Back to school

On Monday James and Ruth returned to school after the mid-semester break and so did I.  Ten years after I started learning my last language (Gaelic) I'm back in the classroom attempting to learn Hausa.  I'm extremely grateful for all the prayers supporting my progress as I'm sure my great age has slowed me down a little.  Not only do I have to contend with vocabulary and grammar but Hausa is a tonal language so for many words I have to remember which tone I should be using.  At times I can hear it but not reproduce it, at times it's difficult even to discern but then today is only my third day and I'm sure things will get easier.

The classes are run by Bilhatu, a lady who worked as an accountant for the federal government for many years until she felt God calling her to get involved in her church's Hausa ministry.  Initially she was helping local women learn to read and write in the language but one day she was asked to take one of the classes for expats who wanted to speak Hausa.  She never looked back and most of the missionaries in Jos have been through her course and loudly sing her praises.

The classes are held in an area of Jos that used to be mixed until the crisis of a few years ago.  Now the Muslim familes have moved out and I drive to the school past houses destroyed in the violence. Bilhatu runs meetings for Christians and Muslims to get together and look for peace.  Both sides have suffered and both are very wary but they have come for talks and even held a three-day football tournament with mixed teams and compulsory peace training which culminated in a procession through the Christian area which Muslims had been afraid to enter since the trouble.  People are seeking peace and we pray that both sides would continue to get involved and find true peace.

I'm hard at work back at school but on Tuesday the government announced public holidasy on Thursday and Friday for sallah, another Muslim holiday.  Coming from a country where public holidays are announced a year in advance, it takes some getting used to only having two days' notice.  James and Ruth get another two days off school so they are quite happy.