Our family had four kids, and a live-in babysitter, so there were always around 14 kids hanging around our house. Usually we had fun, played games, taught them some songs. Some times they taught us songs. And they were our language teachers, so we would ask them what something was and they would tell us in their native language.
One day we were doing a bunch of crazy things, like hopping around in circles and having kids hang off us, so I wanted to calm them down a bit. I asked if any of them knew how to read or write in Chrambo. They said no, so I gave them a mini lesson. I taught them the vowels of Chrambo, because they have eight vowels and only some of them are represented in the same way as English. So I taught them how to read those. A lot of the kids weren't interested, but the young girls were. It was so cool to see, because they were totally enthralled and thought it was so strange to have Chrambo written down. There they were with their little siblings on their backs, because if they are older they have to take care of their younger siblings, and bending over my scribblings on the ground, discussing, in Chrambo, how to say the different letters I had written.
It was really encouraging to me and I loved being able to share that with them, although it also broke my heart that I couldn't speak their language but I was teaching them their alphabet. I felt so torn, like I wanted to share this with them, but also like I was encouraging the white man stereotype. Just because I was there learning their language, I didn't feel like I had the right to teach them their alphabet. But I also didn't want to leave these young girls without them knowing that their language was being written down. I was torn between a chance to open the door to Chrambo literacy for them and a feeling of guilt for being white and teaching them. I don't know if I'm explaining that well, but that's how I felt. I really wanted to get them interested in learning to read and write in Chrambo, but I felt guilty that it was me teaching them.
This happened a few days before we left the village, so I had promised them that if they came back I'd give them the full alphabet, but I never got a chance to. If you could pray for those children who showed a real interest in learning to read and write Chrambo, I would really appreciate it. They are the next generation, of Christians and of villagers, so if a fire for Chrambo literacy can be built in them now, how much stronger will mother-tongue language work be in the future. (By the way, I am working to rectify my leaving them without giving them an alphabet, so please don't write me off as someone who doesn't keep their promises.)
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