd’s questioning her ability to speak Patois. Then, she thought that David and I were walking around with these Jamaicans because we were interested in learning to speak Patois (the thought had crossed my mind). We finally got to the point where Lloyd mentioned the translation project and she was very skeptical and seemed greatly protective of the King James Version of the Bible. She wanted to know about how the translation was being done, mostly if it was being translated from the original scriptures in Greek. This reassured her a little so that our conversation could continue. Lloyd was then able to get her to try to read a little of the text of Luke. I’m not really sure how it happened but quickly the conversation switched to her view of God only having one name, and then about the church that she goes to, and Jodi and Lloyd tried their darndest to get her to see that what she was saying was wrong, but she was very defensive of the false truths she has been taught over the years even if they could be easily disproved. Then Lloyd asked her if what she learned from God’s word wasn’t what she currently knew to be true, if she would be willing to change what she believes, but she refused to believe that that was even a possibility! She then said boldly that she would live and die believing what she believes, basically, because she wanted it to be that way. I understand that it is hard to change what you believe especially, for example, if your entire life you were told that grass is yellow and one day someone told you that it is really green and whoever had been teaching you had been teaching you incorrectly. I also understand that pride was probably a big part of her statement. But at least she was able to hear what we had to say and whether she changed her mind right then and there in front of us doesn’t matter, but now she can at least think about it and take the time to make a final decision. I can pretty much guarantee that she thought about that conversation for the rest of the day, if not longer, just because of how worked up it got her. We still left her a brochure and bookmark. As we walked away I noticed her looking at the brochure intently and then stopping someone to either give it away to them or to talk to them about it. At least it didn’t go straight to the trash can!
We ended the day in conversation with a young adult male who also had the same kind of support for the project as the well dressed man did. It was great to see the Jamaicans who recognized the need to have scripture available in a language that they all could understand better, but also to agree that there are many Jamaicans in the country who don’t know any English at all. When they all start accepting this I think the mindset of the country will change.
By the time we finished “field testing” we realized that it was about an hour later than we had planned, so it was time to head back. Jodi took us back to our hotel, we gave her an Awakening CD as a thank you gift for driving us everywhere and then went to sit by the pool so I could begin recording our events for the day, David could swim, and we could simply be outside to enjoy the beautiful climate. The whole time I wanted to speak to the Jamaicans at the pool about the translation project. I was thinking that we should ask Jodi and Lloyd to teach us something so that when we go to Montego Bay we could at least have a foot in the door to talk to some of them.
For dinner we ate at our hotel. I had a filet mignon a la Four Seasons that was phenomenal and David had a pepper soup and BBQ chicken that had a great flavor as well.
We only have one more day with our new friends in Kingston. It has been so great to use this opportunity to meet them. Our giving has so much more meaning now than it did before.
1 comment:
This is so exciting!
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