September in review

September has been quite a month. Due to a loss of Internet access (more details below) we didn't post as many updates here as we might have. So I'll take a look back at the happenings of the last month.

Marching band. During our year back in the U.S. last year, I taught James how to play saxophone (he was in 5th grade last year, which is when band starts at Ukarumpa International School (UIS); I gave him lessons so he'd be able to fit into the band program this year, 6th grade). At the beginning of this school year, after only playing on his own and not in a band, James started in middle school band. The first term of each year at UIS is a combined high school and middle school marching band. So James's first experience of playing in band was not only playing-and-marching, but was also playing with fellow students all the way up to grade 12. The first couple of weeks of rehearsals were intense, but James rose to the challenge and did great. This month the marching band played their concert, and Joyce and I were extremely proud of a 6th grade saxophonist. And we're grateful that our kids have the opportunity to participate in a good school band while we're here.

Internet outage. Normally our Internet access is very reliable here at Ukarumpa, thanks to an IT team that keeps things running smoothly. Some of you know the details of our Internet usage: we're charged a set fee for our sil.org.pg e-mail accounts, and that fee covers any amount of e-mailing we do. Then we're charged a separate fee for our web usage, charged per megabyte of downloading or uploading on-line. This per-MB charge has decreased quite a bit since we first came to Ukarumpa.

But for one full week this month, our Internet connection went down: no e-mail, no web access. What began as an annoyance became more difficult as tasks that required outside contact had to be postponed. But we are glad for the people who got things working again and spent many overtime hours trying to diagnose the problem.

Eastern Highlands Bible Conference. Ukarumpa hosted a one-week conference for pastors and church leaders from all over the Eastern Highlands Province (where Ukarumpa is located). During this week, members of our organization, and also the Bible Translation Association of PNG, presented information about the kind of work we're involved with in PNG. We facilitated discussions about ways that we might partner with local churches and denominations toward the goals of Bible translation and language development. I was honored to be invited to present at two sessions during the conference. One session was a workshop with some of the attendees, during which I explained some steps to creating new songs. I suggested that before a songwriter thinks about the musical details of the song, he or she needs to consider what issues people are struggling with in the village, and how a song might speak wisdom to those issues. Then they can think about available musical styles, instruments, and languages.

The second session was a plenary address to the whole group of about 70 people. I titled my talk “Language about Music, Music as Language, and Language in Music.” The “language about music” came from the Bible, as we looked at just a few places where the Bible talks about music—such as Zephaniah 3:17, which shows God as a singer. In “music as language,” I explained some of the ways that music is like and not like spoken language. It does some jobs better than spoken language, but in other areas spoken language is more efficient. Then “language in music” was about the kinds of things we might sing about.

I had a good time getting to know some of the people at the conference, and it was great fun to spend time being an ethnomusicologist again. I've continued to be in contact with a few pastors from a church very near Ukarumpa. We're talking through plans for me to work with people from this congregation. Thanks for praying for this upcoming work, and for the participants in this conference as they continue to think through ways of getting local-language scripture available in the languages of the Eastern Highlands.

Bridge out. Ukarumpa is connected by road to Kainantu, the nearest town. From Kainantu, it's possible to drive to Goroka, the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province, Madang (on the north coast), or Lae (a major shipping port of PNG). For many years, the final bridge just before Kainantu has been in a state of disrepair, and erosion has recently made the bridge dangerous. This week, the bridge was officially closed. What this means is that we are not able to receive grocery shipments or our sea-freight shipments of items from the US (all of which comes by road from Lae), and we are cut off from road access to any other town. We still have Aviation as an option for getting out of Ukarumpa, but that's too costly for everyday travel and shipping. Please pray that the government will soon begin the major repairs required for the bridge.

Linguistic Society of PNG annual conference. This past week, Ukarumpa hosted the annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea. Guests from other institutions, such as the University of Goroka, the University of PNG in Port Moresby, and the Institute of PNG Studies, spent the week here with us as we shared three days of research presentations and discussions. I really enjoyed seeing a good friend of mine, the Senior Ethnomusicologist at the Institute of PNG Studies, and having great conversations with him and other participants. The presentations during the conference touched on many topics, including teaching schoolchildren to read in their local languages, preservation of traditional stories and songs, the meaning of “nonsense” syllables in Papua New Guinean songs, indigenous counting systems, and linguistic details of Papua New Guinean languages. These presentations led to many fascinating discussions.

Term break. The school year at Ukarumpa International School is divided into four terms. Students and staff have a two-week break after the first and third terms, and longer breaks after Term 2 (Christmas Break) and Term 4 (end of school year break). This month was the end of Term 1 and the first school break. It's been wonderful having the kids around more, with lots of time for family fun. The kids have done a lot of story-writing (especially Cameron) and art projects; they've played outside in the beautiful spring-like weather; the kids have had lots of time with friends; Legos have been built and re-built; James has been re-reading the Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander; I've been reading The Lord of the Rings to the boys at bedtime; and we've enjoyed some evenings of classic Doctor Who. Joyce and the other teaching staff had a Professional Focus Weekend this weekend, hosted at the Ukarumpa Training Centre. The second term of school will begin on Wednesday!