Thanking Misa...Egziabiher...God

Being far from US soil during American holidays just doesn’t feel right. No decorations in storefronts, no anticipation of long weekends, no holiday greetings and no family gathered around. On the other hand, just because work and life continue as normal, that doesn’t mean these special days pass by totally forgotten. In fact, when the traditions of home cannot be observed in their entirety, we are presented with the challenge to either come as close as possible, or to create our own special memories/traditions. Sometimes our holiday reconstruction attempts fall flat and our minds drift back home, wishing we weren’t absent for yet another special day. Other times, however, our recreation of the holiday brings its own blessings and unique memories that will surely not be forgotten. Such was the case of Thanksgiving 2011.

 

Being in Addis these 4 weeks for the beginner translator training workshop, I knew that I had to get to know the Gmz translation team candidates on many levels (to help in deciding who would be hired for the official team). Therefore, I set up a routine to host the 9 Gmz translation trainees in our home for dinner twice a week, “Every Tuesday and Thursday evenings, you are invited to come eat some foreigner food, followed by a translation activity.” I didn’t realize at the time that one of these Thursdays would involve Thanksgiving dinner. Should we cancel our invitation? Forget the holiday altogether? Or combine them? Though intimidated at first, Andrea agreed to make a basic Thanksgiving feast – Ethiopian style. You see, turkey is imported and therefore RIDICULOUSLY expensive (over $100 a piece), therefore we opted for two plump chickens to accompany the baked veggies, mashed potatoes, two kinds of bread and 8 bottles of orange soda. Maybe not the full spread you’d expect back in the States, but I can assure you, that is a mighty special meal here in Ethiopia.

 

The guys arrived just as I was finishing the carving of the first chicken, and that amazing Thanksgiving smell greeted them at the door. Micah who had been tortured with these smells all afternoon was asking anyone who would listen, “Banana? Banana?” (that’s Micah’s way of saying, ‘FEED ME!’). We gathered around the nicely-set table (if I do say so myself), gave Micah some of the baked vegetables to calm him down and got out our Bibles. After reading the story of the one thankful leper (Luke 17), we turned to and read Psalm 75:1

 “We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near, men tell of your wonderful deeds.”

Jumping off of this verse, I introduced the common Thanksgiving tradition of each person “telling of God’s wonderful deeds” in our own lives. I began by thanking God for the privilege of a front row seat in seeing His word come alive in the Gmz language. Andrea followed by thanking God for the blessing of a new Canadian family living and working closely with us. Next, one-by-one, each of the Gmz guys shared. What was their thanksgiving? Although there was some variation, most of them highlighted being thankful for the dream that would soon be realized - God’s Word in the Gmz language.

 

With the final prayer of thanksgiving, out came the food. The chicken was cooked perfectly and quickly found its way from the serving dish onto the individual plates of hungry Gmz. The veggies made their way around the table as well, but the big bowl of mashed potatoes surprisingly sat undisturbed for a minute or two. Noticing their curious stares, I pointed at it and said “donaanzeya” (potato). Suddenly the table burst into conversation, “Those are potatoes? I thought it was butter…that’s A LOT of butter!” Once the food got on their plates and they overcame the strangeness of using silverware, things got relatively quiet as it was clear they were enjoying this special meal. And they must have liked it, for it didn’t stay around very long. For example, when Andrea brought out the platter with the second carved chicken meat (to the replace the first one that had already been devoured), this new plate hardly hit the table before several hands were reaching for the serving fork. Not more than 2 minutes later, I managed to snatch the last pieces of that chicken for Micah. A Thanksgiving feast without leftovers! Can you imagine?

 

As we moved from the meal to the discussion time, all of the guys agreed that this was a very good holiday, and that wasn’t just their full bellies talking. Once we were all settled in more comfortable chairs, I introduced the translation-related activity of the evening – the translation and retelling of the American Thanksgiving Pilgrim Story. Having downloaded and printed off 24 coloring book pictures, I slowly walked through the story describing the pictures of each event. When I finished, they, as a group walked through it again to confirm that everyone understood what the pictures stood for. Next, I broke them into three teams of three. Then, as teams, they practiced retelling it (each took 1/3 of the pictures). Finally, I invited them into my recording studio (ie. the kitchen) where I recorded their retellings for future linguistic analysis. “If someone makes a mistake or forgets a detail,” I said, “don’t correct them. I don’t care about accuracy; I just want complete sentences of natural speech.” Such freedom led to some interesting renditions, followed by bursts of laughter as soon as I stopped the recorder!

 

As the last team finished I glanced at the clock – 8:30pm – long after when we had agreed to be finished with such evening sessions. Not wanting to keep them out later, I quickly served up the Thanksgiving essential - pumpkin pie. They cautiously reached for yet another new food, but like everything else, once the first taste went down without a problem, the rest just seemed to leap into their mouths. Between bites, all of them were still talking about the activity and their team’s attempts to remember details, “Can we hear it now?” they finally asked. “Sure why not?” I thought, “No one is too eager to get home.” Replaying each of the teams’ stories was amazing. Hearing how some tellers remembered small details brought encouraging compliments. At the same time, hearing mistakes, stutters, and off-the-wall interpretations brought roars of good-natured laughter. Good team dynamics, good memories, and a good God who gave them to us. There certainly is much to be thankful for!