13 06 04 Talking Parrots

Talking Parrots June 04, 2013 – Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea – By Jim & Ana Henderson with Tim Scott A new day is dawning for the people of Rossel Island. They are embracing new technology in the form of solar-powered audio players, which enable them to hear Bible readings and songs in their own language.

Jim and Ana Henderson and four Rossel colleagues have spent the last three weeks travelling around the island in the SIL boat, Kwadima, to introduce these players and distribute them. They visited many village communities to lead hands-on learning groups.

Many people, especially those who have mobile phones, were quick to learn how to navigate through the recordings and teach others. Many liked to read and listen at the same time, gaining more skill and confidence in reading.

One man suggested a good Rossel name for the Audibible — Mtye Tp:oo — because it has lots of talk inside it. Mtye Tp:oo means “Talking Parrot”.

Rossel people expressed deep gratitude for the Talking Parrots and for the Christians in Australia who funded them. They showed their gratitude with gifts of beautifully woven baskets, bagi, garden food, bananas, and even a live chicken in a basket!

The very first Rossel speaker the Hendersons ever met, in 1970, was the father of Titus Philemon, the current Governor of Milne Bay. As they were learning the language and working out an alphabet, Jim and Ana discovered that it was a notoriously difficult language with ninety-four different sounds to represent in the writing system. They continued with literacy materials, grammar analysis, dictionary compilation and Bible translation.

One of the Rossel Islanders who made a major contribution in the literacy and translation work is Isidore Yidika, a grade 6 leaver. He has also been helping linguist Stephen Levinson with his research. They both went to the US in 2012, to teach a Language Documentation course at Berkley University, California.

To all who want to grow as Christians, Ana says, "Just as the solar-powered audio players need to be exposed to the sun to renew their strength, so do we. Exposing ourselves to what God says gives us new strength for each new day".

A longer version of this story was published in the Post Courier (24 05 2013).

For more information on this release, contact ThePNGexperience, PO BOX 413, Ukarumpa, EHP 444, Papua New Guinea Phone: 011 + 675 + 537-3544 ext. 4431 or Email: thePNGexperience@gmail.com “Tok Save” is the PNG “Tok Pisin” term for announcement or “For your information”. The English spelling conforms to Commonwealth English spelling.