Aidan has now begun the language learning adventure with the rest of us. Yesterday he made his first sign, “more”, when he finished his bananas. It is now official that we are all together on this adventure.
- Chad
May 09 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Here it has not rained for months. There were some good rains last September we heard. Some areas got a rain in January that produced some grass, long gone by now. It has sprinkled a couple times but still no heavy rains. When we first arrived they said it was the dry season and sometime in April or May the rainy season would occur. Yet each day still consists of sun, dry wind, and weak hope for tomorrow.
The Turkana are struggling. For them it is no longer the dry season but the season of akoro (hunger). The goats have little milk with not much left to eat. There is very little if any food for anyone to buy. A disease went through their herds recently decimating their numbers so they are reluctant to eat their goats. The prices of goats and ngamukakae (mats they make from palm leaves to sell in town) have dropped to near half their norm. Often Turkana will only eat one meal a day, but now many families are only having a meal every few days. It is a desperate time.
Sometimes I’ll ask, “Do you think rain is coming?” but the only response I get is, “Only God knows”, and the subject is changed. I get the sense that they don’t allow themselves to look forward to a better tomorrow that is out of there hands, but only focus on enduring today.
-Chad
May 04 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
I have written earlier about my struggle to understand the system of begging in the Turkana culture. This week I was trying to express myself more clearly and looking for new words from Esokon. I wanted the word for need. He said I had it, “asaki”, the word for want. I thought I misunderstood and talked to him more only to discover it was the only word. The dying man needing medicine and the healthy man wanting a refill in his chai mug both use the word “asaki”.
This was fascinating to me. I was looking for some way to distinguish between those who needed what they begged for and those who just wanted more for themselves, but there is no distinction culturally. They see both as the same.
- Chad
May 01 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
- I saw a bird one day that I thought was a bald eagle. I asked Esokon and he said, “It was a dove.” Something was lost in translation. Later I was by the river talking to my friend Simon when I saw it again. I got all excited and pointed. He said “emoru” (mountain). “No,” I said getting more excited as the bird was flying away. I started flapping my arms wildly, pointing, and saying, “Nyoni en? Nyoni en” (What is it?). If anyone was watching from afar, I wonder what they thought?
- I like to take walks along the edge of the riverbed. Oregon, our dog, likes to go with me. On our walks I have been trying to teach him to not to chase goats since that is the cardinal crime of dogs against the Turkana. Recently Oregon was sticking right with me, coming closer when I called, everything was going smoothly. Then apparently a group of four goats struck his fancy and off he ran. I was yelling, “Oregon, come back! Get over here!” Then, “Oregon, bua nege! Bua nege!” Struggling with his unresponsiveness the thought crossed my mind, “What language does this dog speak?”
- And the most embarrassing by far: Most conversations with Turkana end with “Kimala…” or greet you wife, family, brother, etc. So it was the end of a long day and a friend I was talking to started to leave our house. He said “Kimala aberu kon” (greet your wife) and I responded “Kilata aberu kon” which sounds similar but has a much different meaning (bath your wife). Immediately I recognized the mistake and started waving, but he just smiled and said, “Kimala, kimala.”
- Chad
April 28 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
I have been getting reports on my father’s garden back home. It is that time of year back home and a season I miss over here. I remember all of the time spent in preparation tilling the soil, adding fertilizer, planning the crop layout, and finally planting seeds. Then it was watering and waiting. Some plants sprouted rather quickly and gave me great optimism for the upcoming crop, other varieties lingered only to challenge my need for quick results before producing beautiful fruit. I remember well the satisfaction felt when the new sprouts would appear breaking through the soil into the daylight.
I have felt like one of those sprouts this week. After a lot of struggling and work, we have broken through the soil and are enjoying some sunlight. This week I started talking largely on my own instead of using our translator. He is still needed at times, but more often he stands nearby waiting to be called in. Another sign of progress was beginning to pray for chai in Turkana. It was more difficult than I thought to begin talking to God in another language but each time gets smoother and though at times I am sure the Turkana wonder what I am trying to say, God knows. A huge relief was having my first discussion about faith with a fellow believer. It was only about simple aspects of following God but it felt great to express abstract ideas that mean so much to us. And I have been happy to see Asokon (known as Kara outside Turkana) greeting others easily, laughing with the women who stop by, all while spoiling her family with all of her great cooking and baking.
We are standing in the light, soaking up the Son, looking for rain and anticipating what new growth will come.
- Chad
April 23 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
I read and liked the book Wild at Heart a few years ago. Last Sunday that book came to mind again. I had walked with Esokon about an hour across the river to a church I hadn’t visited yet. We were with about fifty believers under some palm trees with a drum. It was a great morning of worship. It always moves me to hear the Turkana sing.
I was looking at the men at one point remembering the message of the book. The author argued that American Christians had been taught to be docile and needed to seek their masculinity again (He probably wouldn’t appreciate this paraphrase). Looking at the Turkana men surrounding me, they all had large knives, many had decorative scars from cutting themselves, and I know all own sticks for various kinds of fighting. It is an understatement to say they were masculine. Some messages are universal, some not so much.
-Chad
April 14 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
One night we were sitting in our family room when the roof started to pop like it does when the sun is directly overhead. We looked at each other. Could it be? Rain? Elias, Kara, and I ran out back. It was slightly sprinkling. Elias and I had our shirts off with arms out to feel the rain. We all were saying, “It feels so cool!” Giggling, maybe giddy. It was an exciting few minutes. Then the moon came out and we went back inside to go to bed.
To make a long story short, I bought a goat for a goat roast. Elias said, “I bet goat tastes good!” Next day a big group of men arrived and asked for a gift as visitors (important Turkana value). I had nothing else to give, so I cut the tether on the goat and walked it out to them. Elias asked, “Where is our goat?” “I had to give it away.” “Why? (he is three)” A few days later I bought another goat since I now owed men a goat roast that didn’t happen the first time. They brought the goat in and tied him up in the yard. Elias looked at me and said, “Are we gonna get to eat this goat?”
A bunch of men and women were sitting having afternoon chai. Aidan was crying inside not wanting to fall asleep. The Turkana don’t like crying so they were all asking what was wrong with him. I explained how he won’t sleep in our arms and fights falling asleep on his own. Even used the Turkana word for stubborn. While I’m saying this Kara points to me and the group erupted in laughter. Esokon said, “We are the same. A child misbehaves and each parent blames the other.”
-Chad
April 14 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
When we were studying methods for leaning language and culture in preparation for this work, I imagined language work to be difficult and culture to be a lot of fun. I have been surprised by the reality of our experience so far.
Language interests me personally, since I taught English and enjoy writing. I was curious on arriving what things the Turkana would stress and what areas they wouldn’t. I had heard many stories from missionaries talking about languages in this regard. For example, some languages have many words for love and affection so a person can express themselves more clearly than in English where you may use the same word “love” for your child, God, lunch, or a sitcom. Conversely there are also areas where English has many more words than other languages so missionaries could struggle to find words to express their thoughts clearly.
Naturally I am struggling to express myself so far, more out of a limited vocabulary than the actual language itself. But I have found learning the language to be exciting. Every day I have many people (many, many) come to talk to me. It is thrilling to continually understand more, rely on Esokon less, and grow in my ability to express myself. A few things about the Turkana language I have learned so far: the word “ejok” which means good literally is used for more meanings than I can list (an instance where I cannot express myself clearly since at least ten words or phrases are interpreted as a form of the word), they have many words for infinite differences between things they use everyday including livestock, sticks, and the river (example there are separate words for “walking stick” depending on whether it is used for walking, herding camels, herding goats, fighting, fighting against a whip, getting palm nuts, etc.), there are no words to convey gratitude (i.e. thank you), and often the verbs are used in command forms instead of conjugated.
These last two points are more of a cultural difference. The last makes speaking easier since there aren’t conjugations to figure, but culturally it is grating since we (as Americans) are culturally used to being asked to do things. That is a part of why my experience learning culture has been so much more difficult than expected. We are coming over with two cultures already – American and Christian. Being raised in those cultures we have been trained to respond in a certain way to experiences (example: to take offense if someone says “sit down” or “give me water” instead of “do you want to sit” or “can I have some water”). The training referred to it as being willing to “get your toes stepped on”. I have been surprised how painful it is to have your toes stepped on continually. Even though I mentally know it is cultural differences I have to constantly overcome my trained internal responses.
A slightly more difficult part of this is attempting to differentiate between whether I have a poor reaction to something new as an American or a Christian. The distinction seemed clear before, but tends to get muddier the closer I look. If my reaction is as an American then I need to learn to change related to it, if it is as a Christian (meaning the situation or issue contradicts the Bible) then I need to understand the difference while still living according to the Bible. An example I have been struggling with regarding this is begging. The Turkana constantly beg. So much so that Esokon explained it as the third part of the common greeting. Begging has no relation to need, a rich man and poor man beg just the same. At first this felt like a deception and seemed like men wanting to get out of work – both ideas being counter to the Bible. I looked up scripture related to begging and was surprised how few references there were. Now I am coming to understand the Turkana’s use of begging more as a form of insurance. The culturally appropriate way to build a friendship is to ask for something from another. If you are doing well they want to have many people asking for help, so that should you come on hard times there will be many willing to return the favor. So what initially seemed like a Christian issue now appears to be more of an American issue.
-Chad
April 14 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
The other morning I asked Esokon if I could walk with him one morning to see how they shepherd animals. I wanted a better glimpse into their lives. Nothing out of the ordinary, just wanted to walk along on an ordinary morning as he would take his goats down to the river to water.
So I took off at sunrise to head over to his house. When I got close I heard him yell from the other side of the wash. I went over and met him, his brother, his neighbor who shares a well with him, and a man walking through who lives about thirty kilometers away. I got a few ‘What is he doing here?” questions and some smiles at the answer. We walked a bit toward the river as Esokon explained that it was cloudy and the goats weren’t thirsty yet before he told the men to “go on ahead, I will teach him to herd”. So Esokon said, “These are my sheep. All you do is walk behind them and they will move forward to the river. If they wander right, you walk to their right, and they will come back left. You go herd those” and he nodded to his left.
Keep in mind that I had been walking past sheep all the way to him and the entire time with him. “Which ones?” I asked. “Those right there,” he said again, “are mine, the others are William’s.” All I saw were goats. So off I went. There were goats everywhere and none wanted to go to the river. No matter where I walked, they walked to the trees to eat. I looked at Esokon walking slowly clicking and his goats heading toward the river – looked easy. I walked, I clicked, I ran, I swung my herding stick, and I ran some more. I got through the trees only to look back and see goats where I had walked. At one point I found a goat eight feet up in the trunk of a big tree. “What about this?” I yelled. He replied, “That one is mine, too.”
As I was walking (etc.) I could not help but think of Jesus telling his disciples, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me”. The verse seemed straight forward before, but now I understood it deeper. Esokon could see which sheep were his from far away. He had no problem discerning one from another. He said he could tell by a “v” cut in the ear, although every house I visit has goats with “v’s”. And the goats knew him. I clicked like him. I had an abro (stick for walking and herding) like him. Yet, the goats would quickly respond to him while disregarding me.
God knows the hearts of every man. He knows those who are faithful. He does not have to study the person’s life, he knows. And we as believers should know his presence. There are many trying to impact our movements and decisions. We need to focus on God, our shepherd, and follow his prompting above all the others fighting for attention – including the random white guy walking with a stick.
-Chad
April 14 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
We returned to Lodwar from travelling down to Nairobi for a week of team building time since we are new members. Elias is sick with a head cold. I have been having stomach problems so we stayed in Lodwar two extra days to make sure it wasn’t something more. I had a lot of things to try to get in Lodwar before we could leave, which had been difficult while sick.
Today I had to get the last things and still wasn’t feeling well. I just got the truck out the gate and had two Turkana men from Nakor greet me. It was nice to see familiar faces and at the same time more than I felt like dealing with without an interpreter. They had news on the boy with the broken leg we had taken to the hospital. They wanted me to see them, so in the truck they came and off we went. They took me to an area of Lodwar I hadn’t seen before. It looked like the bush with all thatch huts and livestock everywhere.
I visited with the boy and his parents. It was good to see the boy smiling and seemed happy about how his leg was. He had only a couple of weeks left until the cast would come off. They were staying outside a friends hut under a little makeshift thatch roof about 2’ by 6’ and 3’ off the ground. That is where they had spent the last three weeks and were going to spend a few more. They had a tiny pot to cook next to a little fire ring. I don’t know how far they had to walk for wood. The resilience of the Turkana amazes me.
They said their food was getting low and asked for help. I drove them into town, gave them some money, and told them I would pick them up after a couple errands. When I returned they were all smiles holding their bag of groceries. We talked a bit on the drive out. It was nice. When I got to the turn off for their friends house they told me I had done so much already, they would let me get home and walk from there. They were still visibly excited as they said goodbye and began walking down the path.
So far this work has an impact that is hard to measure in the short term. Today it was nice to see a tangible impact on the lives of this family.
-Chad
April 14 2009 | 2009 Updates and Turkana Life | No Comments »
We are missionaries through CMF International (Christian Missionary Fellowship). Our mission with CMF is simple but powerful: to be compelled by Christ’s love to transform lives and communities across the world. God called us to do just that in the region of Turkana located in Kenya, Africa. Along with our two children, Elias and Aidan, we are serving God's will through a holistic ministry among the Turkana tribe. This site serves as a way to keep our supporters, friends and family updated and to share our mission.
As always, Kitopia Akuj! (God bless).