Getting kids to eat vegetables, and other ravings

Well, this is late August, and you know what that means. The pioneer time is mostly done, and since I am recovering from a bad cold (called "flu" here) that started last Sunday, perhaps getting some rest is just as well. Except that the brothers and sisters in the congregation are telling me that they like my voice in this condition (sounding like Darth Vader), but of course it won't last.

There was an outbreak of Ebola in the border town of Goma in DRC recently. Previously, Ebola was found hundreds of kilometers away. But now, it has hit closer to home. So we have had several letters from the branch read at the congregation level about the need to wash your hands several times a day, to go immediately to hospital or clinic at the outset of any symptoms, and to follow the instructions of the authorities carefully. But, folks, not to worry unduly! Ebola hasn't made it into Rwanda yet (though it is awfully close) but we are taking every precaution to protect ourselves.

It hasn't been as hot in July and August as it usually is, so that is definitely a blessing. So what has been happening in my life lately? We had a wonderful English regional convention in mid-July. I gave the baptism talk, which is a first for me. There were three candidates. There was supposed to be a fourth one, a sister, but unfortunately the previous day her fleshly sister passed away. So this sister, the candidate, was at the convention on the day of the baptism, in tears. Many were trying to console her. Another thing is that she was pregnant. So it was decided that she would return home and not get baptized this time. So, as I was giving the talk, I wondered, should I say something about this? A brother mentioned this sister's loss earlier that morning in his prayer. Interestingly, the baptism talk outline had a section describing Jesus' feelings of love expressed toward Mary and Martha and the friends of Lazarus after his death. So I had this subject already prepared for the occasion.

Another first: during the circuit overseer's visit earlier this month I interpreted his two weekend talks from English to Chinese. On stage. Sentence over sentence. With two Chinese people in the audience. I tell you, that was more nerve-racking than giving an actual talk in any language! On his previous visit, I was also assigned to be the interpreter, and spent 10 hours preparing from notes, but didn't actually do the interpretation because on the day of the meeting, no Chinese people came. But I guess...it was good practice.

Another development: during the last three months I had to move out of the Kibagabaga house and back to Remera because relatives of the family in Belgium would be visiting during the summer holidays. As it turned out, there were seven relatives, most in their late teens or early twenties, most not Witnesses, as well as several unauthorized "sleepover" guests occupying the house. I don't want to get into details here, but suffice it to say that they drove my friend Jacques almost insane, to the point that he swore never to have kids in the future, never mind the fact that he isn't even married yet.

But they're finally all gone. Completely. So now, as of the beginning of September, I can move back, and it will be just Jacques and me living in the house, that is, until the next onslaught. But we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

But, now, to the theme of this post: getting kids to eat vegetables. I'm not married, I don't have any kids, and so I don't have any firsthand experience with kids and vegetables. But I can only imagine: you can entice, you can cajole, you can try to make the vegetables appealing in every possible way. And still the kid will refuse to eat them. So what do you do?

Well, getting Chinese learners to study characters must be a similar experience. I should say this: everyone in our congregation is doing very well in learning Chinese. They're improving in their vocabulary, pronunciation, usage, grammar, etc. Brothers are now giving meeting parts and even full public talks in Chinese, and their progress is amazing! But there is one exception: learning Chinese characters. During the language class almost two years ago, we had them study the 120 most common Chinese characters. To date, the average number of characters remembered is probably less than 10. Or even 5. The brothers and sisters are so heavily reliant on pinyin (alphabetic pronunciation system) that they cannot break away from it. We have had Local Needs parts on the subject of learning characters, how doing so dramatically improves one's understanding of Chinese. We have had fascinating explanations of the various parts of characters. We have encouraged everyone to use flash cards, to take a few minutes every day to learn characters. And still there is resistance.

A few months ago, the body of elders decided that we would project on the screen during the midweek meeting one out of the three songs in characters. The other two would remain in pinyin. The one song chosen and announced weeks in advance would be a song that is not too fast and has characters that are easier to recognize. We encouraged everyone to prepare this one song as part of their normal meeting preparation. It went well for a few weeks, but now most have reverted to looking at pinyin on phones and tablets when the character song is projected.

So again I ask: What do you do to get the kid to eat vegetables?

Of course, setting a good example is important. Me, I always use characters when conducting a question-and-answer meeting part, doing a reading, or singing. It's true that I have many years of experience with learning characters. And perhaps that's the problem: the brothers and sisters think that of course Brian knows characters because he is Chinese. It comes in the blood. NOT! Just because I look the part, it doesn't mean that I didn't experience the blood, sweat, and tears of learning these things from scratch (as an adult, no less), just like they are doing.

So perhaps the solution lies in something our coordinator said to me once: we need to get a Rwandan in this congregation to set an outstanding example in learning characters, and then others will follow. (By the way, the coordinator and his wife are making good strides in learning characters, but then, they are very serious about everything.)

So...that brings me to an interesting development this week. One of the young brothers, Samuel, decided on his own and even told me in advance that he would be doing the student presentation Bible reading completely in characters. This would be a first for anyone in the congregation! Well, he succeeded, and got hearty applause for that reading. After the meeting, I asked a few brothers, okay, who will be the next one to do a character reading? So I think this will start to catch on, now that the ice has been broken.

Last thing: I will be going to California for a visit from mid-October to mid-December. Time to fatten up! The next post may be from there, unless something dramatic happens here.  😃