A good teacher can even use the sand
to get his point across. (Sandawe, Tanzania)

The Complexities of the Language

• Sandawe is a click language from the Khoisan language family.
• The language has fifteen different clicks that have the same status as 'regular' consonants like b, p, t and d.
• Learning Sandawe is very difficult because it is so different from how Swahili or English sounds and is written. Also, the sentence structure is completely different.
• Sandawe is difficult to read and even more difficult to write because of the use of clicks in its consonant inventory. Moreover, it has a complex way of changing words into different types of words - verbs into nouns, adjectives into verbs, nouns into adjectives, and so on.
• There is only one other click language in Tanzania and it is not known if or how closely Sandawe is related to it.

Progress of Language Work

Writing down a traditionally oral language takes a tremendous amount of time and effort. However the foundation has been made and now translation is beginning. The team consisting of Helen E, Daniel and Elizabeth H (and Odilo since August 2005); has been able to complete so far:

1. Orthography (alphabet the language uses)
2. Phonology
3. Grammar
4. Dialect survey
5. Translation of the book of Jonah

Daniel and Odilo, the main Sandawe translator, are now busily drafting the book of Genesis. Slowly more people are catching on to the vision! Presently ten Sandawe are involved in the huge job of collecting words for a dictionary.

Literacy class in Magambua. (Sandawe, Tanzania)

Literacy

The literacy program is quite small at this stage as very little reading material has been produced. A few reading classes have been conducted with a small number attending. Some ground has been gained with the annual production of a calendar. But the main challenge is that most people don't see a reason as to why they should learn to read or how it could help them.

Because of this, the team will probably chose a more oral approach for getting the translated word out into the communities. This may include:

• Having Sandawe Christians use the Chronological Bible Storying method, following translated Scripture passages that are the foundation for evangelism.
• Making cassette tapes with these stories on them, so that a wider range of listeners can benefit from them.
• Having a Christian radio station play the Sandawe worship songs on their station and possibly play the stories as they become available.
• Teaching those that have a desire to learn to read. Hopefully the above will result in more motivation to do so. Our prayer is that this will include as many Christians as possible because the translated Bible portions will benefit them.