Introduction

Hello, everyone!

My name is Brian Chow (周明仁, or in pinyin: zhoumingren), and I am a pioneer in the Oak Park Mandarin Congregation of Sacramento, California, U.S.A. How I got here, and what I plan on doing in the near future, is the subject of this blog.

Let me give you a brief overview of my history in the Chinese-language field. Though I am ethnically Chinese, my parents and I were born in the U.S.; it was my grandparents who came over from the old country. In fact, my grandfather, my dad's dad, came to San Francisco in the year 1899. So you can call this thoroughly "Americanized" third-generation Chinese person an ABC ("American-born Chinese") or even a "banana." (Don't make me explain.)

When I was little, I remember my parents, whose Chinese was about the level of a six-year-old--they spoke Cantonese until they started attending school, and then it was English from then on--would speak Chinese only when they wanted me and my siblings not to understand what they were saying. But somehow I learned the numbers and Chinese food items. These are the things that are truly important, anyway.

When I was 18, I started learning Cantonese. Another ABC brother in my congregation had a box of a thousand flash cards. He had no interest in these, so I asked if I could borrow them. Well, over the next year or so, I learned how to read characters. To this day, Chinese characters to me are the most fascinating part of the language. Then, my mom and I took a Cantonese course at the local city college. But I didn't do anything with this knowledge until many years later.

About the year 1989, my parents decided, since their three children were in different, far-flung parts of the world, to move where the need was greater. So they picked up and moved from California to Brooklyn, New York, to help the Chinese congregation in Manhattan. At the time, there was only one Chinese congregation in New York City. Later, a Chinese congregation was formed in Queens and then another in Brooklyn.

I was in Brooklyn Bethel at the time, and seeing my parents, in their 50s and 60s, take up Chinese inspired me to do the same. So I became part of the Cantonese congregation in Manhattan in 1994. I was there for 5-1/2 years, until I moved to Patterson in 1999.

I left Bethel in 2002 and returned to California. Then, in 2005, an opportunity arose to use my high-school French in Malawi, preaching to Congolese refugees who had fled the civil war in their country. I consistently averaged 11 Bible studies during a two-year period (at one point had 16) and had a great time! Here is a photo of me and five Bible students.

Taking a tour of Bethel! First experience with ties!

This was an incredible experience, but toward the end of my stay in Malawi I noticed a number of Chinese people living there.

The story goes as follows: A white South-African brother serving at the Malawi branch started a Bible study with a Chinese man in Lilongwe, the capital city. The brother could not speak any Chinese, but fortunately the man could speak some English, so they studied together using the English and Chinese Require brochures. Eventually, that study grew to include 8 persons from two families. The man, however, was the only one who could speak English, so he interpreted for the others. The brother invited me on the study a few times and it was interesting to watch: he would ask the question in English, the man would translate it into Chinese, then all 8 of them would huddle together and come up with a joint response, which was then translated in English back to the brother.

Well, at one point the brother asked if I could take the study for three weeks for him while he was on vacation. I said, fine, thinking that I could use my Cantonese (though it had been about 8 years since I was in the Chinese field). It was a frustrating experience! They were Mandarin speakers and could not understand my Cantonese, and I could not understand their Mandarin. I had to resort to English to conduct the study.

Chinese Bible students in Africa!

In case you were wondering, Cantonese and Mandarin are two very different dialects of Chinese. Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong, Singapore, Macao, and the southern provinces of China, while Mandarin is spoken in the northern parts. (Although now it is mandatory that Mandarin be taught in schools all over China.) The two dialects are almost mutually unintelligible, however. They read the same script but cannot understand each other in conversation.

At that point I realized that I would have to 'bite the bullet' and learn Mandarin. With the knowledge of the Malawi Branch Committee, I did some investigating and learned that there was a Taiwan embassy but no China embassy in Lilongwe. A lady at the Taiwan embassy admitted that though there were few people from Taiwan in Malawi, down south in Blantyre, the commercial capital of Malawi, one could find hundreds, even thousands of people from mainland China conducting business.

So after running out of visa options in Malawi, I returned to the U.S. thinking about Mandarin Chinese. Here is where it gets interesting: the very month I returned to California, a sister whom I have known for a long time called me to say that a Mandarin course was planned for the following month, the first one ever in Sacramento, and told me I should sign up for it. Not just a coincidence?! Then I contacted the brother in charge of the course and he said there was one open spot left, and did I want it? Ha! I guess this is the way Jehovah wants me to go.

So I took the course, and though it was difficult for a few months getting my mouth around the sounds of Mandarin, I survived. I transferred to the Chinese group in Sacramento, which became a congregation later that year. Six years, and three more Mandarin courses and a Cantonese course later, I have had the privilege of being a Cantonese and Mandarin instructor--though I still feel very unqualified--and even had the opportunity of teaching a Mandarin course in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic! In Spanish! (That makes for another story.)

Though I have had great experiences in the Chinese field here in Sacramento, my heart somehow is still in Africa. So I began researching, where could I use Chinese in Africa? I know there are Chinese congregations and groups in South Africa and Kenya. But was there a place with Chinese people that is relatively untouched?

That place had to meet the following personal criteria:

1.  Chinese population of a decent size
2.  relative ease in getting a longer-term visa or residency
3.  climate not too hot and humid!

Well, the place I discovered is ... Rwanda. I got a contact in Kigali, Rwanda, and began writing him for about a year in advance. Then, I stumbled on a cheap airfare out of Los Angeles that is about $500-$1000 less than the normal airfare. So I bought a 3-month ticket to Kigali. But if everything works out, it could be longer!

I like the fact that French is also spoken in Rwanda. Learning Kinyarwanda is going to be a challenge--yes, I have to get over this mental block that I can't do any more languages at this point in life--but I saw on the Internet a guy who teaches Kinyarwanda to foreigners for $5/hour. Guess I can afford that!

Anyway, transportation and local food are cheap in Kigali and housing varies in price according to what you get. I can't wait to get back to Africa!

So the next post you get will no doubt be my first one in Rwanda, which will be in March 2014. As an incentive, if any of you want to come and visit, you can experience a great safari, see Lake Victoria, and maybe even visit the headquarters of a revolutionary guerrilla group in eastern Congo! (Just kidding on that last one.) Until next time!