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Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada • Fall 2011
Survivors of trauma in the
Democratic Republic of Congo
need hope to rebuild their
lives. God’s Word is lighting a
pathway to healing.
Let Fear Not Rule New Wycliffe President Appointed Thankful for a Hardy Word
Fall 2011 • Volume 29 • Number 3
Word Alive, which takes its name from Hebrews 4:12a, is the official
publication of Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada. Its mission is to inform,
inspire and involve the Christian public as partners in the worldwide Bible
translation movement.
Editor: Dwayne Janke
Designer: Laird Salkeld
Foreword
Weeping for Conso
Dwayne Janke
Senior Staff Writer: Doug Lockhart
Staff Writer: Janet Seever
Staff Photographers: Alan Hood, Natasha Schmale
Word Alive is published four times annually by Wycliffe Bible Translators of
Canada, 4316 10 St NE, Calgary, AB T2E 6K3. Copyright 2011 by Wycliffe
Bible Translators of Canada. Permission to reprint articles and other magazine contents may be obtained by written request to the editor. A donation
of $16 annually is suggested to cover the cost of printing and mailing the
magazine. (Donate online or use the reply form in this issue.) Printed in
Canada by McCallum Printing Group, Edmonton.
Member: The Canadian Church Press, Evangelical Press Association.
For additional copies: media_resources@wycliffe.ca
To contact the editor: editor_wam@wycliffe.ca
For address updates: circulation@wycliffe.ca
Note to readers: References to “SIL” are occasionally made in
Word Alive. SIL is a key partner organization, dedicated to training,
language development and research, translation and literacy.
Wycliffe Canada Vision Statement: A world where translated
Scriptures lead to transformed lives among people of all languages.
Translating Scripture, Transforming Lives
Together with partners worldwide, we serve indigenous people through language-related ministries, especially Bible translation and literacy. Our goal
is to empower local communities to express God’s love in both Word and
deed—for personal, social and spiritual transformation. Wycliffe personnel
currently serve globally in more than 1,500 language projects for about 2.6
billion people. However, about 2,100 minority language groups still wait for
the power of God working through their own languages. Wycliffe invites you
to participate in this effort through prayer, service and funding.
Canadian Head Office: 4316 10 St NE, Calgary, AB T2E 6K3. Phone:
(403) 250-5411 or toll free 1-800-463-1143, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
mountain time. Fax: (403) 250-2623. Email: info@wycliffe.ca. French
speakers: Call toll free 1-877-747-2622 or email francophone@wycliffe.ca.
Cover: Siuzike Cirwisa, 21, holds her month-old son, Bahati, in their temporary “home”—in a house under construction in Goma, Democratic Republic
of Congo (DRC). A victim of sexual violence, Cirwisa’s plight is common to
thousands of women in the war-ravaged region of Central Africa.
In Others’ Words
“Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture,
and to let it be sucked up in your very
soul, till it saturates your heart!”
—Charles Haddon Spurgeon
(1834-92), England’s best-known,
late 19th-century preacher/evangelist)
I
t was their final night in the city of Goma, collecting stories
and photos for this Word Alive issue on trauma healing
workshops, developed with help from Wycliffe.
Writer Doug Lockhart and photographer Alan Hood were
introduced to Conso Zaina, a 20-year-old woman who lives in
an orphanage for children (see “Beauty for Ashes,” pg. 15) in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Alan set up his tripod and prepared to take photos of Conso in
her dark, cramped sleeping quarters behind the main building. As
he did, an orphanage staff member told Doug that a group of men
sexually assaulted Conso three years ago.
Looking at the beautiful young woman before him, and
thinking of his own two daughters and granddaughters, any
“journalistic objectivity” Doug had tried to maintain to that
point began to crumble.
“I slipped outside and found a place to be alone,” recalls Doug.
“There, in the darkness, I wept for Conso, and for all who have
been sexually assaulted, beaten and killed in the DRC over the
past 20 years.”
For several weeks after returning to Canada, Doug struggled
with mild depression because of what he had seen and heard in
the Central African country. Over time, he was able to overcome
his emotional distress—thanks in part to the pastors he and Alan
met at the trauma healing workshop in Goma.
“By reading and applying God’s Word to
“Following in their
their tragic circumstances, they have been an
example to me,” explains Doug. “Following in
Saviour’s footsteps,
their Saviour’s footsteps, they have chosen to
forgive those who have mutilated, violated and
they have chosen to
even killed their friends and loved ones.
forgive those who
“They have also grasped the fundamental
truth
that they, too, are sinners in need of
have mutilated,
forgiveness.”
Doug discovered that the victims of trauma
violated and even
in the DRC don’t fully understand why God
killed their friends
allows such pain and suffering in the world.
But they know He is good.
and loved ones.”
And their steadfast faith, which has been
tested far beyond ours, can help us to process
our own jumbled thoughts and feelings when hearing the stories
of others’ trauma.
In the end, the real issue is not why trauma hits others so hard,
but rather doing something—in Jesus’ name—to help those experiencing it.
Thank the Lord that this is the case in the DRC and in a growing list of other countries, through Bible-based workshops that
bring healing in the heart-penetrating languages of local people.
6
Contents
Features
Articles by Doug Lockhart • Photographs by Alan Hood
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following articles contain content that may be
disturbing for some readers. Discretion is advised.
6
18
Beauty for Ashes
Victims of violence in war-ravaged Congo rekindle
hope through Scripture-based, trauma healing
workshops.
18 Giving the “Gift of Tears”
A book and related workshop on trauma healing
impact thousands of hurting people around the world.
24 Faces of Trauma: A Photo Essay
32 Let Fear Not Rule
Wycliffe’s Sue Ambrose leans on the strength of
God after a physical attack in Papua New Guinea.
Article & photographs by Craig Pulsifer
24
Departments
2
Foreword Weeping for Conso
4
Watchword Young Team Builder Will
By Dwayne Janke
Head Wycliffe Canada
34 Beyond Words Tongue Tickler
35 Last Word Thankful for a Hardy Word
By Don Hekman
32
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca 3
Watchword
Young Team Builder Will Head Wycliffe Canada
40,000 and Counting
he youngest person to ever lead Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada will
take the helm later this year. Wycliffe Canada’s board of directors recently
unanimously appointed 39-year-old Roy Eyre (left) as the next president of
Wycliffe Canada. He takes over the position when Don Hekman
completes his term in November.
“For a young man, Roy Eyre has accumulated a lot of leadership
experience and already gained recognition as an emerging leader
in Wycliffe,” says Hart Wiens, board chair.
“I’m excited to take on this challenge,” says Eyre. “I think what
excites me most is the potential I see in Wycliffe Canada to tap
into the vast resources Canada has to offer for cross-cultural work.
At the same time, I recognize that this is a big jump in responsibility for me, and there are significant challenges for the organization
in the next few years.”
Born in Toronto, Ont., and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Eyre served as a graphic
designer with Wycliffe Canada and Wycliffe U.S.A., before moving into administration. Since 2009, Eyre has directed the work of leadership development for
Wycliffe U.S.A. He and his wife Becky are raising three children.
For more details, visit <www.wycliffe.ca/newsroom>.
í fìntimaan! Takaldapeepeekaa 1 is the title of a
reading primer for the Ntscham language group
in Togo, Africa. The booklet is also a milestone—
item number 40,000 in the
bibliography of materials
authored, edited or published
by Wycliffe personnel since 1935.
The bibliography, much of which is online at
<www.ethnologue.com/bibliography.asp>, lists publications representing 76 years of work by Wycliffe
staff in more than 2,700 languages.
It includes books, journal articles, book chapters,
dissertations, and other academic papers about languages and cultures. The bibliography also has references for materials written in the local languages, such
as literacy books, instructional books on other basic
education topics (health, math, and social studies),
story and folk tale books, etc.
Scriptures for a Digital Age
JESUS Film Prepared for Eight CAR Languages
S
T
IL, Wycliffe’s key partner in Bible translation,
has moved a step closer to making Scripture
translations in North Eurasia available in a variety
of digital media.
Scriptures on cellphones, as text, audio and even
video, was a focus of a digital media consultation
in Moscow earlier this year. The Institute for Bible
Translation (IBT) has agreed to make God’s Word
downloadable on cellphones and websites. IBT
publishes most of the Scripture on which SIL teams
work in this region of the world.
Most people in the region have cellphones and
there is clearly an interest in digital Scriptures. In
one Central Asian translation project, for example,
the Old Testament is nearing completion. The goal
will be to first produce digital, rather than printed,
versions.
Meanwhile,
Pidgin speakers
in Hawaii can
download their
New Testament
and 16 Old
Testament books
onto most cellphones.
he JESUS Film will soon be coming to eight language groups
in the Central African Republic (CAR).
A workshop with the languages’ Bible translation teams has
just concluded, during which they prepared the film’s script,
based on the Gospel of Luke. Now the film will be audio
dubbed into each of the languages—Banda-Linda, Bhogoto,
Mpyemo, Nzakara, Gbaya, Kaba, Ngbugu and Yaka—and
then distributed to the communities of speakers in the
country.
Take
Together, these language groups total about 900,000
people. Wycliffe personnel are supporting the work of local
translation teams in the nation.
Scene
Wycliffe Gets New Name
W
ycliffe International, the umbrella group of 105 partner organizations to
which Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada belongs, has a new name:
Wycliffe Global Alliance.
The change to “Global” was made to better reflect the reality that Wycliffe is
no longer primarily “Western” run or based. Its primary office is now in
Singapore, while its leadership team, originating from 10 nations, is spread
across the globe.
“Alliance” was chosen for the new name because Wycliffe’s partner
organizations hold to a common vision to advance the goals and
interests of Bible translation and related work worldwide.
As the worldwide Church and the awareness of the need for translated Scripture grow, so do the opportunities for increasingly more people to participate in this critical part of God’s mission. Wycliffe Global Alliance is helping
create an environment for greater and broader involvement around the globe.
4
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca
Cellphones are
increasingly being
used to distribute
translated Scriptures.
Alan Hood
Date
Alan Hood
T
Alan Hood
Alan Hood
T
UBS, SIL Aim for Joint Language Technology Work
P
ersonnel who create computer software for Bible translators with the
United Bible Societies (UBS) and SIL have agreed to work more closely.
After attending a Dallas conference in February, they are partnering on a
UBS-SIL Language Technology Initiative.
They plan to combine efforts to develop software, in order to more efficiently use resources, avoid redundancy, and simplify training and support.
Computer staff for both agencies want their work to: accelerate Bible
translation worldwide; enable language communities to produce dictionaries
and literacy materials; and aid the publication of God’s Word and other
materials, using scripts and media that keep languages strong and people
engaged with Scriptures.
One language software development team works
out of the Wycliffe Canada office in Calgary.
Wycliffe Canada Gathers For 60th Anniversary
W
Courtesy of Gardner Family/Wycliffe UK
ycliffe Canada celebrated its 60th anni- For details, visit <www.wycliffe.ca/newsroom> an office, started to form a staff and began
or for audio recordings, visit <www.wycliffe. to build a Canadian identity. That story is
versary by holding a special two-day
outlined in “Passages,” a new booklet containstaff retreat and a one-day public conference ca/unbound>.
Both events were scheduled in conjunction ing Wycliffe Canada’s history and timeline, at
in and around Calgary in early May.
with the 60th anniversary of Wycliffe’s organi- <www.wycliffe.ca/history>.
About 170 staff and guests from across
zational beginnings in 1951, when it opened
Canada attended the retreat called “The
Gathering,” at River’s Edge Camp near
Sundre, Alberta. The meeting included
British Wycliffe Worker Dies in Bomb Blast
worship sessions, field reports, discusary Gardner, a 55-year-old Wycliffe member from Scotland
sion groups and a recognition banquet.
(right), was killed in a March terrorist bomb explosion at a
Immediately after the retreat,
crowded public bus stop in Jerusalem.
Wycliffe held “UnBound” at Ambrose
Gardner was in Israel studying Hebrew at Hebrew University, as part
University College in Calgary. The
of her training to become a consultant for Old Testament translation
public conference explored how the
among Togo’s Ife people. Gardner had worked in the West African
biblical story dynamically intersects
nation since 1989, serving with a local team of Ife translators that
with cultural stories, through special
completed the New Testament two years ago.
speakers and informative workshops.
Thirty other people were injured by the bomb. Though no one took responsibility, the blast
came hours after Palestinian militants vowed revenge for two deadly Israeli strikes on Gaza.
“Mary will be sorely missed by her colleagues and the Ife community, in whom she had
invested more than 20 years of her life,” said Lee Higdon, who directs work done by the
Togo-Benin branch of SIL, Wycliffe’s key partner organization. “She was loved and respected
by those who knew and worked with her.”
Gardner is survived by two elderly parents and several siblings.
M
Word Count
Unbound” speaker Ray
Aldred shares his insights.
105
6,500+
34%
66%
Number of organizations (including Wycliffe Canada) that are part of
the Wycliffe Global Alliance.
Affiliated staff with those Wycliffe organizations serving around the world.
Staff positions in language-related work such as translation and literacy.
Staff positions in other types of work (eg. project managers, computer
specialists, administrators, etc).
Source: Wycliffe Global Alliance
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca 5
Beauty
Victims of violence in war-ravaged Congo
rekindle hope through Scripture-based,
trauma healing workshops.
Articles by Doug Lockhart • Photographs by Alan Hood
Residents of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which one
leading volcanologist has called “the most dangerous city in the world,”
go about their daily routines in the shadow of one of the world’s most
active volcanoes. “Nyiragongo” could erupt at any time—like the violence
that has plagued the explosive, deeply-scarred region beyond its slopes.
A
massive, steaming volcano towers over
the city of Goma, on the eastern edge
of the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC). After nightfall, clouds of reddish
vapour swirl above the summit of Mount
Nyiragongo [ny-EAR-a-gong-go], reflecting light from a boiling lake of molten lava
more than 200 metres wide.
The volcano last erupted in 2002. Rivers
of scalding lava flowed into the city’s streets,
killing more than 40 people and destroying thousands of homes
and businesses. Like Mount Doom in Tolkein’s epic Lord of the
Rings, today the volcano’s eerie, menacing presence seems to fill
the air with whispered threats that Death is about to visit Goma
and vicinity—yet again.
Death has been a frequent caller to the DRC, in the form of a
brutal war that began in the mid-’90s. It has directly or indirectly killed an estimated 5.4 million people in the Central African
nation. Violence still erupts from time to time in several eastern
provinces. Most citizens there have been deeply traumatized by
the unspeakable brutality that has touched nearly every city, village and hamlet in Africa’s third-largest country.
Church leaders and social agencies have been ill-equipped
to respond to the overwhelming needs they’ve encountered.
But now a growing group of concerned individuals and organizations—including Wycliffe Bible Translators—are banding
together to provide a biblical response to the deep trauma that
has crippled the nation.
Very, Very Hard
Margaret Hill, a Brit associated with Wycliffe U.K., is a translation consultant who works closely with Bible translators
throughout Africa. But in her work with Wycliffe’s key partner
organization, SIL, she is also charged with promoting the use of
translated Scriptures.
“My work in Scripture engagement involves getting people to
use relevant, pertinent Scriptures that really speak to their life
needs,” says Margaret, one of the leaders of a recent trauma healing workshop held in Goma.
“Trauma healing is using the Scriptures in ways that really
speak to people and therefore, they’re likely to want and be able
to use the Scriptures.”
Margaret’s friend and co-worker, Harriet Hill, is an American
and a former Wycliffe member who now serves as Director of
Scripture Engagement Content for the American Bible Society
(ABS). Harriet served for 18 years, with her husband Ralph, in a
Bible translation project in Côte d’Ivoire, Africa.
“The American Bible Society has taken a very strong interest in
trauma healing and in East Africa,” says Harriet, “especially DRC.”
Most participants in the Goma workshop are refugees, unable
to return to their home areas.
“They’ve lost everything,” Harriet says. “They have fields and
lands . . . but they can’t go to them because it is so dangerous.
People get attacked and killed.
“So they’re living here in Goma as displaced people with no
rights, no money—it’s just very, very hard.”
8
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca
(Above) A billboard in Goma urges
citizens to say no to sexual violence
and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Despite
a 2008 peace agreement between
the government and rebel forces,
violence is still pervasive in eastern
Congo and women are especially
vulnerable. During a 2009 visit to
Goma, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton responded to their plight by
pledging US $17 million to support
programs that assist female victims.
(Below) During a short break in a
trauma healing workshop held last
March in Goma, workshop leaders
Harriet Hill (left) and Margaret Hill
(centre) discuss the next exercise
with Wycliffe’s Bettina Gottschlich
(right). Through a book they coauthored and related workshops on
trauma healing, the Hills (unrelated)
have played a significant role in
promoting emotional healing for
victims of trauma throughout Africa
and around the world.
Goma’s steady growth in recent years has been fuelled by the
never-ending stream of refugees that pour into the city from
outlying areas. Comforted by the presence of highly visible UN
troops, they seek to rebuild their lives—in the shadow of one of
the world’s most active, unpredictable volcanoes.
But for millions of people living in Goma and elsewhere in the
eastern provinces, daily life is more a struggle for survival.
Rampant inflation, food shortages, malnutrition and malaria are
just some of the challenges that confront the general population.
AIDS, inadequate health care and a frail public infrastructure
leave most Congolese living hand-to-mouth and without hope
for a better future.
Women Victimized
While few Congolese adults have been untouched by past and
continuing atrocities, women especially have had to endure
mind-numbing violence. More often than not, it includes sexual
assault—often multiple times, by multiple perpetrators. Some
are forced into sexual slavery.
If women and young girls survive an encounter with one of
the country’s numerous military groups still vying for power or
profit, they are frequently left battered and bleeding from having limbs hacked off or private body parts mutilated by bullets,
knives or other weapons.
Untold thousands are also left pregnant and infected with HIV.
The emotional fallout from such encounters is unfathomable.
“
They’ve lost everything.
They have fields and
lands . . . but they can’t
go to them because it is
so dangerous. People get
attacked and killed.”
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca 9
Bloodied, traumatized and afraid, many of these victims suddenly find themselves with few resources. Because of the stigma
attached to rape, wives and daughters who have been sexually
assaulted frequently find themselves rejected by husbands and
fathers. With no resources and no support, many such women
turn to prostitution.
Furthermore, these victims may be left homeless because their
houses—and entire villages—have been burned to the ground
and their relatives have disappeared.
Congolese churches are filled with traumatized believers who
need more than a prayer and a pat on the back to recover from
the paralyzing trauma they have experienced. But sadly, most
pastors and elders lack the training they need to help believers
and non-believers alike find deep healing.
Margaret first saw the need to train Congolese pastors in the ’90s,
after she was forced to leave DRC twice because of the violence.
“When I came back at one point, I realized the church leaders
needed to be more aware . . . because they just hadn’t realized
why people were angry and depressed, and why there was an
increase in suicide and mental illness and all these things.”
Margaret began talking with colleagues—including Harriet—
about what she was seeing. Those discussions led them to write,
with help from a psychologist and a counsellor, a book entitled
Healing the Wounds of Trauma; How the Church Can Help.
But even before the book was published in 2004, Margaret,
Harriet and other colleagues had begun using what they’d
learned to conduct trauma healing workshops in Kenya, for
pastors from six war-torn countries in Africa. The workshops,
which typically run up to two weeks, equip pastors and others to
help trauma victims express their pain, bring it to the Cross and
find grace to forgive their tormentors.
10 Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca
(Above) Straining to push a tshukudu, a kind of wooden bicycle used
to transport everything from food
supplies to lumber, a young man
navigates a busy route in Goma
where traffic passes within inches
and jagged volcanic rocks litter
streets. Similarly, thousands are
weighed down by heavy emotional
baggage as they navigate life as
trauma victims.
(Right) Using his hands to simulate
a chopping motion, church leader
Nganga Batasema demonstrates
how several of his neighbours had
their limbs hacked off when armed
invaders attacked villages in his
home area.
“
[Congolese church leaders]
just hadn’t realized why
people were angry and
depressed and why there
was an increase in suicide
and mental illness….”
Racing for the Traumatized
Canadians have played a key role in funding the work of Bible translation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), through its Race to 2025
adventure fundraisers (see Word Alive, Spring 2010). Since September
2010, 27 teams of four, comprised primarily of college students from
across Canada, have competed in four weekend events. The teams raised
$118,000 to further language survey, Bible translation and Scripture use
initiatives in DRC—including trauma healing workshops.
After reading the book, Healing the Wounds of Trauma, a pastor in
northeastern Congo began teaching it to the members of his congregation. Last February, he attended a training workshop to help him share
the materials more effectively in his home region. A portion of the
money raised from Race to 2025: Congo will help fund trauma healing
workshops in the area, as well as translation and printing of the book in
several languages.
In addition to funds raised by participants in Race to 2025: Congo, generous corporate sponsorships provided bursaries for approved student
interns. Tim Lipp, who has participated in two races, won a scholarship
Distracted but Dedicated
Last March, 20 Congolese church leaders from four language
groups assembled for two weeks at a retreat centre in Goma. They
participated in a trauma healing workshop with a unique focus:
to produce oral translations of the stories and lessons contained in
the trauma healing book. Three of the language groups represented still have no writing system, while the fourth—Chitembo—is
currently translating the New Testament into their language.
“These four language groups were chosen because they’re in
the areas that are in acute, traumatically disturbed areas and
they have no Scripture in their language,” Margaret explains.
Just days into the Goma workshop, five of the participants
from the Kobo language group learned that militants had again
attacked villages in their home area northwest of Goma. Their
houses had been set ablaze—for the third time since 1994.
At breaks during the workshop, the Kobo men broke away
from the larger group to call home using their cellphones, trying
to connect with friends, family members and neighbours. News
about the welfare of individual loved ones was sketchy; they did
know that 20 of 22 villages had been set on fire and their people
had taken refuge in the two remaining villages.
“It’s part of our lives, these difficulties,” said one, speaking
through an interpreter.
Their Tembo colleagues—who speak the Chitembo language—have similar stories and similar motivation to help their
people find healing.
“In one village, about 100 people were killed,” says Moise
Mamlaka, a Tembo church leader. “There are several people who
had their arms cut off and I have a family member that doesn’t
have legs anymore. The region has been abandoned . . . so people
really need assistance from those who know about trauma healing.”
During last February’s Race to 2025 event near Nordegg,
Alta., racer Jeni Coleman shares a lighter moment with a
volunteer in a simulated African village.
to attend Wycliffe Canada’s training program at the Canada Institute of
Linguistics (CanIL) in Langley, B.C.
He plans to study at CanIL this summer, before leaving for DRC to
research Bible translation needs there by doing language survey.
Another racer, Rick Olney from Millar College of the Bible in Pambrun,
Sask., attended CanIL last summer and is currently in DRC doing language survey.
DRC is in one of three regions in the world with the highest Bible translation needs. About 120 of the country’s 215 living languages still have
no Scripture translations and many of those do not even have an alphabet or writing system.
To learn more about Race to 2025, visit <www.wycliffe.ca/raceto2025>.
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca 11
That’s why Tembo believers have translated Healing the
Wounds of Trauma into their language.
“We translated this in order to find out how we can help our
people,” says Bwenge Ndeshibire. “Because if somebody hears in
his own language, and is consoled . . . that can really help in his
soul and in his mind.”
Nailed to the Cross
The stories and illustrations used in Healing the Wounds of
Trauma are culturally relevant and true-to-life, making it easier
for readers to identify with them. Augmented by exercises,
object lessons and discussions in the trauma healing workshops,
they become powerful tools for healing.
Two concepts especially leave a deep impression on participants: Taking Your Pain to the Cross and How Can We Forgive
Others? When teaching on the former, workshop leaders instruct
participants to write their trauma on a slip of paper. Then, the
participants take these papers and nail them to an actual cross
(See “Pain and Paper,” pg. 21). The reminder of Christ’s sacrifice sets the stage for forgiveness—
and for those who choose it, a powerful step towards healing.
In a 2010 paper titled Trauma Healing at the Cross of Christ,
Harriet wrote about a woman who began applying what she
learned about forgiveness at a workshop in Uganda.
“A woman whose ears, nose and lips had been cut off by child
soldiers from the Lord’s Resistance Army,” wrote Harriet, “was
so disfigured, she hid inside her house.”
12 Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca
(Left) Nganga Batasema (at far left), a workshop participant from the Chitembo language group, stresses a
point while talking with teammate Moise Mamlaka. The
group was tasked with deciding how to best express
some key biblical terms in their language, as they prepared to translate trauma healing materials used in the
workshop for oral presentation.
(Above) Stuka Elkan (far right) and his Kobo teammates
used their cellphones to stay informed about the volatile conditions in their isolated home region northwest
of Goma. During the two-week workshop, they learned
that 20 of 22 villages had been attacked and houses set
on fire. Desperate for news about the welfare of their
loved ones, they took every opportunity to call home
during breaks in the workshop. To add to his distress,
Elkan was grieving the unrelated death of his infant
nephew just two days earlier.
“We translated this . . . because if somebody
hears in his own language, and is consoled . . .
that can really help in his soul and in his mind.”
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca 13
raped. But Longombe (left) realizes
that he and his small medical team are
limited in the help they can offer.
“We can care for them in a medical
way, but we cannot heal. The One who
can heal is God, and the instrument
we have for that is the Word of God.
“Without the Word of God, you
One Step Further
cannot come to true healing.”
At the conclusion of the trauma healing workshops, each parAnother man, Thomson Kadorho
ticipant is encouraged to take what they have learned and share
[ka-DOR-oh], heads an Anglican
with it with others. As a result, principles contained in Healing
development and rehabilitation agency
the Wounds of Trauma have spread to churches and schools elsethat does its best—despite limited funding—to provide practical
where in DRC, as they have in dozens of countries around the
assistance to traumatized people throughout the city (see photo
world (see “Giving the ‘Gift of Tears,’ ” pg. 18).
Another Wycliffe facilitator of the March workshop in Goma, essay, “Faces of Trauma,” pg. 24).
Kadorho attended one of the first trauma healing workshops
Bettina Gottschlich, believes it’s important for those who have
held in DRC. He readily identified with the teachings on forgiveattended such sessions to work through their existing partnerness, because God had already challenged him to forgive the
ships and networks to help meet needs in their communities.
“This training course is only a beginning,” says Gottschlich, a people who were responsible for his own pain.
As a teen, Kadorho nearly drowned when a boat he was ridGerman Wycliffe member who has worked in DRC since 1987.
ing in capsized on nearby Lake Kivu, killing 50 fellow-travellers.
“It transforms people from where they are, one step further….
Around the same time, while still dealing with trauma from the
“What they’re going to do with it depends largely on what
boat accident, he witnessed armed soldiers kill his brother-in-law.
they’re ready to do . . . and what they let God do with them.”
“When God told me [to forgive], it really changed something
Gottschlich adds that even when financial resources are lackin my life. I had many things hidden in my heart, but when I
ing, church leaders can integrate teaching on trauma healing
decided to forgive, I had peace.”
into their various ministries. And by networking with other
ministries and agencies, they may be able to help traumatized
people find help for their physical and material needs as well.
Overwhelming Needs
In Goma, outreach workers have an ally in Dr. Ahuka
Kadorho sometimes finds the needs of people he encounters in
Longombe [long-GOM-bay], a Christian physician who special- Goma overwhelming. His small team at the Anglican ministry
izes in reconstructive surgery for women who have been brutally does what it can, while hoping and praying that God will pro-
After the woman found help to deal with her trauma, she
wanted to find the boys who had mutilated her—so she could let
them know she had forgiven them. Her search led her eventually
to a rehabilitation camp where the boys were being treated. After
overcoming the guards’ initial reluctance to let her in, the woman
met her attackers face to face and told them they were forgiven.
Democratic Republic of the Congo: At a Glance
Name: Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Area: 2.34 million sq. km (about one quarter the size of
Canada); vast central basin is a low-lying plateau,
mountains in the east; largely dense tropical rainforest.
AFRICA
Location: Central Africa; northeast of Angola.
Life expectancy: 55 years (vs. 81 in Canada)
C. A. R.
Capital: Kinshasa (pop. 8.75 million).
People: More than 200 ethno-linguistic groups, of which the majority are Bantu.
Economy: One of the world’s very poorest nations; has immense diamond,
mineral resources and agricultural potential.
Religion: 50% Roman Catholic; 42% Protestant/Independent, including 19%
Evangelical.
Languages: 215, including French (official), Lingala (trade language), Kingwana
(a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili); Kikongo, Tshiluba; and many tribal languages.
Languages with Scriptures: 30 have Bibles, 20 have New Testaments, 56 have
Scripture portions.
Literacy: 67%.
Sources: Operation World, 7th Edition; World Factbook; Ethnologue.
Sudan
Chad
Population: Approx. 72 million.
Cameroon
Republic
of Congo
Democratic
Republic
of Congo
Goma
Kinshasa
Angola
Zambia
Tanzania
Uganda
Conso Zaina (in wheelchair), 20, can
still smile despite enduring a savage, repeated sexual assault three
years ago that left her disabled—
and homeless. Abandoned by her
family because of societal attitudes
towards rape, she is the oldest
resident of a Goma orphanage that
houses some 40 children. Shown
here with her caregiver, Zaina
shares the small room with another
young woman.
“What they’re going to do with their
[trauma healing] training depends largely
on what they’re ready to do . . . and
what they let God do with them.”
vide additional resources to help Goma’s suffering citizens.
Thankfully, many secular, humanitarian organizations are
also hard at work in DRC, providing medical care, shelter, food,
clothing and other basic needs for the people of DRC. The needs
are great, and God is using both Christian and secular agencies
to help meet them.
More help is on the way. Recently, the American Bible Society
launched a program called “She’s My Sister.” It will help traumatized women and children in the Great Lakes region of East
Africa, including Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya,
Central African Republic, Sudan and DRC.
Partnering with DRC’s Bible Society, the U.S.-based program
will provide funds for a consortium of faith-based groups and
16 Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca
enable local leaders to provide holistic, restorative programs for
the traumatized—including trauma healing workshops.
For more than two decades, Death
More On The Web: Learn more about
has haunted the Democratic
the “She’s My Sister” initiative at
Republic of Congo. Like the dark
http://sister.americanbible.org].
volcano that looms over Goma, its
shadow has fallen on every corner of the country and robbed
nearly every household of hope and happiness.
But Jesus has never forsaken the people of DRC.
He still walks among them, as a high priest who identifies with their suffering. His Word continues to heal wounded
hearts, restore hope to the weary and assure His followers that
He has conquered death and hell.
Participants in the trauma healing workshop held in Goma join hands as they
offer up prayers of thanksgiving and
worship. The 20 church leaders—most
of whom have suffered through severe
trauma themselves—share a common
motivation to help traumatized people
from the four Congolese language
groups they represent. Galen Johnson
(in foreground, right), a co-leader at
the workshop, represented the Goma
event’s co-funder, The Seed Company, a
Wycliffe U.S.A. affiliate.
“When God told me to forgive, it really
changed something in my life. I had many
things hidden in my heart, but when I
decided to forgive, I had peace.”
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca 17
S
A book and related
workshop on
trauma healing
impact thousands
of hurting people
around the world.
ince its publication in 2004, the book Healing the Wounds
of Trauma has found receptive readers in DRC and several
other African countries, as well as the Middle East, Asia, the
Pacific, the U.S. and U.K. and Latin America. Translation of
the book is complete or in progress in 135 languages; Wycliffe personnel have some involvement in 76 of those translations.
Authors Harriet Hill and Margaret Hill are Scripture-use consultants, while co-authors, Dr. Richard Baggé and Pat Miersma, are a
psychiatrist and a counsellor respectively.
Baggé, a Wycliffe member based in Nairobi, Kenya, manages a
multi-agency counselling centre to help missionaries in Africa.
Miersma joined Wycliffe in 1980, after serving as a nurse during
the war in Vietnam. She now specializes in post-traumatic stress
disorder, crisis intervention and recovery from trauma.
So far, more than 80 organizations have used the materials,
while trauma healing workshops based on the book have been held
in 40 countries to date—sometimes in multiple languages. About
160 people are now qualified to lead or help lead workshops.
The workshops based on the book vary in focus; some have
emphasized helping traumatized children and one targets the
victims of earthquakes. A course for oral cultures—like the one
recently held in Goma—is being developed to assist language
groups where few can read or write.
Confronting Deep Issues
Originally written and developed from an African context, the
book and workshops include numerous true-to-life trauma stories
of people living in a fictional nation called Bingola. The book’s 11
lessons help readers grapple with some gritty subjects—like the
first section, on why God allows suffering.
Additionally, the book and workshop help victims confront
the pain in their lives—to feel it, and let God heal it—rather than
repress or deny it.
Harriet recalls a trauma healing workshop held in southern
Sudan, where one priest coped with his pain by spiritualizing it.
“He was saying, ‘I saw my son get shot—praise the Lord!’ ”
The priest believed he needed to be an example to his flock of
triumphant faith, but Harriet takes a different view.
A common feature of trauma healing workshops
worldwide is an exercise that walks participants
through three different “villages,” symbolizing grief as
a journey. The “props” used above represent, in order:
anger and denial, hopelessness, and new beginnings.
“To care for an emotional wound, people need to get their
pain out. That is huge—to let people talk.”
“We want to help people know that tears are a gift,” adds
Harriet, “and they help us get our pain out.”
“We want to
Learning to Lament
As an example, Harriet points to the many laments in Scripture,
where writers like David and Job expressed deep feelings to God.
“We look at laments where you can say both things: ‘God,
you’re always with me’ and ‘God, why did you abandon me?’—in
the same psalm, and that’s OK. That’s how we feel when we’re
going through a rough time; both of those emotions are present
and God can handle it.”
“We get them to write their own laments,” says Margaret, “and
that’s very powerful.”
Harriet says there’s a further step that’s invaluable in the healing process: bringing pain to the Cross.“When you’re in darkness and you realize Christ absorbs that pain as well, it’s just
overwhelming what Christ’s death has done.
“A lot of people experience healing at that time” (see “Pain
and Paper,” pg. 21).
help people
Kneeling by a bathtub filled with
water, Harriet Hill struggles to
keep several empty water bottles
submerged. The object lesson,
enacted during the March 2011
trauma healing workshop held in
Goma, DRC, represents the strong
emotions that accompany trauma
and the difficulty of keeping them
“buried” while dealing with the
challenges of everyday life.
know that
tears are a
gift, and they
help us get
our pain out.”
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca 19
As Harriet steps back from the tub, the empty bottles
pop to the surface amidst applause and laughter from
onlookers. The exercise is a simple, yet effective way
to demonstrate that despite the human tendency to
repress negative emotions, they eventually surface and
20 Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca
must be addressed. Around the world, such principles
of mental health are being combined with biblical
teaching to help victims of trauma process their pain
and move forward in their quest for emotional and
spiritual healing.
Looking Ahead
While the workshops have an impressive track record in Africa
and around the world, the Hills and other workshop leaders
always look for ways to adapt and amend the course materials to make them more effective. To that end, they developed
advanced training for workshop leaders to help them master the
materials and methods, and feel confident to lead the course in
their communities.
Furthermore, in many African countries, the need to help
traumatized children is urgent. In northern Uganda, for example,
the Anglican Church has been reaching out to homeless children
who were forced to flee their homes because of violence.
“They’re called the ‘invisible children,’ ” says Margaret. “They
were trying to make themselves invisible so they wouldn’t be
abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army.”
Week-long camps for children age eight to 14 have been held in
that country, along with Liberia, Togo and Thailand, using materials that integrate stories, games and crafts around different themes.
“There’s interest in putting this program material into other
languages,” adds Margaret, “and getting more children involved.”
In Haiti, stories about earthquake trauma are used to replace
war stories; in other areas, the materials have been adapted for
use with refugees and those who host them.
Pain and Paper
Bwenge Ndeshibire (en-desh-ib-EAR-eh), a man from
the Tembo language group, attended the trauma
healing workshop last March in Goma, DRC. Like
other participants, he comes from an area of Eastern
Congo that continues to experience frequent violence.
“All of us, the Tembo people, are traumatized,”
Ndeshibire said, speaking through an interpreter.
“Our territory has become like a battlefield, daily.”
During the workshop,
Ndeshibire began to see
how his own trauma
had affected him.
“I had needs, or hurts,
inside myself,” he
reflects, “but I didn’t
know how to express
them. In our way of
thinking, in our culture,
you just behave as
though there’s nothing wrong with you.
“I even had the idea that God wasn’t interested in
me anymore.”
The Tembo man says the workshop also helped
him understand that the anger he felt inside was
a normal response to loss.
“I tried to behave as though I’d solved my anger, to
sort of ‘jump over’ it, instead of really dealing with it
from the bottom of my heart.
Harriet and Margaret Hill, above,
co-authored Healing the Wounds
of Trauma with Dr. Richard Baggé
and Pat Miersma. Because issues of
the heart are best communicated
in a person’s heart language, the
book has since been translated into
dozens of languages—including a
Chitembo-language edition (left) in
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“But during the workshop, they showed us all the
steps (of grief) to walk through, until you come to
the step where you can start life again.”
That process included an exercise involving a cross,
as a symbol of Christ’s sacrifice. The participants
wrote down, on slips of paper, experiences that had
wounded them. Then, they took their notes with
them and stood before the cross.
“We nailed them there,” says Ndeshibire, “and it was
like we could take off our bruises and give them literally to Jesus . . . and lift them off of us and onto Him.”
That healing experience and others like it has
Ndeshibire excited about sharing the workshop
materials with his people.
“Looking at our region, we would like to train 50,
maybe 80 people, within the Church . . . so they can
help others.
“This workshop has really been like medicine for us.”
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca 21
Coping Skills
Those who lead trauma healing workshops are taught to care for
themselves in the process. Sometimes, workshop leaders can feel
overwhelmed by the “secondary trauma” they experience. This
comes from listening to heartbreaking stories and witnessing the
powerful emotions that are unleashed when participants allow
themselves to feel the pain they’ve repressed for so long.
After leading the first few workshops, Margaret and Harriet
sought help from their co-authors, Richard Baggé and Pat
Miersma, who advised them to talk about what they were feeling, get adequate exercise and develop other coping skills.
“But it’s not always easy,” says Margaret.
“I think I will never be the same,” adds Harriet. “I mean, I’ve
heard too much. I will never forget the people that have told
their stories. . . . It’s not our full-time job,” she says, referencing
her primary role with the American Bible Society, “but we do it
because the need is so huge and immediate.
“It’s just a real privilege to be of any help.”
Laments For Healing
At right are examples of lament poems
written by participants of a trauma
healing workshop (including several
mother tongue Bible translators) in
the Central African Republic. That
nation has been plagued by conflict,
upheaval and anarchy due to ongoing
government/rebel fighting.
Oh Jesus, great king!
Have pity on me
Remove my sins
I am a sinner.
Stretch out your wings
Cover your son
You are a mother hen
Cover your son.
Give me peace
Peace in my heart
Have pity on me
So that I can live.
Oh Jesus, great King
You alone are King
You have heard my cries.
Many of these children were sexually
violated before they found a home at an
orphanage in Goma. To help traumatized
children, organizers elsewhere in Africa
have developed age-appropriate materials
and activities and week-long camps have
been held in Uganda, Liberia and Togo.
Development of programs for children
around the world is a high priority.
22 Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca
—Francis
Assigned to adapt a song in
their language using a verse
from the book of Ecclesiastes,
church leaders from the Hunde
language group sing for their
classmates in the trauma healing
workshop. When set to music,
Bible verses are more easily
remembered and touch the soul,
contributing to deep healing.
Why this suffering?
Why these wars?
Where do divisions come from?
Where do all these ethnic conflicts come from?
O Lord, I come to appeal to you
Please agree to hear my pleas, Oh, my Father
Wipe my tears, Father
So that I can find the joy that comes from you.
What does the good God do?
Is He asleep? Is He deaf?
Or is He expressly causing all this?
I’ve run around all over looking for peace
I do that in the daytime
At night, there is nothing but fear
My worries are enormous
My sufferings are also numerous
When will it all end?
In my distress and sufferings
Your little voice says:
“My grace is sufficient for you,
Because my Son took all this to the cross.”
Praise, honour, glory,
Give them to our God, our Counsellor.
—Max
I used to go to the healers
And even to the diviners,
But I didn’t find peace.
It is in you I find peace, Oh Lord,
And my sufferings evaporate
You have freed me from my worries
I’ve found hope again in You
And my enemies are all ashamed.
God, you are a great God
Is it truly I who got away from Bossangoa?
Thank you, God.
My ears still hear the guns and the mortars
But my heart is at peace.
God, my feet are tired
God, what are you doing?
I’m suffering here for you
I’m suffering in the bush.
I am sure that you are always seeing me
I always put my confidence in you.
—Elvis, based on what his wife
sang as they fled their town
I thank you, Father
Thank you for coming to meet me
My joy comes from you
Alleluia to you
Amen!
—David
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca 23
Faces
Photo Essay
L
ast March, Word Alive photojournalist Alan Hood and I
(writer Doug Lockhart) spent six days in the city of Goma,
at the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern border with
Rwanda. As part of our orientation to a Wycliffe-related trauma
healing workshop being held there, organizers introduced us to
two Congolese Christians: Dr. Ahuka Longombe [long-GOMbay] and Thomson Kadorho [ka-DOR-oh]. The two men are
dedicated to helping many of the Congolese citizens who have
been traumatized during two decades of war, and by the ongoing
violence that still plagues much of eastern Congo.
Longombe is affiliated with Doctors on Call for Service
(DOCS), a U.S.-based Christian ministry that links U.S. volunteer physicians with doctors in Africa to share knowledge and
expertise. At the DOCS clinic in Goma, Longombe’s small team
struggles to assist the steady stream of women afflicted by HIV/
AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
All too frequently, DOCS staff must provide emergency surgery
too—for women who have been brutally raped. Longombe has
become a leading expert on the reconstructive surgery needed by
many such Congolese women and girls.
Thomson Kadorho is the director of an Anglican relief and
development ministry in Goma. Kadorho led us on a two-day
tour of Goma. We were introduced to some of the traumatized
people his cash-strapped agency tries to assist.
In the pages that follow, we feature some of the people Alan
and I met and talked to, with help from a Congolese interpreter.
Despite varying circumstances, each person we met suffered
deeply as a result of the war, continuing raids by armed soldiers
elsewhere in eastern Congo, or the pervasive poverty that still
has a chokehold on the people of DRC. Some of the details of
their lives got lost in translation—but the photographs that
follow speak for themselves.
Little Gracia Matabaro (far right) lives with her
parents in a small house in Goma. Her father,
Nyamuhirwa (right), was just 13 years old when
soldiers seized him and conscripted him into a
life of violence. He escaped five years later, but
after a fruitless search for surviving relatives, he
eventually made his way to Goma. Married in
2000, he now earns meagre income by selling
shoes on the street. At night, he’s frequently
haunted by disturbing memories from his past,
while morning brings scant relief from the
depression and hopelessness that dog his days.
(Above) In a district of Goma, a
woman glances down before taking
another step on the rocky path that
separates houses—many home to
those displaced by conflict—in the
area near Lake Kivu. Evidence of past
volcanic eruptions—most recently in
2002—is clearly visible throughout
the city. One expert quoted recently
in National Geographic magazine says
the volcano, some 15 km away, will
erupt again, potentially transforming
the city into “a modern Pompeii.”
(Right) Neema Rugambwa, 19, holds her
16-month-old daughter Esther in their
small room at the Anglican ministry centre.
Besides providing temporary shelter for
up to 45 women and children, the ministry also provides job training for women.
Neema, whose home is 120 km away in a
region still in turmoil, discovered she was
pregnant after being sexually violated by
an unknown assailant. Esther was born with
a malformed foot; the Anglican ministry
heard of their plight and arranged to bring
them to Goma so Esther could receive
medical attention.
26 Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca
Nalusambo Ndamuso, 65, is a destitute
widow who has lived in a dark, cramped
hut near Lake Kivu for the past three
years. Before the Anglican ministry
helped repair her leaky roof, she had
to stand in a corner of the hut on rainy
nights to stay dry. Married at age 15,
Ndamuso bore 11 children; only one, a
daughter, is still alive. Ndasumo manages to survive by selling bananas,
avocados and other food items to boat
passengers and crews at the lakeshore.
(Above) This woman and child live
on the outskirts of Goma. Both face
an uncertain future, living just a few
kilometres away from a rumbling
volcano, in a region of the country
that continues to erupt in unspeakable violence.
(Right) Vumilia Kasongo reflects on
the hardships she’s endured since
coming to Goma in 2009 to seek
refuge from the ongoing violence
in rural areas of eastern Congo.
She’s temporarily living in a partlyconstructed house with her daughter
Siuzike [soo-ZEEK] and her baby
Bahati (see cover photo), as well as
her son Emmanuel (in background).
Emmanuel is blind in one eye, making
it difficult for him to work. The family
earns a bit of income by selling fish,
fruit and vegetables.
28 Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca
In a small shop in downtown Goma,
a woman applies sewing skills she’s
learned through classes at the ministry
centre. Women attending the program
are equipped with marketable skills that
help them rebuild their lives. They also
gain something less tangible but equally
important—hope for the future.
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca 29
(Above) A group of women in Goma chat in the courtyard of the Anglican
ministry centre while weaving baskets to earn a bit of income. Josephine
Mbambu (below), pictured here with the ministry’s director, Thomson
Kadorho, is a victim of sexual violence who has made great strides in
rebuilding her life and her health since she first came to the agency for help.
Her sewing shop income helps her to support a three-year-old daughter.
30 Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca
(Opposite page) Cradling her infant son Bahati in her arms, Siuzike Cirwisa
gazes at street scenes visible through an open doorway. If better days await
her and Bahati, they can’t come soon enough for the 21-year-old rape victim. Thankfully, a compassionate local pastor is watching out for her and
her family and pointing them to Jesus—their healer and redeemer.
L e
t
F e
a r
N o
t
R
u
Wycliffe’s Sue Ambrose
leans on the strength of
God after a physical attack
in Papua New Guinea.
Story & Photographs by Craig Pulsifer
32 Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca
l
tory to SIL to construct their operations centre for work among
inland language groups. For 15 years, Canadians Mark and Sue
Ambrose have called this place home, faithfully managing STEP,
a literacy and numeracy course that equips men and women as
effective leaders to help meet learning needs of their own and
neighbouring PNG communities (see sidebar, pg. 35).
“In the early days, locals continued to fight and you could see
them out there going at it,” says Mark.
“It’s still going on today a little more covertly,” he says, but
then looking at Sue, he corrects himself: “Well, it isn’t even that
covert, is it?”
Sue’s shoulders drop as she looks down at her hands in her
lap. “No, it’s shotguns and rifles now.”
A Fateful Walk to Work
e
W
ere it market day, Sue Ambrose (above) would stop
to buy food for 35 students and staff working at the
language training centre she helps manage in the valley below her house in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The dirt road
would be filled with people going about their business and the
day would unfold very differently.
But this day—February 24, 2009—is not market day.
Air starts to thin at 5,000 feet, where the SIL centre at
Ukarumpa sprawls across a high tropical savannah of natural
grassland. Pockets of eucalyptus and pine trees, planted by missionaries over the past 55 years, hold soil in the hillside ravines. These are traditional fighting grounds for the Tairora and the
Gadsup people—sometimes fierce, vengeance-based societies
of dark-skinned, curly haired indigenous tribes—who represent
just two of more than 800 language groups in PNG.
The local government was happy to lease this disputed terri-
The morning of February 24, 2009, is chilly. It is Mark’s birthday,
but celebrations will come later. He is already 90 minutes into a
day with STEP students at the training centre.
Back at the house, Sue finishes her email correspondence as
the laundry air-dries on the line. She pulls on a thick shirt to
match her long denim
Later, Sue’s friend will
dress and slips on shoes
for the kilometre hike
wish she had told Sue of down to the STEP traincentre. It is to be an
the strange man she had ing
office day with books to
seen on the road below. balance, and disbursals
to prepare for staff and
students whose enrolment is subsidized.
Five minutes into her walk, Sue meets a fellow STEP trainer
from England walking briskly toward her. The women exchange
only pleasantries as they pass. Later, Sue’s friend will wish she
had told Sue of the strange man she had seen on the road below.
Farther down at the print shop, where the road doglegs right
toward the training centre, a lone Papua New Guinean in his late
20s is roaming the street. Speaking neither Tairora, nor Gadsup,
the man exchanges angry words with another man familiar with
his dialect. The loner then moves on to harass workers at the print
shop. Local security personnel are notified but have yet to respond. Deep Devotions
Sue, oblivious to what lies ahead, is lost in an amazingly personal time of devotion.
“It was a period of time in my life when I had been spending more time praying and reading His Word, and I had a lot
of verses on cards,” she recalls. “I’m not good memorizing, so I
just read them and pray them to God as I walk. I guess I’m not
always that aware of the life around me—I’m more just . . . talking to God.
“That particular day I remember talking about people and
issues and life.”
The verse she reads is in three of the four Gospels: ‘Whoever
desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for
my sake will find it.’
“If I will lose my life and it will cause good,” she prays, “. . . if
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca 33
The attack on Sue Ambrose occurred at her and her husband Mark’s place
of assignment: Ukarumpa, the centre in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for SIL,
Wycliffe’s key partner organization. Sue was on her way to work at STEP, a
literacy leadership training program for Papua New Guineans. The couple
manages the program.
“ ‘If I will lose my
life and it will
cause good . . .
then it’s yours.’
. . . I honestly
meant what
I prayed, but
you don’t
expect—OK,
it’s my time.”
34 Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca
people at STEP will know You, or my children will choose to follow You . . . then it’s yours.”
Then all hell breaks loose.
“I heard the footsteps behind me and had no clue what was
coming ’cause you really don’t expect—” Sue explains, faltering.
“I honestly meant what I prayed, but you don’t expect—OK, it’s
my time.”
The Attack
The slapping sound of bare feet running on packed earth causes
her to turn around to see a crazed Papua New Guinean male in
mirrored sunglasses charge her with a large machete-like knife
raised murderously above his head.
“No!” she cries.
“Yeah, you!” he screams, bringing the heavy blade down upon
Sue’s skull with a force that cleaves scalp and chips bone.
It is strange, the connections one makes when in crisis. As
the knife comes down, a thought flashes in Sue’s mind as she
remembers a former colleague, Edmund Fabian, who was
martyred 15 years earlier under similar circumstances: “Oh,
Edmund, I’m just like you. I’m going to die.”
Not 300 metres away, at the building site of a new training
facility, some 17 construction workers hear Sue’s cries for help.
Women there scatter, as the men race to her aid.
For Sue, the story has gaps here. She recalls fighting back,
being thrown to the ground and having the knife lodge deep
into her hip. Knowing the man’s mad intent, she grabs the knife
Alan Hood
“While I was in
hospital, God
gave me a very
clear vision of
this angel . . .
saying, ‘No, that
is enough! I am
not going to let
you kill her.’ ”
blade, severing her thumb tendon; but she does not recall rescuers subduing the attacker, nor hearing the construction boss
shout to spare the assailant’s life (see sidebar, pg. 36).
Friends to the Rescue
Within minutes, a small security truck arrives and four Papua
New Guinean men lay Sue on the truck’s open flatbed for a
rough, muddy ride to the local health clinic. Shunning cultural
taboos against touching a woman or blood, they cradle her with
their bodies, shaking their heads and making loud “tsk-tsk”
sounds of shame and outrage as they ride.
Providentially, Sue’s long-time best friend, Canadian Dr. Jean
Hecht, is on duty at the clinic along with at least five nurses and
two other doctors. Notified by security to prepare for a woman
with stab wounds, they expect a Papuan; for such attacks are not
uncommon among locals. But all are shocked to see their friend
and co-worker carried in.
A STEP Towards Transformation
Strengthening Tokples Education (STEP) in Papua New
Guinea is a literacy leadership training program for national men and women that helps people develop literacy
training programs for their own communities throughout
the country. Tokples is the country’s trade language word,
meaning ‘language of the peoples.’
Designed to break illiteracy and enable the reading of
God’s Word where New Testament translation work is
underway, STEP is a five-module residency program that
hosts students from villages throughout PNG.
Students are encouraged to grow in personal literacy and
share their knowledge with other community members. Inspired by 2 Timothy 2:2, STEP trains people to train others in ways that lead to biblical literacy, transformed lives
and improved community health and development.
“Papua New Guinea is a male-dominated society,” Sue
Ambrose explains. “Women are . . . there to dig the garden
and bear children. Throughout the course, we use Scripture
to show that women are equally created. God loves them
as He loves men and they are to be treated with respect
and in godly ways.
“Through literacy training, you teach people to delve into
answers for themselves, rather than taking for granted
that everything that they hear is true—particularly when
it comes to Scripture; but also when it comes to personal
and community health care.”
Alan Hood
Construction workers at the building site
of a new training facility at Ukarumpa
heard Sue’s cries for help as she was
attacked, and came to her aid.
“I don’t think that I ever considered
not going back. God has given us
the strength to return and it has
spoken volumes to people. The
response of local New Guineans
was amazing.”
The Other Guy
Clinically speaking, Dr. Hecht suggests
that Sue Ambrose’s attacker may have
been dealing with some form of mental
illness—schizophrenia or possible drug
abuse. He was reportedly listening to
“voices” telling him to kill a “white skin.” Granted, there is a significant level of witchcraft activity in PNG, but Hecht is quick to
point out that medical school has little to
say on the topic of demon possession.
“Still, it would be nice to know that the
young man did wind up receiving the care
he needed,” she adds wishfully. But the man
was taken to different facilities and his fate
is unknown.
Dr. Hecht’s clinical side quickly kicks in to assess and prioritize her patient’s wounds: many abrasions; a damaged hand; a
puncture wound near the sternum just below the diaphragm and
lungs; and the knife still stuck fast in her hip, which, because of
proximity to a major artery and organs, would take considerable
care to remove.
Curiously, Sue feels no pain.
“Sue herself was remarkably calm through all of this,” recalls
Dr. Hecht. She mimics Sue’s voice: “Oh, hey there. I’ve been
stabbed. Would you mind calling Mark?”
By 12:00 noon, Sue is stabilized by the medical team at
Ukarumpa and flown by SIL to Port Moresby airfield, arriving
around 5 p.m. It takes until 1 a.m. for her medevac to arrive
at the airfield and begin her transfer to medical facilities in
Australia. Despite multiple delays, Sue does receive further professional care: plastic surgery for the thumb tendon and emotional counselling.
Today, aside from ongoing hand exercises, her rehabilitation is
complete.
Angel Vision
Above the doctors, God attends to Sue by showing His loving intervention in a powerful way. Days after the attack, Sue
is awake and in bed replaying the event and reflecting upon its
spiritual overtones when quite suddenly, she receives a most
vivid picture in her mind’s eye.
“While I was in hospital, God gave me a very clear vision of
this angel. Not a fluffy angel, but a big warrior kind of guy that
was eight or 10 feet tall with his sword raised, saying, ‘No, that is
enough! I am not going to let you kill her.’
“And that really opened my eyes to the whole spiritual realm;
that this man was part of Satan’s attacks on us, on the training
centre, and on the work of SIL,” says Sue. “I got to be a part of
this warfare, but it wasn’t an attack on me. I really felt it was an
attack on what we are doing, and this angel stood beside me saying that he was God’s warrior and [was] here to do God’s work,
and this attack wasn’t going to happen.”
The agent for the Montreal-based health insurance company
covering the cost of care for Sue is stunned by the Ambroses’ plans
to return to Ukarumpa just two-and-a-half weeks after being
medevaced out. And that seemingly simple act proves to be a
strong counterstrike to the Enemy—a living sermon calling others
to shun fear and courageously press on in their respective callings.
“I don’t think that I ever considered not going back,” says Sue.
“God has given us the strength to return and it has spoken volumes to people.”
To God Be the Glory
In the Old Testament, Joseph told his family who had sent him
away into slavery, “You intended to harm me, but God intended
it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of
many lives” (Gen 50:20 NIV).
“The response of local New Guineans was amazing,” says Sue.
The day she returns, people come with hugs and tears to express
their sense of national shame from what the attacker has done
and to assure Sue of their prayers for her. Farther up the valley,
the unprecedented attack becomes a catalyst for unity, drawing
together in prayer local churches with long histories of conflict.
“God is calling us to a new level of commitment and allegiance to Him in this work,” says a STEP staff member with Bible
Translators Association (BTA), a national translation organization that works with SIL. “We’ve seen how Mark and Sue have
come back and weren’t to be dissuaded. Now, we’ve got to be that
committed! This is our country—and these are our people!”
Sue and Mark’s return to Ukarumpa
just weeks after Sue was medevaced
to Australia was a living sermon calling
others to shun fear and courageously
press on in their respective callings.
Furlough Postscript
“As I look at the numbers of people that we’ve trained through
years of STEP (over 230 men and women) compared to the size of
the country, it’s really a drop in the bucket,” says Sue, who is now
back in Canada on furlough with Mark in Salmon Arm, B.C. “But
whether I go back now or not is not connected to [the attack].
“We want to keep doing what God lays on our hearts and
strengthens us to do,” declares Sue. “So far, [He] has allowed us
to be a part of what He’s doing there and that’s pretty awesome!”
Sue and Mark Ambrose are living life with humble boldness,
modeling an attitude that we all must grasp: let fear not rule.
“We’ve seen how Mark and Sue
have come back and weren’t
to be dissuaded. Now, we’ve
got to be that committed! This
is our country—and these are
our people!”
Craig Pulsifer is a freelance writer/photographer based in Salmon Arm, B.C. Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca 37
Beyond Words
Tongue Tickler
A group of women attending a Sunday morning church service in Goma,
Democratic Republic of Congo, burst into laughter and exuberant applause
after hearing their pastor tell a Bible story in their heart language, Nyanga.
Their pastor, a participant in the trauma healing workshop (see pg. 8), normally
preaches in Swahili. But as one of 20 Congolese church leaders dedicated to
producing oral translations of the workshop curriculum in Nyanga and three
other Congolese languages, he used the opportunity to fulfil a homework
assignment—to the obvious delight of his flock.
38 Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca
Alan Hood
Last Word
Thankful for a Hardy Word
By Don Hekman
I
* * *
This is truly my last “Last Word.” I know that
short sentence looks like an editorial slip-up,
but here’s the explanation. My two-year interim
term as president of Wycliffe Canada draws to
completion at the end of November. From that
point on, the “Last Word” column belongs to my
successor: Roy Eyre (see pg. 4).
I have every confidence that Wycliffe Canada
remains in the hands of excellent leadership with
Roy. Not only because of his experience and
abilities in leadership, but especially because he
walks daily with the Lord, who truly has the last
word with each of us.
I encourage you to support Roy in prayer.
On an occasion like this I’m fond of the prayer
of William Temple, a long-ago Archbishop of
Canterbury, when he entered that role. He wrote:
Dave Harder
f you’ve read through this issue of Word
Alive, I suspect you felt that it was almost
too much to take in. If it was as difficult for
you to read as it was for me, think of those who
watch, hear about, and report these stories, not
to mention those who live them.
We love telling the “impact,” the “result” stories
of the efforts of translating the Bible into languages around the world. We love stories that show
deep, genuine, heroic character. We love success
stories, those that turn out well in the end.
But we hate the pain of getting there.
Some might wonder why
Wycliffe Bible Translators
is involved in healing the
Is there still
wounds of trauma at all.
enough topsoil
Isn’t that the work of the
Church and relief, developleft in the violently
ment, health and counselling agencies?
plowed soil of life
Wycliffe ministry resides
experiences to
at the heart of a culture
and the hearts of people.
nurture the seed
Wycliffe helps those who
translate the Word of God
of God’s Word?
to penetrate the innermost depths of the heart
(Hebrews 4:12). When that heart has been torn
asunder by trauma, then people need to know,
feel, and see that this same Word speaks healing
to individuals as well as their entire societies.
For some people, the soil of their life experiences has been so violently plowed and furrowed
it’s difficult to know whether there’s still enough
topsoil left to nurture the seed of God’s Word.
But thank the Lord, that Word is so hardy, and
so penetrating, that when watered with the Holy
Spirit and prayer, it can eventually thrive in the
toughest of environments. And it changes lives.
The trauma healing movement and its workshops have proven that. May the movement
thrive and spread to bring a restoring word
wherever suffering has tragically traumatized
men, women and children.
“Pray for me, I ask you, not chiefly that I would
be strong and wise or any such thing, though for
these things I certainly need your prayers. But
pray for me chiefly that I may not let go of the
unseen hand of the Lord Jesus and may live in
daily fellowship with Him. It is so that you will
most of all help me to help you.”
May this be our prayer for Roy, as well.
Don Hekman is outgoing president of Wycliffe Bible Translators of
Canada.
Word Alive • Fall 2011 • wycliffe.ca 39
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