Joey Update Vol. 16

He was at my house before I returned. I had only just called him and invited him, as I did not find him in the sugu (market). It turns out that he brought a friend, something that gave me a good hope for a group. We drank some tea (standard practice just about) and I invited them inside my house. My teammate was busy with another matter, so I started the session off and he would join me later.


I got right down to the task at hand. I explained that what I wanted to do, what I was going to do, was tell a story from the Word, have them hear it several times through and then have them tell it back to me in the N. language I am working in. I soon found out that the friend he brought over did not speak the N. language at all! No matter, he would hear it in his own language first anyway.


I played the recorded passages for us all to listen to in the trade language they both spoke. After this, I asked a few simple questions (What did you like in this story? etc.) and then, I told the same story, in the very manner I wanted them to tell it in, conversational. In this first telling, when I paused in my story to take a breath, the first, who I'll call H., retold what I just said and explained it to his friend, M. They were automatically doing just what we hope all the groups will do. After I told the story a few times, I asked the one who did not speak the N. language to tell it. He did. Afterward, I asked the first to translate and tell it in the N. language while I recorded him.


The process was smooth this time- sometimes it's more difficult, but I find the better relationships I have with those who tell the stories, the better the stories generally turn out. Mostly because those friends I've made have the necessary patience required to complete a crafting session. Since we told the story many times, I hope that H. will remember the story and tell it to others. It seems the particular story set we are working on is one most people here have not heard before and therefore very interesting to them. We've lifted this set up many times that it will grip the hearts of the N. people we are working with and set off an unstoppable movement among them.

And it all begins quietly. It all begins with a story.

-Youssef