Tanya’s

Times
Spring 2020

Serving in South Sudan with Wycliffe Canada

Prayer Points
Happy New Decade!  So far, South Sudan
has no reported
cases of COVID-19.
(So, I started writing this in January… but have been a bit busy since then so Pray for the health of
never actually had a chance to finish it until now!) the people here and
those making
Like many of you, I’m finding it hard to believe that another decade has gone!
preparations.
Does that mean I’m getting old?! It does make me stop and think about the
last decade – all of which has been spent based in South Sudan! Looking back,  A new government
it’s amazing and encouraging to see how God has been at work in so many has been formed,
ways. Financially, He has provided for the literacy and Bible translation and a new Minister of
projects that I work with, as well as for my own personal needs. While there Education
have been some security “incidents” over the years, God has protected me appointed. Pray the
and made Himself known in times of trouble. Juba has a very transitory government can
work well together
population, but He has provided friends and good co-workers, both in Juba
and bring about real
and remotely.
peace. Pray that SIL
Of course, there have been challenges: things rarely go according to my plans, can forge a good
it’s not always comfortable living in such close quarters with the heat, dust relationship with the
and “nature” (that is, insects and other creatures), and I certainly haven’t new Minister of
eaten my share of the world’s cheesecake or steak. Missing out on events in Education, who is a
key partner in our
my family’s and friends’ lives is especially hard.
work here.
But I have seen five New Testaments completed here in Juba, new writing
systems developed in six languages, contributed to writing a whole new  The dedication of the
Tennet New
curriculum and textbooks for South Sudan’s Primary schools, trained hundreds
Testament was
of teachers, printed thousands of literacy books, and even contributed to the
planned for 1 April
literacy and education work in other African countries through working visits but will now be
and facilitating at some of SIL’s Africa area training programs. postponed. Pray for
If you had asked me in 2010 where I would find myself in 2020, never in my the organizers and
wildest dreams would I have imagined I would be here, involved in this kind of the community as
they prepare to
work. All I can say is that God knows his plans for me, just as He does for you,
receive the Word.
and I couldn’t ask for anything more!
Robust Mentoring
While mentoring has been a big part of how our organization has encouraged, supported and trained us “on the
job”, SIL * is making a move to formalize and improve the mentoring that is happening within our organization.
To that end, about 30 of us from around Africa were invited to an event which equipped us to both be better
mentors ourselves, and to be able to encourage others in our own contexts to become a part of a mentoring
relationship.
The event was held in Burkina Faso, in West Africa. It was my first time to visit Francophone Africa, and I was
reminded of just how lacking my “high school” French is! However, most of the time we were at the SIL centre in
Ouagadougou and the event was held mostly in English. While I did learn a lot about mentoring, I have to admit
that the highlight for me was getting together with like-minded people from all over Africa, some of whom I met
for the first time, but also some who I’ve known for years!
I was encouraged to see that SIL is working to find new ways to invest in those of us who serve with the
organization. During the event, we were given the opportunity to make some plans for how we could improve
the mentoring that’s happening both within our own countries and among our colleagues in the wider Africa
Area in our areas of specialization. Since I returned from Burkina Faso, I have been working with our Translation
Coordinator and others to make plans for making sure our staff, including our South Sudanese staff, are being
supported in their roles.
*SIL is Wycliffe’s field work partner organization that I work with.

2020 Calendars
Have you ever thought about why Monday is called, “Monday”? Or why June is called, “June”? It was
surprisingly difficult to get some standardized names and spellings for days and months with the Lango
community when the time came to develop their calendar for 2020. When a community has never used their
language for making a written, printed calendar before, there can be lots of different opinions about how to do
it! But they, along with five other language groups, produced calendars for this year, with help from our SIL
literacy office. These calendars are now hanging on walls in homes, offices, schools and churches, showing
people that their language can be written and used in different ways.
This is a just one way that language development happens - using language in new ways! When people see that
their language can be written down, printed and used in different ways, it stars to expand their ideas for other
possibilities. Learn to read in my language? Sure! Translate the Bible into my language? Why not?! Use my
language for important health messages? Of course!

The culmination of 8 months of planning came
together in early February in Nairobi when Literacy &
Education staff gathered for our first ever Africa-wide
conference! I really enjoyed working with 3 other
colleagues on the organizing committee. We got good
practice working remotely as we had weekly Zoom
meetings from various countries and time zones— we
were based in Cameroon, Senegal, Uganda and of
course, South Sudan (but with travel to other
continents between all of us!). We are so thankful for
how well everything went and how worthwhile it was
to invest the time, energy and money into a
conference of this sort.
There were so many people that we were able to
meet face to face for the first time. We learned
from each other’s experience and expertise,
thought about our vision and motivation for why we
do what we do, we tried some new technologies,
and we worshipped and prayed together. We came
together from 18 different African counties - so I’m
glad that it happened in early February… before
CORVID-19 turned everything upside down!
Coming out of the conference, we have set up
Google Drives for sharing resources, WhatsApp
groups for keeping in touch, and monthly Zoom
meetings for continuing to connect to encourage
each other and learn from one another.

A Foray into Yoruba

Just a week after returning from Kenya, I got on another plane, destined for
Abuja, Nigeria. USAID has been funding the NEI+ project in Northern Nigeria
to strengthen the education system by teaching literacy in Hausa, one of the
major languages in Northern Nigeria. The project was ready to expand into
two more languages, and they asked SIL-LEAD to help. So SIL-LEAD asked me
to go to Nigeria for three weeks to assist with the foundational work to plan
the scope and sequence of reading instruction in one of those languages,
Yoruba.
I spent three weeks with Nigerian professors, teachers and curriculum
developers, putting together a plan for teaching and learning materials to
teach reading in Yoruba. What a privilege it was to work with such amazing
people there! I didn’t get to see too much of Nigeria beyond my hotel and the workshop venue, but I was
taken to buy some nice fabric and I enjoyed staying in a nice hotel with air conditioning and a swimming pool
(thank you, USAID!). And I’m confident that work we did will help millions of Yoruba children to learn to read,
giving them a strong foundation for life long learning and access to further opportunities in life.
Thankfully, the work was wrapped up and I was able to travel back to South Sudan just before travel
restrictions were being put in place. I’m glad to be safe in my house in Juba to ride out this pandemic storm!
 Contact Me!

Wycliffe Back to School!

4316 10th St. NE
Calgary, AB I’m going back to school! I’ve been accepted into the Doctor of
Education program at the Ontario Institute for Education Studies
T2K 6K3
through the University of Toronto. I’ll be studying in the International
PO Box 628200 Educational Leadership and Policy program, probably looking into
Orlando, FL
language in education policy and its implementation in places like South
Sudan. It’s rather daunting, but very exciting, to think about getting
32862-8200
into studying and researching. I’m grateful for the opportunity to grow
Home Address:
and be equipped in new ways to help me serve the people God has
called me to.
151 Valley Ridge Green NW
Calgary, AB
The program seems perfect for me, as it is a “blended” delivery
model—meaning I only have to be in Canada in person for 2 weeks out
T3B 5L6
of every year. The rest of the program is online and is meant to be
tanya_spronk@sil.org combined with normal, every day work. The original plan was to begin
trspronk@gmail.com the program in person, in September… but with the current pandemic
situation, we are waiting to see what might happen with that face-to-
www.wycliffe.ca face on campus part of the program.
www.sil.org

What’s Next?
My house is stocked with non-perishable food that can keep me going
for while, and we have been putting into practice some steps for
COVID-19 prevention on the compound here. Currently, the
government has shut down international flights in and out of the
country, as have the surrounding countries. There is a curfew in place
from 8pm to 6am, and restaurants and bars have been closed. We are
trying to get the South Sudanese version of information posters
translated into some of the local languages… but it’s hard to organize
when I’m in isolation at home due to my travels from Nigeria!
Thankfully, I have internet at home and very kind neighbours.
Schools have also been closed, which means our plans for monitoring
the use of the P1 materials we developed last year have also been put
on hold.
In July, I was meant to be teaching at SIL’s iDelta training program.
IDelta gives our African colleagues the same type of SIL training in
linguistics, translation and literacy that many of us received in North
America or Europe before coming to work with SIL. Of course, those
plans are also on hold, depending on how things unfold. But we trust
that God is still at work, and will give us all wisdom on how to move
forward.
Once again, thank you so much for your participation in all of what
God has been doing to help people use their languages to help
transform their communities. Peace, Tanya