But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. -Jeremiah 17:7,8

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Garasa Village Visit


Steven Ttopogogos, (BTA’s Morobe Province Language Program Coordinator) asked SIL to send someone to the Garasa village for five days to film the Waria Multi-Lanugage Project Conference. Since none of our regular videographers were available, I was elected.

After the SIL Kodiak plane dropped me off at the grass airstrip in Garasa, we were given a lei and then led from the airstrip to the meetinghouse by a singsing. 

Garasa singsing  (https://vimeo.com/134672811)

They stopped and allowed me to pose with them for a picture, but I don’t think my dance moves would have cut it!

I learned to bathe in the river and to use the outhouse they built just for me!

I also learned to eat kaukau—their staple diety each day consisted of cooked banana, taro, rice, noodles and a cooked green vegetable. One day they killed and cooked a pig, and then we had a little meat to go along with the cooked vegetables.

Most of the time I was kept busy taking pictures of the conference. 

The Guhu-Saman had a New Testament translation in 1982 but the language has changed quite a bit since then and most of the younger generation no longer speak that way. They needed to find out if it needed a revision, and also if three other related languages Kunimipa, Amam, and Weri need a translation (thus a Multi-Language project), or do they just need an Audibible and oral Bible stories.

At the end of five days when we were ready to leave, the singsing led us back down to the airstrip and the ladies gave us bilums (shoulder bags) as a way of thanking us for coming. 

It was indeed a wonderful, and stretching experience, and God provided exceedingly more than I could ever ask or imagine!