While working with Fredy, I started playing with words…
In April we were working on the kitchen and bathroom of the house that is almost ready in the small Ko’revaju village. Fredy, our friend, one of the leaders of the Ko’revaju church, helped us. I worked with him for several hours while we chatted, shoveled dirt, etc.
We continue to gather recordings of the language to study them later. We already have a good amount of vocabulary and we have been learning more about the structure of the grammar. Now it is time to take a risk and talk to people, in short sentences, putting into practice what we have learned.
While working with Fredy, I started playing with words, trying to translate from Spanish into ko’revaju a word he himself used, “father of the family.” When I threw my translation into ko’revaju at Fredy (I thought), he laughed a little. Was me trying to put in effort in what we’ve studied and saying the words make him laugh? I politely asked him: why are you laughing?
Fredy told me that his laughter is not because he is making fun of the way I’m speaking, but rather because of the joy he feels that we are using the language.
Although our progress is certainly not that great, we have seen that people are happy to see us immerse ourselves in their culture and language. On our last visit, at the beginning of August, a women also showed to Liliana that smile, telling her how pretty she looks when she speaks Ko’revaju.
This is a great encouragement for us, because at the beginning of our ministry our Ko’revaju friends were sure that due to our age we wouldn’t be able to learn. I think they didn’t say this to discourage us, but rather from the experience of so many people who have contacted them before but didn’t commit to learn their language as we are.
CULTURE ENTER THROUGH FOOD
Food is one of the aspects in which we learn the most about culture. Tastes develop from when we are children, food involves habits, traditions, and memories. During our visit we were able to enjoy foods that are not part of our culture but are part of the daily life of the Ko’revaju, depending on how successful they are when they go out hunting.
We were able to try capybara, small alligator, and even monkey. Our Western mindset of animal conservation switches to a “ko’revaju” mode when considering these animals as food that people need. Sitting around our friends’ wood-burning stove, we shared the dinner and watched the kids enjoy these foods while we adapted, especially to the monkey’s ribs and part of its arm, thankful that we weren’t offered the hand or the head.
AND THE FOOD IS FOR THE FAMILY
We also noticed that our Ko’revaju friend shared the results of his hunt among his closest relatives, he also shared them with us. We thank the Lord for this friendship and familiarity that He has allowed us to have among the people.
We share what it’s like to move with a refrigerator through the jungle.
(Click on the image or follow this link: https://youtu.be/XZrhdDN2J-g )
Our PRAYER
requests
– We are grateful to the Lord for providing in a special way the expenses of the refrigerator, stove, bed and mattress for the new house in the indigenous village.
– We continue to be encouraged by our language learning, we understand a little more and we notice that new words are sticking in our minds. Please pray for us so that we continue to advance in our language study goals.
– For safety, we ask the Lord that, as we have done until now, that we may continue to move freely through the region.
Mail:
A.A. 16569
Bogota, Colombia
E-mail:
hans_frank@nhcol.org
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(To the order of Ethnos360 with a note for Hans and Liliana Frank)
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