Music Crafting Workshop
We were really blessed to have an ethno-musicologist come to Mahafaly land to work with our new believers in crafting worship songs in their own heart language and traditional music style. This workshop proved to be a challenge, and there were many highs and lows. But even the struggles were great learning opportunities for us, and will help us to better minister to them in the future.
Most of the struggles revolved around unforeseen circumstances. Logistics and scheduling are always a challenge in African culture. Life is much more laid back, and planning ahead isn't always going to work out like we think. We decided to combine the new believers of Kilimary and Besatra during the workshop. We were really excited about having them work together for the first time, and it really turned out to be a great time for them to fellowship together in the Lord. But the logistics of working with two villages and getting them together at the same time, proved to be a job in itself...and half of the day was spent getting everyone together and ready! Aside from struggling to gather people, random events would lead to delays (cattle thieves during the night, broken sound equipment, rain storms, or stolen food). Despite all of this, there was a consistent group of between 20-40 people each day.
The first day showed barriers that we did not anticipate. We expected the people to catch on quickly and be excited about crafting music in their heart language. But instead, they were overwhelmed and lacked confidence that they could do it. Instead of getting started and showing them what the process would look like, Grant and Tom spent a considerable part of the day trying to teach or tell them about the process. Unfortunately, this trip ended up being Grant's worst trip yet for translation skills and this made it that much more confusing for them. After using up half the time on this, they decided to go ahead and get started...so that the people could actually see what they were going to do.
They were broken up into groups of about 6, and each given one verse from the Bible. After spending time in prayer, they would work through their verse and make a song using those words. The challenge with this part was in getting them to understand the words. The Bible is in Official Malagasy, but the people do not understand official...usually only their local dialect of Mahafaly. Those who do understand Official Malagasy were too confused by the complexity of the words and concepts in the Bible to be able to help translate the words into Mahafaly. Fortunately, there were a few who understood and could translate well. But with 40 people, this ate up a lot of time...and really ended up leaving the people frustrated.
By the end of the first day, we were debating whether or not this was a good idea at all. The night was spent trying to figure out what could be done differently to make things easier and smoother for the people. Working with an oral culture really is challenging! Its not enough to just be able to tell them the words of the Bible, but be able to teach it in a way that they can understand (as just reading it to them in Mahafaly is not enough!). So, the next morning Grant and Tom worked with 2 men in making sure that they understood and could in return, teach the verses to the groups. After each group was clear on the meaning and words in their verse they made their song and by the end of the day they had 6 new songs in their heart language. By this point the people were excited, and understood the process. They felt confident and were excited to teach the whole group the songs that they had prepared.
The last day was spent recording songs and having a time of celebration. The people loved this time of fellowship and singing, and the workshop ended on a really good note. We are looking forward to future workshops, as we feel we have worked through a lot of the difficulties.
One thing that we learned during this trip, was the importance of taking it slow with the people. As of now, our church planting strategy has been slow and steady. But there have been many doubts on our side as to whether or not we are going too slow. But as we saw with this workshop, overwhelming them with information isn't going to get a church planted any sooner...it will only leave them frustrated and insecure. Instead, we need to focus on taking our time and working through stories on their level and at their speed.
*See above link to hear one of the songs they made during this workshop...hope to have all 6 available soon!
Most of the struggles revolved around unforeseen circumstances. Logistics and scheduling are always a challenge in African culture. Life is much more laid back, and planning ahead isn't always going to work out like we think. We decided to combine the new believers of Kilimary and Besatra during the workshop. We were really excited about having them work together for the first time, and it really turned out to be a great time for them to fellowship together in the Lord. But the logistics of working with two villages and getting them together at the same time, proved to be a job in itself...and half of the day was spent getting everyone together and ready! Aside from struggling to gather people, random events would lead to delays (cattle thieves during the night, broken sound equipment, rain storms, or stolen food). Despite all of this, there was a consistent group of between 20-40 people each day.
The first day showed barriers that we did not anticipate. We expected the people to catch on quickly and be excited about crafting music in their heart language. But instead, they were overwhelmed and lacked confidence that they could do it. Instead of getting started and showing them what the process would look like, Grant and Tom spent a considerable part of the day trying to teach or tell them about the process. Unfortunately, this trip ended up being Grant's worst trip yet for translation skills and this made it that much more confusing for them. After using up half the time on this, they decided to go ahead and get started...so that the people could actually see what they were going to do.
They were broken up into groups of about 6, and each given one verse from the Bible. After spending time in prayer, they would work through their verse and make a song using those words. The challenge with this part was in getting them to understand the words. The Bible is in Official Malagasy, but the people do not understand official...usually only their local dialect of Mahafaly. Those who do understand Official Malagasy were too confused by the complexity of the words and concepts in the Bible to be able to help translate the words into Mahafaly. Fortunately, there were a few who understood and could translate well. But with 40 people, this ate up a lot of time...and really ended up leaving the people frustrated.
By the end of the first day, we were debating whether or not this was a good idea at all. The night was spent trying to figure out what could be done differently to make things easier and smoother for the people. Working with an oral culture really is challenging! Its not enough to just be able to tell them the words of the Bible, but be able to teach it in a way that they can understand (as just reading it to them in Mahafaly is not enough!). So, the next morning Grant and Tom worked with 2 men in making sure that they understood and could in return, teach the verses to the groups. After each group was clear on the meaning and words in their verse they made their song and by the end of the day they had 6 new songs in their heart language. By this point the people were excited, and understood the process. They felt confident and were excited to teach the whole group the songs that they had prepared.
The last day was spent recording songs and having a time of celebration. The people loved this time of fellowship and singing, and the workshop ended on a really good note. We are looking forward to future workshops, as we feel we have worked through a lot of the difficulties.
One thing that we learned during this trip, was the importance of taking it slow with the people. As of now, our church planting strategy has been slow and steady. But there have been many doubts on our side as to whether or not we are going too slow. But as we saw with this workshop, overwhelming them with information isn't going to get a church planted any sooner...it will only leave them frustrated and insecure. Instead, we need to focus on taking our time and working through stories on their level and at their speed.
*See above link to hear one of the songs they made during this workshop...hope to have all 6 available soon!
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