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Readings by Remote

By Howard Amery, CSIS West Kimberley Project Officer

present: Janet OobagoomaFor several years now, Sunday mornings for Mary Nankivell are focussed on driving the 15 km from Derby to Mowanjum to help set up for worship, a children's activity, singing and most importantly, the morning tea afterwards.  The principal
components for worship are her guitar, chorus books and 'With Love To The World' (to assist with the lectionary readings for the week). These days Mary has an extra item to take with her - sufficient photocopies of the gospel reading in Worrorra and
English, emailed weekly from Newcastle, NSW. 

During the months of September and October this year, a diglot version of the gospel reading has been constructed on a week-by-week basis, containing the revised Worrorra text (CSIS-2010 version) of Luke's Gospel (Love-1943 version). Each verse is carefully spaced to include an intervening English translation (usually NRSV). Added to this is a very literal English 'gloss' strategically located under each Worrorra word so that readers can engage in word-for-word matching. When read by itself it does not make sense, but is used to help decode the meanings of Worrorra words. 

To complete each weekly production, several questions are usually constructed. The questions focus on the meanings of particular words across the two languages, to help readers to reflect more deeply on aspects of their traditional culture, and how these might relate to the teachings of Jesus.

Newspaper clippingThe idea of using a digital approach plus matching text was first trialled during my last visit to Mowanjum in August, in an attempt to stimulate greater engagement with the Bible readings during worship. We sat in a circle of 6 people and each person was encouraged to take their turn reading a verse from the selected passage. Everyone present  was a competent reader of English and so most found they could read the Worrorra words, if a little haltingly at first, along with the occasional  ‘tonguetwister’.  As with any new skill, getting the flow and rhythm of the words takes practice, but there was obvious pleasure registered by the readers as we discussed the meaning of particular words. There was also much more interaction when it came to discussing the meaning of the passage, as they connected local stories from their own experiences and cultural traditions with those from Jesus’ life. 

The task of revitalising an endangered language is not one for the faint-hearted. Admittedly it is not quite as daunting as the challenge which Rev JRB Love set himself when he took up the position as Superintendant of the Kunmunya Mission in 1927.  While supervising the day-to-day activities of running a remote outpost, he threw himself headlong into learning the intricate grammar, rules of interpersonal communication, kinship and traditions of the Worrorra, Wunambal and Ngarinyin peoples, culminating in the publication of Stone-Age Bushmen of Today (1936) and St Mark’s Gospel (1930 ed).

future: Janet’s granddaughter ‘Short’Following his departure from Kunmunya in 1940, JRB Love was able to continue his involvement with Worrorra Bible translation remotely. Despite being Superintendant of the new Presbyterian mission at Ernabella SA, he was still able to find time to
correspond with the British and Foreign Bible Society in Perth, correcting drafts and seeing to completion the publications of the Gospel of Luke (1943) and revised Gospel of Mark (1943). Sadly, by the 1980’s Worrorra had become an  endangered
language, with choruses and hymns sung in English, and Love’s translation of the Lord’s Prayer recited occasionally in church services by th e Mowanjum congregation. Few copies of the Gospels of Luke  and Mark could be found. 

CSIS is  providing the people of Mowanjum with the opportunity to re-engage with their linguistic heritage. Eighteen months of dedicated work has the Gospels of Mark and Luke active again. A sizeable lexicon of the meanings of all the words used, conforming to the new linguistic orthography (spelling system), is almost complete. Despite the presence of translation errors, a theological conversation using Rev Love’s material is now possible. The willingness of congregation members to “give it a go”, when reading the unfamiliar Worrorra text, was assessed over 3 separate Sundays, and encouraged me to offer them the option of ‘Lectionary Readings by Remote’. A new phase in the CSIS partnership approach has begun.