Far North Adventure – part 1

Just before Christmas, we went to the Far North of Cameroon. If you imagine Cameroon as being shaped a bit like a big triangle, the Far North is in the top. To the west, Nigeria. To the east, Chad. We spent our time with Ken and Judy Hollingsworth who have been working with the Mofu people for 30 years.

Many groups in this area use Fufulde as a trade language. Fufulde is used by nomadic peoples across a large section of western Africa. However, the Mofu are not native speakers of the language. Likewise, there is a lot of French used nearby but the Mofu don't use it much.

When the Hollingsworths arrived the Mofu did church mostly in Fufulde. There is a Fufulde Bible and a Fufulde hymnbook and in some groups these are no doubt a great blessing. For the Mofu (for any people, in fact), communication makes more sense if it is in the language you use on a daily basis.

Some people might say “Why can't they learn French?” A reasonable point, perhaps. Maybe a geography lesson would help at this point.

This is the view from the Hollingsworth's back door. Who is there to speak French with? NB, you should see the stars shining here at night-time!



The nomadic people cross borders and generally mix with other Fufulde speakers. The settled people live a traditional life – raise crops and live in the village. If you don't need French to survive, are you likely to learn it? When tending to crops and livestock is a daily chore, language-school is hardly a priority.

This lady is getting some water.



Maybe you thought it was only in Bible stories that people carried things on their head? Think again. This view is normal, in cities too. Only in cities you might see someone with a widescreen TV on his head (really!). They probably think we are strange for using our hands.



If this lady ever moves to a city she will need to use French. Until then, she won't. Learning to read and write French will be easier if she can already read and write her own language.

So, what have the Hollingsworths been doing here? As well as learning the language in the first place they have worked with local people to: get the language written down; produce preliminary written material; publish a dictionary; publish a New Testament; publish excerpts of the Old Testament (the rest is a work-in-progress); translate Sunday-School materials and other material used by churches; etc. On our first night there, they took us to a Bible study: under the stars with a 'Proclaimer' (looks like a radio, contains the Mofu New Testament on MP3), with a local guy who is in seminary. In seminary he uses French and one day might pastor a church in French – until then, his own language is his preferred option!

Not bad for thirty years – unfortunately the Hollingsworths are soon to retire to the US. However, the work is up-and-running and they are excited to see how it progresses without them.

Later in the week, they had a Christmas party for the local kids (lots of fun – more on that later) and a get-together (including lessons and carols) for the other SIL workers in the area. Here they are.