The SIL retreat!

It's easy for us city-based people to forget that there are many SIL linguists and other personnel living all over Cameroon and the surrounding countries with limited opportunities to meet with people from their own native culture or language. This probably helps them focus on developing their skills in a local language and understanding the culture, though it is bound to bring about its own challenges.

The annual SIL retreat is a get-together for all SIL workers in Cameroon. Easter is celebrated together and anyone based in the Far North of the country can escape the hottest part of the year there (high-30s)! It's a chance to renew old friendships, meet new people and eat lots!

As with any Christian retreat, there was a theme - the life of Moses. While Moses' story is well known, we shared thoughts and insights on his life, career as a shepherd and eventual leadership of the Exodus. He started off knowing about God, as an historical figure and by the end he knew God in a relationship. We sometimes wonder which category we are in...

Our speaker, guiding us through Moses, was Ad van der Dussen, a Dutch seminary lecturer. The talks on Moses were followed by small-group discussions. This gave us a chance to view the talks from the perspective of other people, as well as hearing the story of how they came to be in Cameroon and what they are doing here. Such people included George and Val Schultz, formerly SIL linguists and now working in a theological seminary in the north of the country. George is also a former branch director of SIL Cameroon. We also enjoyed getting to know Jolanda Walhout from The Netherlands, who trained as a speech therapist – we wonder how much of her training has been very useful in figuring out what people with totally different accents to her are saying. She works in the Far North, near (relatively speaking) the Hollingsworths and enjoys her language-learning work among the Gavar people, despite the cultural challenges of living in a fairly remote traditional village on the side of a mountain.

Then on Sunday, after church, we sat in our apartment and listened to the many other surrounding churches in a seeming never-ending chorus of 'Thine Be the Glory, Risen Conquering Son' (well, “À toi la gloire, O Ressuscité” if you want to be precise!

After that, on Monday it was the Branch business meetings, which we were not looking forward to. How much of it would be relevant to us, as we prepare to leave? How interesting are business meetings in any walk of life? To our surprise, the meetings were very informative and helped us see the big picture of what SIL do and what we are part of. The discussions between the western way of working and local culture, and the need to move forward in informed consensus rather than anyone trying to dictate what happens next were also interesting. During the “Glory Story” sections, many long-termers shared and reflected on their time in Cameroon, including challenges and encouragements they have experienced and gave praise for what they have seen achieved here. We also celebrated Good Friday communion and joined in the Easter morning “Son Rise” service.

As with any business meeting, there was an amount of bureaucracy and following-the-rules in a less than exciting way – however, we are thankful for Tony Smith (meeting chairman, WG Grace lookalike and Englishman) whose dry humour livened it up!