Spring 2013

Juicy Fruit
I made it through the hot seasonone of the hotter hot seasons that I can remember in my 6 years here in South Sudan. There were a few weeks where the temperatures went up to the high 40s (Celsius) every afternoon. Thanks to a system of invertors, back up batteries and a solar powered fan, I was able to keep a fan blowing over my bed throughout the hot nights. Now, the first signs of Spring (known here as rainy season) are starting to arrive. The first fruits of the spring have been papayas from the trees in my garden, which Ive kept watered with the hose through the dry season. I have loved going out to the garden, to watch the little papaya buds grow, turning from green to vibrant orange over the past few months. They really do make a tasty treat when drizzled with a bit of fresh lime juice! Im always amazed when I pick and eat the fruit from the trees. While I gave those papaya trees a bit of water, there really wasnt much I had to, or even could do, to make the papayas grow. That was Gods jobHe gave the sun, the soil, designed that whole photosynthesis thing and He even gave me eyes to see when that fruit was ready to be eaten (even before the birds found it!). Do you sense an object lesson coming on?! In some seasons of my work, I need to look hard to be able to see any of the fruits of my labours here. In other seasons, though, God opens my eyes to see some obvious bright orange fruits hanging there in the trees! In the past few months, Ive been shown a few glimpses of the fruit of what Gods been doing here through SIL *in South Sudan. On a visit to the Tennet homeland in March, I saw a literacy teacher that weve been training over the past few years really putting into practice all that weve taught him! When I did some informal evaluation of some of the children in his Grade 1 and 2 classes, I could see that they could read out of the book, and could write words that I asked them to write in their own language. I also got to visit a Murle teacher in his church based literacy class. His record books were beautifully kept, as he had been shown in the training we gave him. He had a large class, many of whom were women with their babies strapped to their backs, eagerly learning to read in Murle. Mamas who had never had a chance to go to school before were reading and writing stories in their notebooks, pen in one hand, baby in the other! At one point, the teacher gently took a sleeping baby from the mothers arms so that she could come to the front of the class to read a story that had been written on the board. Seeing how much that teacher cared about teaching his Murle community, and especially how much he supports the women who come to learn in his class, was sweeter than any papaya Ive eaten from my trees! In reality, though, I know that all Ive done is done a little watering. and its God who has really made it all grow. * SIL is Wycliffes field work partner organization

SERVING WITH WYCLIFFE CANADAPARTNERS IN BIBLE TRANSLATION

Tanyas Times

The Newsletter of Tanya Spronk

A Few Points to Keep in Mind

Would you pray for: Peace and security in parts of South Sudan. In January, we trained 13 Murle mother tongue literacy teachers. The only one who has been able to start his classes, though, is the one based here in Juba. The rest were meant to start their classes in and around Pibor, which has seen some fighting and insecurity, displacing the people they wanted to teach. Pray for these teachers (most of whom are also pastors) who are trying to serve their community during this difficult time. Wisdom as I take up a new role as Literacy & Education Coordinator for South Sudan. This comes with a bit more responsibility for overseeing all of the work in the literacy & education department, as well as being responsible for the budgets and our work with the governments Ministry of General Education and Instruction. Encouragement and health for the South Sudanese staff at SIL, as they do the work God has called them in do in translation and literacy.

Wycliffe Bible Translators 4316 10th St. NE Calgary, AB T2K 6K3 Canada PO Box 628200 Orlando, FL 32862-8200 USA SIL PO Box 64 Juba, South Sudan +211 918 613 387 Home Address: 151 Valley Ridge Green NW Calgary, AB T3B 5L6 tanya_spronk@sil.org

Homeland Visit
In March, I made a trip back to Arilo, the home area of the Tennet people. Just over a year ago, I went to train the teachers in the local primary school, so it was time to follow up and do some refresher training with those teachers. Though the village is only 100 kilometers (as the crow flies) from Juba, the roads are terrible, and it can take 2 4 days to travel by road. Thankfully, MAF has a few planes based here, and they were able to land on the airstrip there, saving us precious time, as well as wear and tear on our bodies! It was nice to be welcomed back Arilo, and to greet some old These flowers blossom even through the dry season friends, but it was especially nice to see how the teachers have been putting into practice what we taught them last year. Unfortunately, the school has had a few setbacks, though, as the government has taken some of the teachers off the payroll, due to some political maneuvering. Only 1 of the 9 teachers we trained is receiving any salary from the government. The others are volunteering their time and energy to teach the children, while jugglingaresponsibilities at Enjoying meal with a Bible the church, and their own cultivation and caring for their livestock, as they need to translator for still the Baka lanprovide food for their own families. guage at his home. As it was dry season, there was no fruit or vegetables to be found anywhere in the village! We ate meat, beans, and grains, supplemented with leaves from various trees. But the Bible translation project in the Tennet language is bearing fruit. Adelino, the Tennet translation team leader, reported that recently, a witch doctor heard stories about Jesus in Tennet for the first time. The same word used in the translation for the healing that Jesus does is the same word that she used to describe the healing that she was doing. Yet she was amazed that Jesus never asked for payment in return of the healing he did. Through this, she was convicted that only Jesus could offer true healing, and she broke the stick she used for her witchcraft and healing. She vowed to leave that life behind, trusting in Jesus from that point forward.

www.wycliffe.ca www.sil.org

A New Job
The last few months have seen some changes in our little SIL group here in South Sudan. Our current Director finished her term, so Jackie, who has been the Literacy & Education Coordinator for the past several years, stepped into the Director role leaving me to step up into the role of Literacy & Education Coordinator for SIL-South Sudan! Not only that, but SIL-Africa Area bestowed upon me the title of Literacy & Education Consultant, in place of my previous title of Literacy & Education Specialist. While most of my daily work is pretty much the same is was before getting all these grand titles, the coordinator job comes with a bit more responsibility for the oversight and direction of our literacy department, as well as being responsible for things like the budgets! Thankfully, Jackie is not far away, as she is still even sitting in the same office with the rest of us literacy folks, and there are some great people in the Literacy Department that I work with. Our small but mighty department consists of Janet, from New Zealand and Peter, from South Sudan, who worked on the Dinka Rek translation and literacy team before their New Testament was published. The three of us are based in Juba and work together with literacy specialists and translators from 9 different language communities. Thankfully, some people from SILs HR department in the USA came to Juba to run a workshop called Supervisor Survival Skills in April, to equip us for our new roles.

A Tennet grandmother in Arilo, South Sudan

Whats Next?
The rainy season is coming, which means some gardening, and hopefully some fruits of that labour will also be seen! There are a few other things on the horizon, which I pray will also bear much fruit. Im working with the Dinka Cam group to check a translation of a book called, Healing the Wounds of Trauma: How the Church Can Help, as well as developing some easy reading books in several languages which will supplement the school curriculum with some mother tongue materials, and continuing to meet with the Ministry of Education and other NGOs in the education sector to advocate for the use of childrens mother tongue in early education. In June, I have also been invited to Nairobi to help teach at a multilingual education course in the final year of SILs iDelta program. Following the training course, I will present a paper about how marking tone affected the ability of the Tennet to read and write their language at the International Reading Associations Pan-Africa Reading For All conference, also in Nairobi. As usual, theres never a dull moment around here, and I am grateful for all that you have done in praying for and supporting all of what God is doing here in South Sudan. Peace,

Tanya

A trip to Arilo, Eastern Equatoria. Everyone carries water on their heads; Adelino, the Tennet team leader teaches about the Tennet spelling system; we ate a lot of leaves from local trees as they were the only veggies around during the dry season.

In January, SIL was asked by a partner organization to train some Murle teachers so they could start literacy classes in their cattle camps. We also trained a Juba based teacher who is teaching literacy in his Murle church. I got the opportunity to visit the Juba class, and was so impressed to see how well the students were reading and writing, even while juggling their babies on their laps!

Left: During the Easter break I travelled to Jinja, Uganda with a friend and her kids. While there, we got to quadding on ATVs, and enjoyed some good R & R at a pool, surrounded by beautiful spring flowers. Above: My garden is getting ready to be planted again hopefully the guinea fowls wont eat it all this time!