So, as I may have mentioned, I've been pretty busy with a few workshops over the past few weeks.
One of those workshops was with a group of guys (many of them full-time team members with us here, and some from local churches and communities) who came to translate a story book and teacher's guide about HIV and AIDS. I actually learned quite a lot about a lot of things I wouldn't dare to normally ask these guys that I work with on a daily basis! I have to admit, there were a few moments when I was glad I was sitting in the back of the classroom, instead of up front, because, well, being in a room full of African men while they're having some rather frank conversations about HIV and AIDS and the transmission thereof can make a single girl blush a bit!
That being said, though, I'm really glad that these guys (most of whom are pastors and school teachers) are able to talk openly about some of the issues surrounding sex and marriage and HIV. It's becoming a serious problem here in this country, but people are very un-informed here about the whole issue. Hopefully this book and guide that the guys translated these past two weeks will be a good tool to help people understand a few more things about it.
So here's the group of us, waving to all of you.
They worked so hard to translate the books and get them all prettified in the computer. I helped with that part for some of the teams, but I'm so impressed that my colleagues' computer skills are improving and they are learning how to prettify books all on their own!
Of course, we had to stop to eat once in a while, and it was SO nice to have someone cooking us a wonderful lunch every day. Izzy is our cook during the workshops, and not only is she as pleasant as can be, she's also an amazing cook. She even makes the slimy stuff (okra and another slimy vegetable leaf thing that I don't know the English name for!) taste good!
Kathie came from the US to help facilitate the workshop. Part of the workshop was also for these guys to learn how to teach the workshop to others, so here they were practicing a skit, to show how HIV attacks the white blood cells and lets all those nasty diseases like TB take over your body. By the way, translating "white blood cells" was quite a challenge for some of these language groups, but they all managed to find a good way in the end.
After working on helping to check the content of the translated books (using back translations and lots of questions - was SO much fun to be a translation 'consultant' for a few days!) and doing desktop publishing and lots of other little bits and pieces during the day, I went with one of the language teams to their church in the evening to help facilitate a Writer's Workshop for them!
I happen to love Writer's Workshops, because I happen to LOVE to see people writing things in their own language. Surprisingly, we had a handful of women come to the workshop who are just in the very beginning early literacy classes. They can't quite write a "story" yet, but they were SO enthusiastic to learn all about how to write and to start thinking about what they want to write. I didn't want them to go away without seeing their stories down on paper, so I recruited a few of the literate guys to sit with them and write down their stories as the women dictated their stories to them. Really, it was so amazing to see these women get so into the workshop! Very rewarding, even though it was exhausting!
Our Writer's Workshop was also a good chance to read the newly translated HIV story to speakers of that language. Each day, we brought a new section of the story, and Maurice read it to the class.
It was a very good way to get immediate feedback on what they had been translating that very day. Of course, I don't understand the language itself, but I could keep track of where the reader seemed to stumble a lot and correct himself as he went along, as that could indicate there's a problem with the translated text (or it could just be a problem with the fluency of the reader! But at least it gives you a basis to start asking a few questions!).
On Thursday, I spent some quality time with the photocopier and riseograph machine. The photocopier decided to take a holiday, and needs a technician. The closest technician is currently in what is practically a different country... so, I had to switch to using the riseo. In the end, though, I think the effort was worth it, to see a stack of books in 5 different languages, all produced in the span of less than 2 weeks!
And these are just some of the reasons why I really, really love my job!
One of those workshops was with a group of guys (many of them full-time team members with us here, and some from local churches and communities) who came to translate a story book and teacher's guide about HIV and AIDS. I actually learned quite a lot about a lot of things I wouldn't dare to normally ask these guys that I work with on a daily basis! I have to admit, there were a few moments when I was glad I was sitting in the back of the classroom, instead of up front, because, well, being in a room full of African men while they're having some rather frank conversations about HIV and AIDS and the transmission thereof can make a single girl blush a bit!
That being said, though, I'm really glad that these guys (most of whom are pastors and school teachers) are able to talk openly about some of the issues surrounding sex and marriage and HIV. It's becoming a serious problem here in this country, but people are very un-informed here about the whole issue. Hopefully this book and guide that the guys translated these past two weeks will be a good tool to help people understand a few more things about it.
Kathie came from the US to help facilitate the workshop. Part of the workshop was also for these guys to learn how to teach the workshop to others, so here they were practicing a skit, to show how HIV attacks the white blood cells and lets all those nasty diseases like TB take over your body. By the way, translating "white blood cells" was quite a challenge for some of these language groups, but they all managed to find a good way in the end.
After working on helping to check the content of the translated books (using back translations and lots of questions - was SO much fun to be a translation 'consultant' for a few days!) and doing desktop publishing and lots of other little bits and pieces during the day, I went with one of the language teams to their church in the evening to help facilitate a Writer's Workshop for them!
I happen to love Writer's Workshops, because I happen to LOVE to see people writing things in their own language. Surprisingly, we had a handful of women come to the workshop who are just in the very beginning early literacy classes. They can't quite write a "story" yet, but they were SO enthusiastic to learn all about how to write and to start thinking about what they want to write. I didn't want them to go away without seeing their stories down on paper, so I recruited a few of the literate guys to sit with them and write down their stories as the women dictated their stories to them. Really, it was so amazing to see these women get so into the workshop! Very rewarding, even though it was exhausting!
Our Writer's Workshop was also a good chance to read the newly translated HIV story to speakers of that language. Each day, we brought a new section of the story, and Maurice read it to the class.
On Thursday, I spent some quality time with the photocopier and riseograph machine. The photocopier decided to take a holiday, and needs a technician. The closest technician is currently in what is practically a different country... so, I had to switch to using the riseo. In the end, though, I think the effort was worth it, to see a stack of books in 5 different languages, all produced in the span of less than 2 weeks!
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