Pirogues and Pygmies, part 2

This morning's trip back to the city of Mbandaka was to start promptly at 5:00 am, but a tropical downpour delayed us by an hour.  We loaded the pirogue in the drizzling rain and found as we got underway, that the boat was riding a lot lower in the water than before. Although we had used half of the fuel and left behind all the empty water bottles that we had drunk during the week, we had gained heavy branches of plaintain from the forest as as a gift from our Pygmie friends. We also had an extra rider and some other items that members of our team were taking back to Mbandaka to sell. 

I got the last seat under the tarp, right above the chickens (part of our gift) and next to a serious leak. Jay found a small piece of reed that I plugged it with and as the reed swelled, the leak stopped.  In front of us, however, a pastor is bailing water coming from somewhere in the front of the pirogue, and he'll probably have to keep it up the whole trip back. It's going to be a long day.

Breakfast is being served and each item is carefully passed back from person to person until it reaches me.   One of the chickens has made it to his feet and just pecked my ankle. I'll try not to invade their space.

The hum of the motor is relaxing, and with the sun covered by clouds, the breeze is cool.  The forest is amazingly beautiful, so the long hours will pass relaxingly. The quietness of the trip offers time for reflection on the week's lessons and prayer needs:

1. Utmost in my mind is the need to pray for peace for this beautiful country. We learned that there were problems in Kin while we've been gone. And in this part of the forest they spoke of possible war between the Pygmies and the Bantou people.

2. Racism is real and deep and openly practiced here. Just one shameful example among many is that in some churches, Pygmies are refused baptism and communion. Pray that those who call themselves Christian will act like the One whose name they claim.

3. A pastor who is on this trip with us is a coordinator of the Baptist schools. He is returning to Kin with a burden for the Pygmie school and will be seeking funding for them to be officially recognized by the government so that their teachers will possibly receive a salary for their work. Notice that I said possibly.  Just because the school is officially recognized doesn't mean the government will pay.

4. As we've taught about the Father's heart, both Pygmie and Bantou church leaders and laity have felt the burden of being obedient disciples who are fishers of men. Pray for their zeal to not wane.

5. Apart from our fellow trainer, Pastor Ndebe, we've had 3 other Kinshasa Baptist pastors with us on this trip. They've experienced as much culture shock and heart tugs as any American would have. Pray for them to have wisdom to know how to support their church planter, Pastor Jeremie, and how to begin leadership training for the Pygmie pastors. Pray that they will not just start throwing money around in ways that make their own tender hearts feel better, but that God will show them sustainable ways to help with the people's felt needs and not help in ways that create dependence on outsiders. 

What does it take to tell a story?

We loaded the pirogue at 5am and were underway less than an hour later. My goal for the 11_ hour pirogue ride is to master 4 kingdom parable in Lingala: the parable of the mustard seed, the parable of yeast, the parable of the mysterious grown of a seed sown, and the parable of the net.

Some people find it easy, but it's not for me.  Even in English, I make sure I've told myself a story 10 times before I present it to someone else.

In French, at least twice that...

In Lingala, 4 or 5 times that...

At first it's almost memorization for me.  Before I share it with others, I learn what the Lingala KJV equivalent and the living Kinsasha-language Bible has, and then I test it on a few friends and make necessary changes.  And then when I teach it, I listen intently for how people say the story in their own words.

For example I notice that instead of saying the archaic word for nest, most people simply say the birds build their houses.  Or I find that the term "flour medicine" for yeast is a word coined by Bible translators and no one has a clue what it means.  Really everyone uses the French word "levure".  We call this 'crafting the story', and for me as a non-native speaker, it requires diligence and faithfulness to communicate God's Word accurately in ways that my listeners can easily understand.

Even with all that, my work isn't finished, because there's the very real problem of pronunciation and accent.  You can take a girl out of the south, but you can't take the south of this girl.  So I record my crafted story told by a native speaker and listen to it when I walk in the mornings and when I wash dishes and cook.

As I write this, it's now almost 3pm.  We've been underway on the river for over 9 hours, and we know that today our trip will definitely be on the + side of 11 hours.  More like 13 or more.  We've seen beautiful sights and troubling sights out here on the rivers of the Congo.  As we have motored along at about 15 miles per hour, I've told my stories to myself at least 5 times each.  I've asked a couple of clarifying questions of my friend, Mahmi.  And before we arrive, I plan to say them to myself all again, at least 5 more times.

All in a day's work...

{Mahmi}

***Our arrival time was 8pm, so we spent 14 1/2 hours on the river.***