june in the office

The month of June is always a quiet month here. The first rains can come as early as April, but they don't really begin to come regularly until June, so that's when everyone deserts the village and goes out to their fields to plant. Some people's fields are over ten miles from the village, so they have huts out there and don't come back to the village except at the weekend. The boys and I went into the village to visit friends on Friday, only to find that all of our friends' houses were shut up and empty!

It is also a quiet month for the translation team, as the translators generally take their annual leave at this point, to work in their fields. The rest of the year, if there is work to be done in the fields it will either be members of their family or else hired workers who will do it. We were in Cotonou for a week at the beginning of June getting the boys' passports renewed and Simon signed up for his next year of distance-schooling, but I will still have spent three weeks on my own in the translation office every weekday morning!

Since we learned to use the new software, I now not only have work to do checking the Monkolé translation against the original text in Hebrew (with help from commentaries etc.), but I have plenty to keep me occupied converting computer files from their old format to the new one. We don't seem to have the most recent version of some files – but we do have obviously-more-recent paper copies – so I have been updating the files once they are in the Paratext software. Those books we have worked on recently I have also been correcting on the computer. This month I have worked on parts of Exodus, Ruth, Zechariah and Proverbs, so quite a mixture!

Writing my doctoral thesis was in some ways good preparation for this work, and not only because my doctorate was in linguistics! I also learnt to plod along day after day aiming for a very distant goal, and to be meticulous in checking details. I also learnt to work alone … but this month's isolation has made me very appreciative of the advantages of working in a team!

Next week Philémon has exams and the pastor has a training course in Parakou from Monday to Wednesday. Since I have to be in Parakou for our missionary Day(s) of Prayer Thursday and Friday, that will make yet another week where we can't work together. The week after that – beginning the 9^th July – we have a week of checking with our translation consultant. We hope to finish checking Exodus – please pray that this will go well!

Driving into a rainstorm on the (very nice!) road between Kandi and Banikoara, not far from where we live.

green things

As I mentioned before, rainy season always arrives with a series of bangs – huge thunderstorms with angry winds that rumble over our corrugated iron roof! I'm glad to say that the roof of our extension has stood up to the assault, and the worst of the storms are now behind us. A bit more rain would be welcome, say the farmers here.

After two or three rains there is a transformation, as bare earth changes in a matter of days into a green lawn … and after a few weeks into a wild jungle! Hélène, the pastor's wife, who works for us, got busy as usual this year planting things in our vegetable plot – with a little help from our boys and some evening watering from Marc.

As you can see, things are sprouting!

Some of our aubergines are already ready to eat, and the corn, okra and carrots are showing their first shoots. Apparently the cucumbers didn't « take », which will be a disappointment for Benjy, who is a big fan. Here is one of the larger aubergines:

And here is a moringa plant. This is an amazing plant whose leaves can either be cooked or put into salad. It is packed full of vitamins (look it up on wikipedia!).

a wedding at last!

Ever since we arrived in Benin, we had wanted to go to a wedding. All the other missionaries seemed to go to a lot, but at first no one we knew was getting married, and then when we started hearing of weddings either in churches we knew or of people we knew, things kept happening to stop us from attending. Rainstorms, illnesses, pregnancy sickness, being away from home … and at last a few weeks ago we were actually in our village when a couple in our church got married!

It was a big wedding, but that goes without saying really, since all weddings here are big! Not only is the whole church invited, but extended family on both sides … and family can extend a long way!! We arrived in plenty of time, and found that the wedding venue had been changed just that morning! It had been supposed to take place under a grove of trees next to the school, permission had been sought and granted … but then that morning they realised that some children needed to pass exams and so it wasn't possible to have a wedding take place under the windows! So it was held the other side of the road, next to our church, instead. We found ourselves seats in the shade, greeted people we knew and visiting pastors … and waited.

It made me smile a little to be handed the official running order for the events of the day. Everything was planned down to the last minute … and we were already running late! But the service went well, with several choirs, two pastors, the elder of another church and Marc all taking part! One thing I noticed which was very different from weddings back in Europe was how serious the wedding party all looked. I have heard that the bride shouldn't look happy about leaving her father's household, and I think in general the idea is that this is a solemn occasion and not something to be taken lightheartedly. In the photo of the wedding couple plus pastors/missionaries you will see who forgot that she shouldn't smile (good to see that the pastor next to me has a big grin too!).

After the ceremony we were ushered with the other pastors/elders into the house of our local government representative for the meal. It was huge and delicious! Pounded yams with chicken and spinach sauce, then a rice dish, and then "akassa" (a slightly-fermented millet paste). And fizzy drinks for everyone, much to Simon's delight.

building work finished!

I realise that it took so long for our new bedroom to be completely finished that I haven't put pictures up here yet, but I thought that anyone who had followed the progress of the building work might like to see it!

Here are the cupboards – not very exciting but extremely useful!

The other side of the room, with curtains and wall decorations brought back from France by my lovely hubby:

And a close-up of the decoration! 

hello baby!

Since we have been in Benin, we have had a number of particularly note-worthy cross-cultural experiences, such as my interesting time passing the Beninese driving test. We have also braved the dentist, and now we're venturing into another domain of the medical system. I am pregnant, due mid-November, and so at the end of last month when we were in Parakou we went to see a gynaecologist for a check-up and a scan.

It is a private practice, though I suspect he works at the hospital during the daytime, and so one turns up at 7 in the evening, takes a number, and waits for one's turn! A 2-hour wait in our case! Fortunately someone was babysitting our boys and so we had no worries about time. The waiting room was hot, there was a noisy overhead fan which didn't help much, and a television which showed death notices for a lot of the time we were there.

The gynaecologist was great. He felt like someone you could trust and who knew what he was doing. And the scan was better quality than I had allowed myself to hope for. The long wait was forgotten in the joy of seeing our baby for the first time, waving lazily at us! The gynaecologist was happy with the scan and allowed us to take both photos and a video with our phone! (There was in fact a print-out, but the phone photo was clearer.)

And here he or she is, Baby Deneuf #3: 

changing seasons

We have survived hot season and are now going through the most turbulent season of the year, weather-wise! As hot season gives way to rainy season, we have violent storms, which begin as dust-storms before the rain takes over.

 

Here are a few photos from last week. First the dust:

And then the rain, which entertained the boys for quite some time!

The next day was beautiful!

On Sunday night we had a thunderstorm and then constant rain all night … it didn't finish drizzling until about ten o'clock in the morning, and then we had light showers from time to time all day. It really felt like rainy season, and obviously the pastor's wife thought so, as she decided it was time to start planting our garden. Simon and Benjy have their own small hoes, and Simon in particular really got stuck into working with his:

Paratext in Parakou!

The translation team has just got back from a training course held in Parakou on the use of Bible translation software called Paratext. It was an inspiring few days! The new (to us) software is a programme which makes it possible to open on one computer screen several different versions of the biblical text being translated (the Hebrew/Greek, French translations, English translations …) with a window in which the translation is typed. Settings can be controlled so that the text is immediately formatted ready for printing, which is very helpful.

We have only had the elementary training so that we can do the basics. Once we have some experience using it we're hoping to carry on with more training, as it is in fact very complex software with very useful applications!

A few photos (thanks to my colleague Dodi Forsberg):

The other wonderful thing about the training course was a few days away in the relative cool of Parakou. At home we have “lows” at night of 30°C and during the day the temperature goes above 40°C. So it was lovely to have cool nights and to even be in an air-conditioned room for our training!