End of Month June News 2020
Dear Friends,
It was my first funeral for 3 months. The first time for 3 months to work together with my fellow church leaders! The funeral was very early in the day, and very quick, by comparison with normal-times. I found local people struggling to uphold social-distancing requirements. Later I was shocked to discover that a coach-load of people from Nairobi, considered the hotbed of corona in Kenya, were attending the ceremony!
It is very frustrating at home in corona times . . . I would like to encourage the children to be inventive, do research, and advance themselves even though schools are closed. Unfortunately, this option is closed to them, as English is the ‘way forward’, they do not know English, English can only be obtained through experts, and it doesn’t make sense in indigenous-contexts . . . .
I heard an (unverified) report, that in one of our Kenyan tribes alone, an extra 4000 school girls are pregnant as a result of coronavirus. That translates into 50,000 extra nationwide (using Jim’s maths). Whenever schools re-open, there may be considerably less pupils . . .. Meanwhile decades of effort at ‘building up Kenya and Kenyan people’ seem to be being undone. Although we seem to have slowed the spread, covid is building up especially in Nairobi city. It seems to be just a matter of time before it gets ‘everywhere’.
Global-advisors to Africa never thought to consider that maybe we here are different to people in Europe, and that advice given to Africa should be different to that imparted to ‘wealthy’ countries. That omission means we have taken the advice given, and dismantled our economies and societies, and now remain with little prospect for keeping covid-19 at bay anyway ...
See here for a significant’ article on the problematics of use of ‘World Englishes’, that I’ve had published in a journal, that generally has nothing to do with ‘mission’ or ‘Christianity’; Here. The editor was happy to have a piece that promotes the Gospel – big time!
If you’ve ever wondered if the grass in Africa is green or blue, this article will give you more insights (or a headache) ; Here. I’ve recently made a few changes to it. I think it’s had more hits on academia.edu than any other article I’ve posted to date. It explains one megga reason why Africa is ‘little understood’.
Give thanks . . . for my ongoing teaching of the Luo language to Mennonite missionaries in Kisumu. I have also been doing more pastoral-visiting. Plus pushing theological education by various means.
Yours,
Jim
--Coronavirus Covid 19 in Africa