Pubols Postscript

Our blog has moved

2009-10-14T09:03:00.005+03:00

Our new blog address: http://www.thepubols.com Find all of our archived posts plus all of our new posts since October, 2009 on our new self-hosted wordpress blog. If you were a subscriber to this blog, and you'd like to continue to follow us, go to our new blog. Subscribe via RSS and subscribe by email are available on the front page. We hope you'll continue to follow!

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One last view

2009-09-20T22:03:00.004+03:00

I had my final meetings with the director of Media Village, Graham, this evening before joining him at his church for the evening service. There are so many beautiful things to see in this area. We had our meeting in the car, and he brought me out to see a few things before I left. These photos are from a place that Graham's wife, Diane, says has some of the most beautiful scenery in the...

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God's Orchestration

2009-09-20T13:12:00.006+03:00

It's interesting how God puts things together--accidents, coincidences... I could call it chance, but instead I believe that it's God's orchestration and interaction with us. I've had a great visit with Media Village so far. Coming here was actually one of the accidental happenings--not the trip itself, but finding out about Media Village. When I was in Benin in July, I found out from a...

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Seeing God's Creation with Carol and Claxon

2009-09-19T22:14:00.004+03:00

Carol and Claxon are from Nairobi (where we live), and serve on staff with Media Village in Cape Town, South Africa. They've been here for two years. Carol coordinates DTS (Discipleship Training School) at Media Village, and Claxon works with the radio school. They were my tour guides, today, around Cape Town. A couple of highlights from my day--observing African Penguins in their natural...

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Listening, Learning

2009-09-18T21:45:00.002+03:00

I've had some great opportunities to interact with staff and students. A couple from Kenya, a couple from Nigeria and a single guy from Zimbabwe work on staff with Media Village and raise financial support just like Jeff and I do. They don't receive a salary, but rely on donations from churches and individuals to supply for all of their needs. I've been talking to them about what that has been...

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New treats

2009-09-17T21:59:00.007+03:00

I've tried a little something new every place I've gone. Tonight, I ate dinner with the Media Village director, his family and several students. I had a flavor of pizza that is new to me--avocado and ham pizza. Not too bad. I really liked it. I also made a visit to a mall earlier in the day. I was browsing in the stores to see if there was anything that we might want that isn't available to...

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Media Village

2009-09-17T08:40:00.009+03:00

I arrived in South Africa on Tuesday. Jeff is holding the fort in Nairobi while I'm gone. After spending about a day in Johannesburg, I came into Cape Town. I'm literally on the bottom of Africa--the south coast. I'm not sure whether the ocean in front of me is the Atlantic or Indian. I'm sure I'm near to where the two oceans meet. So, does that make this the Atlantian Ocean? I'm here to...

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From Genesis to Revelations in one week

2009-09-13T12:48:00.006+03:00

NAIROBI, KENYA--The Forum of Bible Agencies, Kenya sponsored a Bible Reading Marathon at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi. Starting in Genesis on Monday, September 7, volunteers took turns reading scripture 24 hours a day until the last verse of Revelations was read on Saturday, September 12. Readers were invited to read scripture in whatever version or language they preferred. Bible...

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Translations in Progress for Six African Sign Languages

2009-08-29T08:04:00.013+03:00

NAIROBI, KENYA--Scripture translations are in progress in six African sign languages which are located in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Ethiopia. Translation teams are starting by translating a set of Chronological Bible Stories, recording them on video, and preparing to distribute them on DVDs. Each translation represents the cooperative efforts of DOOR International, Wycliffe...

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Zinza and Rangi Scripture Published

2009-08-28T20:03:00.009+03:00

NAIROBI, KENYA--Books of scripture have been published in two Tanzanian languages. The gospel of Mark is now available in Rangi (also known as Langi), a language spoken by approximately 350,000 people. Translation of portions of scriptures into Zinza started in 1930, and soon the book of Genesis will be distributed. Books were being delivered by plane to Tanzania. Learn more about the Zinza....

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Ready to take a journey?

2009-08-24T08:45:00.015+03:00

The Journey program is a cross-cultural missions simulation experience that helps participants know what it is like to become a cross-cultural missionary. This past Saturday BTL (a partner organization of Wycliffe Bible Translators in Kenya) had about 90 people from local churches attend their Journey program. Participants started in the comfort zone--a room with snacks and cartoons playing on...

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Local Lunch

2009-08-21T14:20:00.011+03:00

I went to lunch with some ladies from the office. We had a typical Kenyan meal. I was prepared with my camera...so that you could see what we ate. Our lunch: Dried Fish (a mild white fish) Sukuma Wiki (the greens)Ugali (the white is made with corn meal, and the brown is made with millet)This is a meal that you eat with your hands--getting some ugali with a little fish, some greens, and a little...

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Getting Braids

2009-08-20T10:29:00.015+03:00

Many African women style their hair with all kinds of beautiful braids and twists. I really like it, and I've wanted to get my hair braided for a while. Yesterday, I was finally able to do it. A friend from our office recruited her niece who works in a salon to come to our house to braid my hair. I made the mistake of skipping breakfast in the morning because I hadn't factored more than four...

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Producing media in local languages

2009-08-05T14:53:00.018+03:00

Meet our friend Karen. We met her during our orientation training, and then we got to visit with her more when we did a month of cross-cultural training together. Now she's a vernacular media specialist. She's currently working in Cotonou, Benin. Vernacular: local language Media: drama, video, audio, music, storytelling, dance... culturally appropriate tools to share God's word Specialist: a...

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Feeling cold in Africa

2009-08-03T10:11:00.019+03:00

When you think of Africa, do you think hot? With much of the continent laying between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, that may seem logical, but elevation plays a huge role in temperature, even if you are sitting on the equator. Nairobi is at an elevation of 5000 ft (about a mile high), and is located just below the equator. June 21 marked the beginning of our winter season, and it is...

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An efficient way to carry things

2009-07-25T11:02:00.011+03:00

It amazes me to see what kind of things people can carry on their head. We don't see much of it in Nairobi. Outside of the city we've seen it more. In West Africa I saw it a lot--both men and women carrying items on their heads. We saw children coming out of school with their school books and papers on their heads, women with grocery bags on their heads or things to sell on their heads, we...

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"I know how [the gospel] transforms."

2009-07-23T19:46:00.029+03:00

Dr. Napo Jeremie Poidi grew up in a non-Christian family in a small town in Togo. He had his first encounter with the gospel when the Gideons gave him a Bible. "When I left [my home] to continue school, then I really began to go to church, and I gave my life to Christ. " In university, he joined a fellowship of Christian students. One evening a Wycliffe missionary came and spoke to the group. ...

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Dressed to Impress

2009-07-15T20:45:00.014+03:00

African clothing is beautiful. Where we were in West Africa many people wore clothes with colorful patterns, made to fit by seamstresses and tailors. I loved the clothes. The women wore such gorgeous outfits everyday; my clothes felt so boring and drab in comparison. There are all kinds of different designs of the clothes themselves and the fabrics. Some people design their own fabric. When I...

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Ruins of an Ancient Civilization

2009-07-10T21:48:00.014+03:00

Jeff and I visited the ruins of the city of Gedi--an ancient Swahili settlement. It's one of several settlements like this along the Kenyan coast. This one was a just a short drive from our hotel--it took us an hour to get there, but that's another story... The ruins lay back in a wooded area, and some parts are partially covered by bao bao trees. It gives it kind of an Indiana Jones feel. We...

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Going coastal!

2009-07-08T21:52:00.016+03:00

It's time for a break. Jeff and I have been planning a short vacation on the Kenyan coast for a couple of months. Two offices within our organization in East Africa had planned their annual conferences at a hotel on the Kenyan coast, and anyone else from the organization could come to the conference location during their event and take advantage of their conference discount. A deal too good to...

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Radio Maranatha

2009-07-07T19:10:00.003+03:00

We visited Radio Maranatha, where Daniel used to work. It's a Christian radio station in Cotonou. It now partners with Wycliffe Benin and broadcasts some of the programming that Wycliffe Benin produces. Wycliffe Benin is producing Christian radio programming in local languages in order to encourage the use of scriptures in local languages. We went on a tour of the whole station. We saw their...

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Meeting with Wycliffe Benin

2009-07-06T23:22:00.006+03:00

We met with the staff at the Wycliffe Benin office in Cotonou. Their office staff, mostly volunteers, is involved in personnel, finance, church relations, prayer coordination, recording radio programming, literacy and general administration. Like Wycliffe Togo, Wycliffe Benin is recruiting people to work in Bible translation. They currently have six people assigned to work in Bible...

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From linguistic analysis to computer repair

2009-07-06T16:10:00.004+03:00

Repost from David's blog, The Translation Beat All text and photos in this post by David Last week, I visited a discourse analysis workshop with my friend Jeff Pubols. Jeff works in computer support here in Nairobi, and he was visiting the workshop to perform some basic repair and cleanup on laptops used by Kenyan translation teams. People with skills like Jeff’s are essential to keep...

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Church, Beach, Boat

2009-07-05T23:05:00.010+03:00

We're staying with the chair of the Wycliffe Benin board and his family. Susan went with them to church, and I joined Daniel Dedji, the executive director of Wycliffe Benin, at his church. It was a special children and youth emphasis day, and several different groups presented special music, dances and skits. The service was mostly in French (the national language of Benin), but much of it was...

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Cotonou, Benin

2009-07-04T21:05:00.009+03:00

We made the journey from Lome, Togo to Cotonou, Benin yesterday (view map of Benin). It took about 4-5 hours which included about an hour at the boarder crossing between Togo and Benin. The highway between the two cities follows the coast and was often within view of the ocean. We saw towns and villages, open markets, and ports with containers of goods being carried off trucks. Cotonou is...

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