How hard can it be to chop an onion?

… and other connected questions: how hard can it be to learn a Senegalese language? How hard can it be to organise literacy projects successfully in the local context?

Recently Clare Orr, Wycliffe literacy specialist from Belfast, N. Ireland, creatively addressed these issues in her prayer letter.

Slicing an onion Senegal style

Living in a culture very far from my own, every day I’m faced with these differences. Every day there are new things to learn. Often, these are things that I’ve already learnt – at least, I’ve learnt the way we do them back home. However, that’s not necessarily the way they’re done here – and sometimes it’s not even possible.

Some of these, like hand washing my clothes, I doubt I’ll ever learn (at least to the level of a Senegalese woman!). Therefore, I must depend on others to do this for me. Other things, like cooking, I can gradually learn. Girls here grow up watching their mothers cook. As a young child, she’s sent to the corner shop to buy the bits and pieces for the cooking, such as some black pepper or stock cubes. A few years later, she’ll be trusted to peel the vegetables, then to pound the spices in a pestle and mortar. Gradually, the tasks are built up until she can prepare a meal by herself.

Clare with two of her host mum’s children

Coming into this from an outside culture, of course I can cook – but not Senegalese meals. And, to be honest, even lighting the coal stove remains a challenge to me now. Onions are a key ingredient of all Senegalese dishes. Chopping an onion isn’t so hard, is it? However, here, chopping boards are unheard of. Even plates are a rare sight. Onions are chopped whilst being held mid-air, and there’s a fine art to it. While I certainly wouldn’t win any onion-chopping races here, it is a skill that I’ve been able to learn and I’m frequently handed the onions to chop if I’m about while a meal is being prepared. Sometimes a family meal will have 8 onions in it, so speed is necessary!

It took time though for me to even be able to chop onions ‘well’ by Senegalese standard – and then some more time to get a bit faster. It can be frustrating to feel incapable of even such ‘simple’ tasks, frustrating to know that a child could do them better than me. The same applies to language learning, where again I am at the level of a child and not of someone my own age. It’s easy to want to be fluent right away. To want to be able to cook a perfect Senegalese meal right away.

However, neither of those things are possible, and there are also benefits to be taken from the slower process. As I learn, both language and cooking, I’m given the opportunity to spend time with people. I’m learning not only these skills but also how to depend on others, how to let them help me when I don’t know how to do something myself, or when I don’t know how to say something.

I’m also forced to let go of my ideas about how things are done. My idea of how to chop an onion isn’t wrong. It’s just not practical with the utensils available in a Senegalese kitchen. My idea of the best way to run a literacy project might not be practical with the resources available here either, and hopefully as I depend on others to teach me how to cook, I’m also depending on them to show me how literacy can best happen here.

Could you see yourself involved in a literacy role alongside a Bible translation team? I just got some statistics on Wycliffe personnel needs  – 89 vacant positions in literacy in Africa alone! And that’s just the needs in literacy. See the Wycliffe Bible Translators UK and Ireland website for other opportunities around the Wycliffe world. And if you are in UK or Ireland take your First Steps here.