A Tricky Bantu Language Indeed

This post is primarily to share some things about the Chichewa language.  As such, no new picture album to share, but just a couple of quick notes.  I went to the DMV again the other day, and three hours later finally had my temporary drivers licence (the actual card should be ready for me to pick up within a couple of months).  The three hours involved many, many more queues, five of which were for a road test that I didn’t have to actually take but for which I still had to pay and go through the processes.  Another quick note is that the term at EBCoM has now ended, and the students have gone home for the break.  I thought it ended fairly well, but I was definitely glad I made up some course evaluation forms for the students, because the resounding feedback was that the lectures were difficult for them to follow!  When I had heard that general report part-way through the term, I made some changes and thought I had changed things well enough, but it turns out I really need to work hard at simplifying, slowing things down, and discerning how best to present the material to the students and facilitate learning.  There is a 4-week break between terms.  In this time, I will be doing a couple of day trips, will go down to Johannesburg, South Africa for a week-long theological education conference, and work on preparing next term’s courses, which for me are John and 1 John, Doctrine of Last Things, and continuing Introduction to NT Greek.  All the lecturers get a lighter load in the 3^rd term because most of the 2^nd year students are away for a term-out ministry assignment, which puts them in different ministry placements around the country. 

A few students on their way home for the break

One other random thing I thought I’d mention as I’m going to a conference in a couple of weeks and as I’m in a context where there is a deep hunger for, but generally lack of resources for good theological education, is to encourage you to take advantage of the opportunities that are available to you.  Regent College (where I did my graduate degree in Vancouver), for example, has excellent week-long or 2-week courses throughout spring and summer.  If you have any desire, whether personal or vocational, to learn more about any number of subjects related to the Christian life, including Bible studies, theology, art, history, missions, church leadership, spirituality, marketplace theology, etc., than do check out http://summer.regent-college.edu/.  Just a little plug; anyway, on to the main feature.

Since a couple months ago I have had a new private Chichewa tutor.  The one I had just up and went away for several months, so a new one was needed.  We meet twice a week for an hour each, and I am making some progress little-by-little, or as one says in Chichewa, “pang’ono-pang’ono”.  Turns out, however, that Chichewa is really quite a complex language.  Pronunciation is thankfully quite manageable, since, unlike English, it is actually consistently phonetic.  The main tricks to catch are that “l” and “r” are pronounced pretty well the same; “i” is pronounced like the long English “e” (as in teeth), and “e” in turn is pronounced like the long English “a” (as in ate); “c” except as “ch” doesn’t exist, and “th” is pronounced as just “t”.  Another important trick to note is that all syllables must end in vowels.  Just as Malawians feel they have not eaten a meal until they’ve had nsima, so they feel a word just isn’t a word without a vowel at the end.  For words designating things not native to Malawi, Chichewa has adopted the English word, though not without Chichewa-izing it.  Sometimes you see a word and have no idea what it means, and it’s not until you pronounce it according to the rules above that it makes sense.  You can probably very well figure out the meanings of the following words by sounding them out: “botolo”, “bukhu”, “tchalitchi”, “nyuzipepala”, “ofesi”, “khitchini”, “dokotala”, “kalipentala”, “thebulo”, “kalasi”, “kaloti”, “kabichi”, “anyenzi”, etc.  For those who figured out 13/13, Congratulations!  For the rest, the answers are at the bottom of this post.* 

Lest you think, though, at this point that Chichewa is easy-peasy, let me introduce you to the complexity of noun classes.  Whereas English has only one noun class, you might be familiar with the fact that French has 2 based on gender (masculine and feminine) or that German has 3 (masculine, feminine, and neuter).  For Chichewa there are 6 MAIN noun classes and additional minor ones!  Furthermore, these noun classes are of central importance to each sentence since you generally can’t even say the verb of a sentence until you know the noun class to which the subject belongs.  All adjectives, verbs, and several other components of each sentence have to agree properly with the nouns to which they connect, making sentence construction a rather complicated task. 

Additionally, verbs are such that subject-agreement, tense (past-present-future), object-agreement, voice (active and passive), mood (statement of fact, command, statement of possibility, etc.), and plenty more, are all indicated by adding components to the verb itself.  So, what might take numerous words in English can all be said in a single, though very complex, Chichewa word.  For example, “Sindidzachigulabensoko” means “I will still not buy it there again” (si=not; ndi=I; dza=will; chi=it; gula=buy (the actual verb); be=still; nso=again; ko=there).  Needless to say, when people speak very fast (which they all do), it can be hard to catch and place everything. 

I’ll conclude this blurb on the Chichewa language with one more thing that I’ve found tricky to learn: locatives.  In English, we have 2 main words that locate things, “here” and “there”.  In Chichewa, there are 12 main words!  They are composed by combining one of “in”, “on”, or “at/toward” with one of “where I am”, “near where I am”, “a distance away from me, though still visible from where I am”, or “that place that you know but is not within eyesight”.  Plenty to consider before opening one’s mouth. 

So, all that is to say, feel sorry for me, don’t judge me if I don’t speak fluent Chichewa after 2 years, and please pray for me.  Thanks for reading.

*Answers for the Chichewa-ized English words: bottle, book, church, newspaper, office, kitchen, doctor, carpenter, table, class, carrot, cabbage, onions.

Paper Sunday

I think I am getting into the bad habit of having to start all of my blog postings with apologies for not posting earlier.  Perhaps next time will be better, but no promises since it will probably only result in more apologies.  Anyway, apologies.  My lack of writing, however, has not been because of a lack of events to report. 

Things have been going pretty well as far as the classes I am teaching are concerned.  The term is quickly coming to an end and this week I will be giving both of my classes their final exams.  A not so great thing happened when I received the term papers – keep in mind, these are my first classes of my own and the first papers I have received to mark.  In the very first paper I looked at, I found plagiarism!  Certainly not the kind of thing you want to find anywhere, but especially not at a Bible college.  In coming to talk with some of the other faculty, though, while there is still little excuse for this particular student, it was explained to me that a little bit culturally, and more because of lack of study skills and educational background, the ills of plagiarism really aren’t ingrained even with EBCoM stressing them.  It is not natural, for example, for some students even to use quotation marks when quoting from the Bible.  Besides the plagiarism issue, I have found the writing level of many of the students to be quite low.  At least until I get the lay of the land a little more, though, I am grading the students according to their ideas rather than the poor grammar with which they seek to communicate them.  However, one bright point is that as I read their English, I am seeing more and more how Chichewa grammar works!  (In about a week I will give another short post describing a little more about the Chichewa language.)

A very unfortunate circumstance that rose up a couple weeks ago, was a one-day student boycott of classes because of a lack of funds for food.  As I mentioned in the first post, the students are in charge of their own food and to this point they had been managing on MK1,100 per student per week.  Food prices have gone up, however, and they were finding it difficult at that rate, such that they didn’t have enough money to complete each week.  In actual fact, though, most students receive at least 20% more money for food from their sponsors, but unknown to the sponsors, were not using all of it for food.  When the 1,100 proved to be insufficient, the students decided that a strike would be the best way to bring about a quick and favourable result.  Well, it can be an effective way, but it is certainly not a Christian way to deal with trials.  Sadly, there had been precedence for this sort of action in the past, which is why the school had chosen to put students in charge of their own food to begin with.  That the students would resort to this very poor display of Christian character has been very troubling for the faculty and for the sponsors of the students.  I mentioned in the last post that the school’s Spiritual Emphasis Days had been on “Show Me Your Faith”, taken from the book of James.  Though the students seemed to be very receptive to it at the time, evidently, it did not sink in to affect their actual behaviour when hardship arose.  The material needs of the matter have been met by an anonymous donor through the end of the term (though with somewhat of a lingering question mark over next term), but the spiritual matter will take quite a bit more time to address, especially since the material needs have been more than met for this term, which reinforces the effectiveness of bad behaviour.  Through this issue and generally, I have been coming to see more and more that quick money, while it can relieve the giver’s conscience, does little to change hearts.  It has been a huge issue, and I have not explained it in its entirety, but it has definitely been troubling, discouraging, and brought some unwanted tensions into relationships with the students.  Your prayers over the whole situation would be much appreciated.

This event at EBCoM occurred also around the same time that students at the polytechnic university in town were holding protests and strikes over financial issues.  In Malawi’s history, such student protests are not uncommon at all.  It is also very interesting and probably no coincidence that in the very core cultural narrative of the struggle for Malawian independence centred on the politico-religious figure of John Chilembwe, this same attitude and justification of protest, resistance, demand, and force stands strong.  Such matters show that there is a much wider cultural and social trend that Christians have become caught up in as well.  (though in this, Malawi is certainly not alone).

Anyway, let me shift on to lighter matters.  Just a quick note that I have not yet gone back to the DMV.  I have been avoiding it for obvious reasons, so my report on Operation Malawi Drivers Licence, Part II, will have to wait.  I now move on to the key feature of this post, which was much more enjoyable to experience than the last posts key feature.

Last Sunday I experienced my first Paper Sunday, which is also known as Big Sunday.  This is when a church holds a special and very fun and entertaining fundraiser.  The “paper” refers to money in bills as opposed to coins – getting into the big money…well, not really.  The smallest bill is MK 20, the equivalent of about 15 cents.  One of the churches that I had been to before (and is one of my favourites), Mpemba, was holding a Paper Sunday, so I made plans to go.  I also brought along an American named Tracie who’s only here for 2 months and was itching to experience a Malawian church before she leaves.  Paper Sunday was definitely a cultural experience for both of us! 

Thankfully we had been warned it was going to be a long day, though at no point did it feel too long.  We picked up the pastor and his wife, Richard and Nora Zibophe, on the way to the church at 9:30, and we didn’t leave until around 5:30!  How, you might ask, can going to church be an 8-hour day?  Well, this is how:

Although we arrived at 9:30, and church was supposed to start at 10, as is prone to happen in African churches, and especially this Sunday as odds and ends needed to be sorted out, church started late…rather late…well over an hour late.  The person who was supposed to preach didn’t show, so I was asked to preach, and thankfully I have learned to come prepared for such things by keeping a couple extra sermons in my Bible.  The service itself was shorter than usual with no offering, no choirs, and I was asked to do a shorter sermon.  After the service, though, the festivities began right away with an offering being taken by a boy as he sang with an amazing voice.  After that there was a competition of money for a clock, with the church divided into four according to where people lived.  The group that gave the most got the clock.  Through this part, and pretty well everything that followed there was an MC who had so much energy and was hilarious to watch.  

The Master of Ceremonies of Paper Sunday

 The church wanted Tracie and me to be our own Team Azungu vying for the clock.  We put money in the pot, but told them to divide it between the other four groups.  The money was counted by three people sitting around a table to do all the money counting through the afternoon – quite a job.  After one of the teams won the clock, there was a break for lunch, which was also part of the fundraising.  They certainly weren’t trying to break anyone’s back, though, because I got a very filling plate of nsima and beans with some vegetables on the side and a glass of tobwa all for MK 70 (roughly 50 cents)!  The meal was delicious and very satisfying, putting people in the mood to be generous in the continued festivities to follow.  While lunch was going on, tickets could be purchased for the raffle to be held later (MK 80 each).

Coming back into the church after lunch, it was now time for the auction.  It differed from most every Canadian auction I’ve seen on 2 accounts.  First, the items up for auction were by no means rare novelties, but every-day items like sugar, soap, a few bottles of Coke, and matches.  Second, unlike auctions as I imagine they are done most everywhere else in the world, in these, it was not just the highest bidder who had to pay.  Bids were made by actually putting money into a basin, and all the money stayed there.  Plus, people didn’t need to match a bid before they could raise.  If one person started at MK 50, another person would only need to put in MK 20 to take it, not MK 70.  If two parties were vying for an item and then one dropped out, any other person could jump in with a mere MK 20 and take it all despite the others having each put in MK 300.  So, it was a little chaotic, and people were adding to the chaos/fun by trying to take the item before the bidding was finished.  I did manage to win the bid on one of the bottles of Coke, though, which was very refreshing a couple of hours later.

Abusa Zibophe (right) in a bidding match over a bottle of Coke

After the auction was the time for choirs.  You might be thinking, “oh nice, a musical interlude between the fundraising,” but oh no, it was very much a part of the fundraising.  In a regular church service, there are usually a couple of different choirs – often a women’s choir, youth choir, and/or Sunday school choir.  They sing a song as they shuffle up to the front, sing a song or two at the front, and then go back down.

But on Paper Sunday, for as little as MK 20 you can make pretty much anything happen.  The women’s choir started and somebody paid to have a man join them up at the front and do the dancing/actions with them.  Then money was put in for another man to join them.  I thought this was absolutely hilarious until money was paid for me to go up front and join them!  I could have paid to refute the request, but decided to humour the congregation with some bad azungu dancing before paying to sit back down.

 By this time, however, the youth choir was itching to get up and sing, so they paid for the women to return to their seats, but the women paid to refute, then the youth paid more, and then the women again, but finally the youth overcame.  While the youth were up a man paid to pretend to conduct the choir, which he did with great exuberance. 

Then a woman paid to play a drum with the youth choir, which she did quite horribly but hilariously, and somebody else in the congregation quickly paid for her to go back down.

Somebody paid to have Tracie and me go up and join the choir.  Since I had been up already, I paid to refute for myself, but also to ensure that Tracie still had to go up.  The women’s choir wanted another turn, so they paid to take the youth choir down.  They didn't last long before they were taken down by the youth choir once again.  The choirs were definitely the most entertaining part of the whole afternoon.

After the choirs was the raffle draw.  There were quite a number of items.  I ended up winning a bucket and Tracie a basin.  There was also laundry soap and plates to be won, and the grand prize was a radio.  The raffle marked the end of Paper Sunday, and when all was said and done they had raised about MK 7,500.  We then completely packed our vehicle with people from the church to drop off at various points along the way.  We ended up at the Zibophe’s house where they very generously gave us each a couple cobs of fresh maize, a pumpkin, and fresh guavas all from their own field.  I got home at about 6 and was thoroughly beat, but had an absolutely tremendous day!

I think that is plenty for this blog post.  I had planned to include a little thing on the language of Chichewa, but don’t want to make this one too long, so I’ll post it in a week or so to space things out a bit.  Just one more thing before signing off.  Some of you may remember that in my first upload of pictures, I had a picture of EBCoM’s chapel, where right at the front was a picture of a white Jesus.  It’s not only not historically accurate, but also quite an unhelpful picture for African indigenous Christianity.  Before coming out here I had seen very striking pictures on the internet of a black Jesus.  That, of course, is not historically accurate either, but since the Gospel reaches out to all cultures and part of the reason for God becoming man in the first place was to reveal Himself in a way that people could identify with and understand.  Anyway, the website is jesusmafa.com, which has pictures of a Cameroon Jesus.  I printed up one of them and brought it to a Malawian artist to basically copy while adapting it to make it more Malawian.  This is the result, the story of Mary and Martha.  I like it and hope to get more pictures done.  Perhaps I can start a trend, which I think would help evangelism as well as peoples’ general perceptions of Jesus (not the God brought/imposed from the West, but the God also of Africans).

Oh, right, and more pictures can be seen here (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034923&id=180500047&l=90487545a8)