Thursday, July 27 - Closing Ceremony

Today was a day to celebrate what has been achieved thus far in the process of producing a Djimini-French dictionary. This celebration took place in the form of a formal closing ceremony to which government, religious, and traditional leaders from the Djimini community were invited. The ceremony involved prayers, songs, speeches, a presentation of a rough draft of the dictionary, and a gift to me from those who organized the workshop. Afterward, refreshments were offered to those in attendance.

My thanks to each one who prayed for me as I prepared my speech and delivered it. I was able to highlight the significance of the word-collection workshop as history in the making for the Djimini people and led the audience in celebrating the achievement of having collected 13,702 pieces of language data in two short weeks. It was a very enjoyable experience to be together once again with this group of Christians who, three weeks ago, were unknown to me and who are now my friends.

Delivering my speech

Dressed in the traditional Djimini outfit given to me as a gift by the organizers of the workshop