Braving Something New

Watching the competition

 “I want to do an English competition. I want to gather all the English centers of the islands and have the students compete and get prizes.”

While this might not seem like a shocking idea, it had never been done on our island. It was something new. A competition at a single center wouldn’t be a big deal, but the idea of coordinating with lots of centers  and doing a big scale event was new and to be honest daunting. In our experience islanders like pomp at their big events and it is often hard to get islanders to agree about event logistics even when only one English center is planning. Combine several English centers together and the headache grows.  Add the competition aspect and there were more logistics to agree on with questions about rules and how to make it fair.

It’s not easy to do something new. It takes a certain amount of courage and bravery. You’re doing something untested, so there are risks of failure. But the reward is that you are breaking new ground and could do something great!

The Competition stage

Islanders don’t generally like to do new things. They are more likely to do what everyone else has done. Someone wants to open a shop— they will probably open one that looks exactly like all the other shops on the islands, carrying all the same products that everyone else sells. A woman wants to make some money— she’ll make the same baked goods that everyone makes and sell them from a tub on the road, just like everyone else.

As you walk around the islands, you see a lot of the same repeated again and again.

This doesn’t mean islanders never adopt new practices, but usually they have to see someone else do it successfully first. Once it is successful and accepted, then you can see lots of people doing the same thing (assuming it doesn’t require too much money to do it). For example, as soon as there is some kind of innovation in wedding favors, we often see the same change in lots of weddings.

Ultimately the natural risks of ‘being the first’ combine with island culture (which pushes conformity and shames public failure), so that not many islanders push the envelope and try new things. But there are exceptions, like our friend, Moja.

To be honest, when Moja first came to us with the English competition idea we were skeptical that it would happen. We knew it would take a lot of work and doubted he’d actually have the stamina to see it come about. But he was tenacious, he came to our house almost everyday for a couple weeks pushing the idea. Tom kept giving him suggestions of what he needed to do to make it happen, insisting that we could be advisers but we wouldn’t do the work for him.

Tom, teammate & Moja give out certificates & prizes

It was a lot of work. He created rules. He organized a gathering of all the English center administrators. He compiled lists and photos of students. He met with the mayor. He got permission and a date to use the big hall downtown.  He worked with Tom on competition categories and questions. He got prizes. He printed certificates. He planned a schedule of events. He organized a large lunch for all the participants at the big hotel. He had the hall decorated and chairs put up. He got a sound system and generator with gas. He made it happen.

Now like many “firsts” it wasn’t all smooth sailing. One of the centers from the other side of the island got the dates mixed up and came hours late. Rain poured on the actual day slowing everything down. The electricity was out and though the generator had gas, it ran out of oil and didn’t work. So the English competition that was supposed to be from 2-5pm, ended up being from 6-9pm! Time will tell whether it was successful enough for people to copy it in the future, but we’re proud of Moja. He went out on a limb and made something new happen!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The training for brothers and sisters included long days, but the reports are that it went well and there are great hopes that it will encourage groups to meet on the different islands in enduring ways that will lead to continuing growth. Our teammate will get her stent removed tomorrow and if all looks good, she and our other teammate will make it back to Clove Island on Christmas day! We have been pleasantly surprised with the guardian of the house we hope to rent. The water issues haven’t been solved but he is working on a solution and has shown great initiative to fix other small problems we pointed out (all without us fronting any money or signing a contract yet, which is unheard of in our experience). 


PRAYERS REQUESTED
We pray that more islanders would dare to do new and different things in their country. On Wednesday night, we will have our annual Christmas party with our English club. Pray that the right people would come and understand the significance of the Christmas story. Pray for island brothers and sisters as they consider what to do to mark the upcoming holiday. Pray for two island sisters on the small island. One is planning on having a gathering on Thursday with all her extended family and plans to share the good news openly with them. Pray for open hearts and the right words. The other sister has been bold and has recently been threatened by a man in her village that they would break into her house and force her out. Pray for peace for her and her village and for honest truths to break down walls and misunderstanding. Pray for our team as we celebrate together, fighting homesickness and battling the heat, to make Friday a fun day. 

Merry Christmas everyone!