Friday, February 24 Word Collection—Day 10 (12,041 words)

One of the workshop participants again took a folder home to "collect words" by himself or with a group of friends or family members. That, coupled with increased attendance at the workshop on Friday due to growing enthusiasm about this way of jump-starting a dictionary, resulted in a huge jump in the number of words collected by Saturday morning. The cumulative total is now over 12,000 words—much higher than I ever expected this group to achieve when I left Thionck-Essyl a week ago.

Glossing of the collected words into French is moving forward, as well, due in large part to the unflagging efforts of Marcelin, who has been a regular attender at the workshop. It is rather ironic that Marcelin has been so faithful, because he wasn't even among those invited to take part in the workshop; he came of his own initiative and would not be denied a part, auto-selecting the role of Glosser as the niche he would fill. On several occasions, he also took a folder of material home with him, to gloss at home and return completed the next morning. His efforts have been greatly appreciated and are worthy of special mention in this blog.

Marcelin adding the French meaning to the collected words

The typists have also been doing their bit, entering all of the words after they have been glossed. The combined efforts of the committed core group have paid off, resulting in a resoundingly successful workshop.

Clare—lead typist, verifying that work done by her teammates has been entered correctly

Thursday, February 23 Word Collection—Day 9 — Goal reached!

I'm sure there will be lots of celebration on Friday morning when Thursday's results are announced. The actual total at the end of the day was 10,340, but everyone will be celebrating the fact that the goal of collecting 10,000 words during this workshop is now an accomplishment instead of a goal.

Wednesday, February 22 Word Collection—Day 8 (8,940 words)

Someone lit the fire under the workshop participants today, Wednesday, February 22! They made great progress on the word collection, ending the day just shy of 9,000 words total, making it quite probable that the goal of 10,000 words will be reached tomorrow (Thursday).

When I left Thionck-Essyl last Friday, after the first week of word collection had resulted in barely achieving 50% of the overall goal, I must admit to feeling somewhat uncertain as to whether the goal of 10,000 words would actually be reached. Lower-than-hoped-for attendance was hampering progress, and folders of unglossed words were stacking up. Of course, that meant that those words weren't being entered into the database either. So I was feeling a wee bit disappointed by those facts, though I was still doing my best to trust that God would use the situation for good, in spite of what I perceived as shortcomings.

Hearing of the great progress this week has been a great encouragement to me—and to all of the participants as well, I'm sure.

Monday-Tuesday, February 20-21 My flights back to the US

I had three uneventful flights on my way back from Senegal, arriving in Charlotte 30 minutes ahead of schedule. On the first flight, I got bumped up to Business Class because the airline had more Economy Class passengers than they had seats in that part of the plane. I don't know why I was selected to be bumped up to Business, but I enjoyed the more spacious accommodations—and the box of Neuhaus chocolates that each Business Class customer received as a parting gift at the end of the flight.

"Uneventful" is one of my favorite words when I talk about my flights. The more I can use that word, the better I consider my experience. There was minimal turbulence on any of the flights, the few occurrences each lasting only a few minutes—and takeoffs and landings were very smooth. The only negative parts of my travel experience this round were (1) my inability to sleep much—which is no different than my usual experience—and (2) the fact that I absentmindedly left the charger for my tablet behind, plugged into a wall outlet in the Brussels airport!

I arrived at our home in Waxhaw about 30 hours after I had left the SIL Center in Dakar. I was very tired, but my luggage had all made the trip with me and I was in good health. I was very glad to be home again, but at the same time, I regretted not being able to be present for the final week of the RWC workshop. Anita and I enjoyed a nice meal of spaghetti and sauce soon after I walked through the front door. That was a welcome change from the steady diet of rice I'd enjoyed in Thionck-Essyl. (I quite enjoy rice, but I was ready for something different after two weeks of it.)

Jet lag will be a factor for the next week or so, judging from past experience.

Tuesday, February 21 Word Collection—Day 7 (7,705 words)

Progress on the collection of words was negatively impacted by a combination of factors on Tuesday, February 21. The major blow came in the form of news of the death in the family of the one who had been preparing the noon meals for the workshop participants. This individual lived in Ziguinchor, so several of those who had been taking part in the workshop felt it was important for them to travel to Zig to show their support for the family. This, of course, reduced the number of people available to collect words, not to mention gloss and type them. In all fairness, however, I must add that, had the funeral been for someone who lived in Thionck-Essyl, many more people would have felt it necessary to attend, and there would have been no workshop activities at all on Tuesday.

So, while productivity for the day was less than 1,000 words, the cumulative total was increased from 6,724 at the end of Monday's efforts to 7,705 by the end of the workday on Tuesday.

Monday, February 20 Word Collection—Day 6 (6,724 words)

The word-collection phase of the Gusiilaay workshop resumed on Monday, February 20, in my absence. (I was in Dakar, preparing for my return trip to the US.) It was a very productive day for the group, as they added more than 1500 words to their cumulative total, reaching 6,724 by the end of the workday. Of special note is the fact that one of the participants took a folder of semantic domains home with him over the weekend and "collected words" by himself (or perhaps with the help of some friends or family members). The results of his efforts are included in the 6,724.

Monday, February 20 Bidding Senegal farewell

This evening I begin my journey back to our home in Waxhaw. My scheduled departure time from Dakar is 10:15 pm local time, which translates to 5:15 pm back home in North Carolina. My itinerary calls for me to fly through Brussels (Belgium) and Newark (USA) on my way to Charlotte. I’m expecting to debark from that third flight sometime around 6:10 pm on Tuesday, after having spent about 25 hours in airports and airplanes. Anita and I have been able to communicate quite a bit via Skype on this trip, since the internet connection here in Senegal has been better than many of the other places I’ve traveled to, but I'm looking forward to being at home again.

Kevin Warfel

Sunday, February 19 Worshiping and resting

Today I spent a number of hours with my friends, the Frésards. Anita and I met Pascal when we were in Switzerland learning French. He is Swiss, and his home town is near where we were living. We met through our involvement with the youth at the church we attended while there. He later met Janet, the British woman who became his wife, when she came there to study French a little while after we had gone on to Africa. In the course of time, they ended up in Senegal as a couple and have raised their four children here. We’ve stayed in contact over the years via newsletters, but it has been very special for me to be able to reconnect with them in person on this trip. Pascal is currently the Director for SIL’s work here in Senegal, and it was my privilege to worship God by sharing with him and Janet in detail about my experience in Thionck-Essyl.

I refer to that time of sharing as a worship experience because, as I reflect back on all that happened while I was there, it is clear that God brought me here for more reasons than to lead a word-collection workshop. For reasons that only He understands, He chose to use me to impact for Him a number of people involved in the workshop, both Esiil (speakers of Gusiilaay) and Toubabs (those of us with white skin). Reflecting on the fact that He chose a task-oriented introvert for a relationship-oriented mission thousands of miles from home quite simply led me to worship Him for the mystery of His omniscient design.This is another day of rest and an opportunity to worship the Lord at a local church.

Saturday, February 18 Visiting shops in Dakar

My SIL colleagues here in Dakar are showing themselves to be extremely hospitable, taking care of all of my meals with abundant generosity. My day today was a full one and included shopping for souvenirs for my family members who weren’t privileged to accompany me on this trip, picking up the clothing that I had ordered from a local tailor before leaving for the Casamance, and meeting with one of my paper money contacts from two weeks ago. Touré Seymi (“today say me”) was once again my guide, arranging transportation by taxi when we needed to travel further than was reasonable to walk, taking me to different places in the city where I could find the various things on my shopping list. We left the SIL Center at 8:30 and returned around 4:00. I was very tired but happy with what I had found, and Touré was content to have been able to help.

Kevin Warfel

Friday, February 17 Return to Dakar

David, Tim, and I left Thionck-Essyl shortly after 12:30 in order to get me to the Ziguinchor airport in time for the 2:45 check-in. We traveled by taxi, since David’s Pajero was still being worked on. (I’m not sure that I have updated you all via this blog about his vehicle, but while it did run for a short time a week and a half ago, it soon died again and another part had to be ordered, installed, tested, etc. David reported to me this evening that he just got the vehicle back and expects to be able to drive his family to Thionck-Essyl in it on Sunday.) We stopped by the apartment where Tim will spend the weekend and said good-bye to him, then continued on to the airport. We arrived there at the appointed time, and I bade David too farewell.

Friday, February 17 Farewell to Thionck-Essyl

Following today’s coffee break, the workshop participants and organizers gathered together for a brief good-bye “ceremony” where several community leaders each said a few words of thanks for what I had helped them begin to achieve, then anyone else who wanted to say something was also given the opportunity to do so briefly. Finally, I was also asked if I wanted to add anything to what I had already said at the beginning of the day.

One of those who spoke mentioned that Thionck-Essyl had not yet had enough of me, so he expressed the desire for me to return sometime in the future. In my closing remarks, I followed up on that comment by saying that I also had not had enough of Thionck-Essyl, affirming my pleasure with all that I had experienced while among them. This remark drew bright smiles and noises of appreciation from my audience—my friends.

Thinking back on my experience there, my emotions bubble to the surface and my eyes begin to water. Somehow I became quite attached to this community, developing significant relationships with a number of those who were involved in the workshop, the strongest of which was with Mo Préfet, whom I wrote about yesterday. He shared with me, as we continued our collaboration on translation after the thank-you ceremony, that he had not said anything there because he has difficulty controling his emotions when he has to say good-bye to a friend. That statement communicated a ton of emotion and reinforced the friendship that has developed between us. He then gave me his phone number and asked me to call him on Monday before leaving Senegal, saying that he wants to hear my voice once more before I leave the country.

What a privilege it is to have been given the opportunity to impact the lives of these individuals whom God created and loves!

Friday, February 17 Word Collection—Day 5 (5,110 words)

Since this is a Muslim community and Friday is the one day in the week when people are most likely to participate in the service at one of the mosques in town, a certain number of people elected not to attend the workshop today. For the same reason, the workshop schedule called for a shortened day today, freeing participants to do other things after lunch. The reduced number of both people and work hours translated into a smaller number of words collected during the day. Nevertheless, the group was able to get to the halfway mark in their quest for 10,000 words by the end of next week.

Kevin Warfel

Thursday, February 16 Introducing Mamadou Diatta (aka “Mo Préfet”)

Today was the third day that I spent time working together with Mamadou Diatta, more familiarly known as “Mo Préfet”. Mo serves as a Glosser (translator) in our workshop, and he usually arrives a bit late and leaves a bit early. During the time that he is present, we are usually able to work our way through about two folders of material, each containing 10-20 semantic domains where words were collected. From one perspective it doesn’t seem like a very big contribution, considering that there are 126 folders altogether; on the other hand, every little bit helps, and everything he translates means that much less for someone else to do. It’s also enabled me to have more personal contact with one of the participants that I would otherwise have hardly gotten to know.

Mo and I working together

Mo is retired and doesn’t have the level of energy that he once enjoyed, so he doesn’t work super fast, but he has a good command of French and has adapted to working together with me. Since he doesn’t feel confident about his ability to read the Gusiilaay words, that is my role; his is to come up with the French equivalent. It’s really quite remarkable that I, as someone who does not know the Gusiilaay language, am able to pronounce the words well enough that he recognizes most of them. Sometimes, as he’s searching for the right word in French to express the meaning of a Gusiilaay word, he explains at length how the word is used and I suggest French words that seem to fit his description. He then decides what to write and records it on the paper.

Today Mo gave me a tangerine in the traditional Gusiilaay way—when we took our lunch break, he left it on the table in front of the place where I had been sitting to work with him. (Another workshop participant explained to me that, in times past, people did not give other people gifts directly, but just left them where they would find them.) That gift led to a conversation where I learned that he planted a number of citrus trees of various sorts and that tending them in his retirement years is what he does to stay active and involved in society. He has also taken some young men under his wing, to teach them how to plant and care for fruit trees.

In talking with Mo, I learned that he spent a year in France, where he was studying at a university. According to my understanding, he had chosen the topic for the thesis or dissertation he was to write in order to obtain his degree, but when he went to do the necessary research, he wasn’t able to gain access to the part of Senegal that he was writing about. This was due to a rebellion in that part of the country, making travel there difficult or impossible. Unfortunately, he was unable to change the topic for his paper at that late date, so he never did get his degree.

Upon his return to Senegal, he was integrated into the country’s administrative system as a “sous-préfet”, which is a position that is roughly comparable to an Assistant Superintendent of a township. Now that he has retired, he receives a pension that enables him to take care of his basic financial needs. He is glad to be able to play a part in this word-collection workshop, and I am glad I had the opportunity to learn a bit about him through working together.

Thursday, February 16 Word Collection—Day 4 (4,492 words)

When we reported the progress this morning that had been made through the end of the work day yesterday, we were glad to be able to add three rows of rice plants to the fields in our progress meter. And since that, in combination with the results from the previous two days, also yielded a field that was filled to capacity (4 rows), we were able to add a woman to tend the first field. That was a nice touch by Clare and Rebecca that many of the participants seems to appreciate quite a lot.

Reporting results from Day 3

Getting people to come and volunteer their time is still proving to be a challenge, but we have a good core group of dedicated individuals. And today, the groups redoubled their efforts to move through the topics more quickly in order to complete as many as possible by the end of next week. The target we have communicated to them is 180 per day. Tuesday we covered only 108, yesterday we got through 134, and today we collected words in 171, so our message is getting through and the participants are working hard. We do have a backlog of material to be translated into French, so tomorrow we’ll try to address that. It’s hard, though, when we have to use the Glossers to fill out the ranks in the word-collection groups, so many of them are unavailable for translation.

Wednesday, February 15 Word Collection—Day 3 (3,333 words)

Things got off to a slow start this morning, with only enough people showing up by 9:00 to form three word-collection groups. But as people trickled in over the next hour or two, we were able to get others groups up and going. By 11:45, we had six groups at work collecting words, which helped to boost our productivity. By the end of the day, we had collected 3,333 words, so we’ll be able to show significant progress in our rice fields tomorrow morning.

Looking at the statistics from the first two days, we could see that the word-collection groups were spending too much time on each topic—so much so that if we continued at that rate, we’d only get through about half of them! So I gave those who were present at 9:00 am a bit of a pep talk, encouraging them to spend less time on each domain, gathering only the words that they could think of quite quickly and then moving on to the next one. As a result, we did get through more semantic domains today than yesterday, so there was some improvement. It still looks like we won’t be able to get through everything, though, unless we can recruit more people so that we can put more than six groups together.

One of the typists at work

A highlight of the day was the visit of Rachel and Alex, linguists from the UK researching other languages in the Casamance. They arrived in time to attend our morning meeting, then hung around to find out more about what Rapid Word Collection is and how it works.

Rachel and Alex (visiting linguists), with Tim (who works for SIL)