New Year 2012

Sudan vote for independence in an historic Referendum! I go to Kenya to celebrate with my friend, Janelle, as she weds her Erick.

2011 Highlights
January Southerners in
finds me sweating over my computer, putting together a proposal for a pilot program in Mother Tongue Education in the Bari language with folks from a couple of other NGOs. My garden gets planted and watered. language, along with small reading books, on our computers and copiers, plans are made to revise the Tennet orthography and literacy books in the Shilluk language. The garden gets watered and eaten! five language groups who translate Kandes Story, a book about how the Church can love and care for those affected by HIV/AIDS. New writers from the Tennet community in Juba are trained to produce a book of folk stories.

February Jubas dry season

SERVING WITH WYCLIFFE CANADAPARTNERS IN BIBLE TRANSLATION

part in a Consultant Training Event in Nairobi, to sharpen my consulting skills. Back in Juba, between meetings with the Ministry of Education, I layout and edit literacy books. I spend my spare time watering the garden. and tibs in Addis Ababa while working with SIL-Ethiopia to develop textbooks and other learning materials to help school kids get a good educational foundation in their own language before learning in English.

March I happily escape Jubas heat to take

April A newsletter is produced in the Tennet

May I munch on injera

June I work with participants from

Tanyas Times

The Newsletter of Tanya Spronk

newest country. I celebrate South Sudans birthday in Canada at the Calgary Stampede and enjoy some holidays with family and friends.

July A new country is born! South Sudan celebrates their birth as the worlds

language as they develop a bilingual academic glossary. I also help teachers and translators from five languages write short stories to support the South Sudanese curriculum. A Tennet teachers guide for Kandes Story and a Dinka Scripture Use book,The Way of Salvation, were checked. I made a few trips to the Traffic Police office in order to get a new driving license, in accordance with the new laws of the new land. language teams are planned, and I continue my role as the Secretary for the Board of our Sudan Branch of SIL. I also participate in Crisis Contingency Planning meetings, and meet with representatives from another NGO who are interested in planning a nation-wide language conference in 2012. discuss the Dinka and Bari languages and government policies in language and education, a colleague and I meet with representatives from funders such as the World Bank and USAID to discuss language in education issues, I work with a Bari committee from the Ministry of Education to develop literacy books which another NGO will print. My pumpkin harvest from my garden is complete, leading to a web search for new recipes and lots of experiments in the kitchen.

August I facilitate a workshop for teachers and translators from the Keliko

September Meetings, meetings and more meetings! Activities and budgets for 2012 for five

October Partnership is the theme for October, as a visiting linguist comes to

November A trip to the Tennet village results in 14

primary school teachers trained in basic teaching skills, and how to more effectively use their language for primary education. The Tennet orthography (writing system) is tested to see if its necessary to write tone marks, as they are currently doing. Back in Juba, I help train 15 more teachers in how to use new Primers in their languages.

December I didnt have any workshops or meetings scheduled, so had some time to catch up on

office work and reports, which includes helping my Sudanese colleagues improve their skills on things like report writing and using Excel. Preliminary analysis is done on the Tennet orthography tests, and literacy books in various languages are sent to other NGOs and church leaders who are running literacy programs. My garden is planted again, ready for another crop before boarding a plane for Canada. Christmas is celebrated with my family in Alberta!

January Im looking back at some of the highlights of 2011, thankful for all that the Lord has done in

me and through me in both the big projects and the daily tidbits, and for all the folks who have been a part of it through prayer and financial support. (continued on next page)

Wycliffe 4316 10th St. NE Calgary, AB T2K 6K3 Canada PO Box 628200 Orlando, FL 32862-8200 USA SIL Sudan PO Box 64 Juba, South Sudan +211.918.613.387 +211.977.127.336 (note a new country code!) Home Address: 151 Valley Ridge Green NW Calgary, AB T3B 5L6 403. 242.7772 tanya_spronk@sil.org

Arilo: Place of Peaceful Water

In November, I finally made it to a place Ive been waiting for a few years to see - the village of Arilo, in Eastern Equatoria State, South Sudan. Arilo is the home area of the Tennet people, with whom Ive been working in their literacy programs. But two years ago when I planned to go visit the area, I was defeated by the South Sudanese roads, spent five days looking for transportation to the village in a nearby town, and yet never actually made it to the village. Now, though, the community has cleared the brush and made a dirt airstrip, meaning small planes can land. Four of us chartered an MAF flight, and reached the village from Juba in 30 minutes! Arilo means Place of Peaceful Water, and it was peaceful out there! I saw only one motorbike and one SUV during the 8 days we were in the village. Until sunset each evening, we could wander through the forest, enjoying the views of the mountains and the plains to the East. We were also invited to visit the home of one of the teachers, a mud and stick home perched on the side of the One of the few girls mountain. Because of the recent civil war, and to protect their attending school in Arilo. cattle from neighboring tribes, the people have settled up on the hillsides, while their school, church, water wells and fields are found on the plain below. It makes for some very fit people as they run up and down the mountains each day! It was definitely a change of pace to camp in a place where there are no cell phone networks, no electricity or generators, no shops (not even a place to buy a Coke!), and where people truly live off of what they grow or raise on the land. Of the 14 teachers in the local school, only five have had any teacher training at all, and only four teachers are paid for their efforts. I had so much fun working with these teachers, as they improved their skills and learned about some more creative and fun ways to teach their students. It was also encouraging to hear from the local church leaders about how much they are looking forward to receiving the New Testament in their own language. A teacher kindly vacated his tukel for During the Sunday church service, the pastor read the me and Janet to sleep in. days Scripture from his NIV Study Bible in English. He knows his congregation enough to realize, though, that without a translation into Tennet, few would understand what he had read from Gods Word. So he embarked on an on the fly translation - which can be a huge challenge! The pastor knows how important it is that his congregation understand what God is saying to them, so, week after week, he gives it his best shot, meanwhile, eagerly waiting for the day when the Scriptures in Tennet are published. By training the local teachers, we are helping to ensure there is a generation of readers who will be able to actually read the New Testament once its available. From what we saw of the school children who were devouring their dog-eared Tennet ABC Books, it seems the kids are eager to put their new-found literacy skills to good use!

www.wycliffe.ca www.sil.org

A New Logo
The observant amongst you may notice that Wycliffe has a new logo! Do you see the open book in it? Wycliffe is committed to opening the Word to people throughout the world, so they can also know His love. You can check it all out on the website.

A New Year
At the moment, Im in transit to Juba. Ive stoppe in Entebbe, Uganda, for a few days to get a new visa to South Sudan. Please pray that the visa process will go smoothly - South Sudan is a new country now with new immigration laws! Once back in Juba, I will be moving to a new apartment on the same compound. After five years of living in the same shared house, Im looking forward to making a new start in a new house - and my 45 second commute to the office wont change at all! So far, it seems 2012 will find me in Kenya, working on Primers and learning to use a new computer program, training teachers and working on textbooks in Ethiopia, participating in a South Sudan Language Conference, and training teachers in South Sudan, amongst other things! At least, those are the plans so far but well see what else the Lord has in store! Peace, Tanya