Global Garden

In this time of globalization and with the use of technology, it’s very common to say that the “world is a village,” but should we rather say that “it is a garden?” This is the audacious proposal that made Gilles Clément one of the greatest French land- scape designers, when he speaks of the “global garden” to describe the biosphere. 

 What a wonderful way to describe our world by persons who love and care for the environment, but for us in Guyana this is a worrying problem seeing our pristine forest being destroyed by logging and mining, a contrast to the ecological concept of a ‘global garden’ which the forest in Guyana is a part of.  The term we would use in Guyana instead for this is ‘an exploited garden’ prone to senseless destruction by persons for wealth.

 Guyana is blessed with endowed natural wealth in minerals and rainforest etc. But because the country doesn’t have the required expertise to make proper use of these, we rely on outsiders and even locals to exploit them for us.
  

When these people come they create some job opportunities for a few and eventually take most of the resources away, thus ripping-off the country big-time for the few, in the name of development. I am not against material development for the country, but how it is being carried out at the price of the destruction of the forest it’s a disturbing issue.

The uncontrolled exploitation of the environment especially the forest is an evil act against God’s will by destroying his creation. We are reminded that the basis of Christian concern over the care for the environment is in Psalm 24:1: “The earth is the Lord’s and all that it holds.”

 In response to the wonderful gifts that God has given us of clean air, life-sustaining water, fruits from the land’s harvests and even nourishment from the sea, we are called to not only honour God for these many blessings but to do so also by honouring his creation.

If we improperly or disproportionately destroy the forests of Guyana, we not only dishonour God but also we ultimately endanger the livelihood of our poor and marginalized siblings who most depend on it for survival. As such we as a Christians in Guyana are called to practice faith in action: we cannot say I’m Catholic; I’m Christian and sit back and the see the vulnerable forest be destroyed, for that would be to do exactly what Albert Einstein says “the world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”   

Pope Francis also, he reminded us that the destruction of South America’s rain forests and other forms of environmental exploitation is a sin of modern times.

 “When I look at my own homeland (South America), so many forests, all cut that have become land that and can longer give life. This is our sin, exploiting the Earth and not allowing her to give us what she has within her,” said the Pontiff.   

If we in Guyana continue to destroy the forest at the rate it is going without acknowledging its God’s special gift to us, then we will be putting future generations also at risk, and as such we should remember that when the last tree is cut, the last river is poisoned, and the last fish is dead, we will discover that we can’t eat money.

Finally, if we broaden our horizon of the forest it can lead us to understand the Earth as a “global garden” which beautiful Guyana is part of, except that ours is very vulnerable to be exploited by destructive humans. Faced with this challenge and modern sin we are called to care for the forest and be compassionate to it and not destroy it, but show respect so that it continues to be part of the global garden and not a paradise lost from blind destruction.   

Let’s pray that we as Christians can show more compassion and care for the forest in Guyana so that we can boast of contributing to the global garden, where God himself likes to see his beautiful gift in the pristine rainforest as a blessing to our country. 

Medino

Technology serves the Wapishanas

Since the dedication of the Wapishana New Testament in November 2013 enthusiasm has run high as evidenced by steady sales in all the villages. Wapishanas didn’t just want a book in their hands; they wanted to understand what they had heard for many years in English. That is why they also responded with eagerness to the announcement during the dedication that we would be doing an audio version of the New Testament. Several men even auditioned for speaking parts.

With no technical recording team available to go to the Wapishana area to do the audio recording, we were left with only on option available – work in Georgetown. This was the only place in Guyana where reliable Internet was available, and where we could experiment with fairly new concept called “virtual ” recording, recording through the Internet. Needless to say, we were in the dark as to how all this would happen.

The Catholic Church came to the rescue when the Bishop offered us the use of their TV/radio recording studio—CTV. Bev and Kaye arrived in Georgetown early in January to set up and communicate with Faith Comes by Hearing ( FCBH), a nonprofit organization in New Mexico dedicated to providing funds and technical know- how for producing dramatized audio recordings of the Scriptures in languages around the world.

The recording began January 20^th with the arrival of several Wapishanas from the interior of Guyana. Their journey was a two-day experience begun with trepidation. It included 16 hours on the rough trail to the big noisy city of Georgetown. Some arrived looking like scared rabbits! But several recounted to us that they were doing this for the Lord and their people. The Wapishanas brought their little bags—much easier than the four computers and five sets of headphones that Bev and Kaye carried among their plethora of boxes and suitcases!

Learning Curve.

Routine helped us survived the learning curve. Each morning we hopped in mini buses and met at CTV. After a Wapishana song and prayer, two computers were set up in different rooms. We logged each one onto the website called Virtual Recording, clicked on record, and clicked on the Wapishana language. Lines to read from the Wapishana New Testament appeared on the screens. The two Wapishanas put on headphones and read their assigned Wapishana lines. Two others listened for mistakes from a script of the Wapishana NT.

It looked as easy to do. But each Wapishana put on his/her headphones for the first time and clicked on the icon to begin reading, stage fright took them by surprise. They made mistakes, so repeating the recording soon became another routine.

Each of the 14 Wapishanas had his/her own special part to read. Some were narrators of books, others the characters that spoke like –Jesus or Peter or Paul or even Satan. Some parts took six weeks, others only a week or two. While Bev handled the daily communication with FCBH engineers, Kaye became drama coach, helping them sound evil, gentle or angry. What a surprise to learn they could do it! While accustomed to working in their fields from before sunup to after sundown, their voices could work four hours a day at the most.

The website also had a review function, where two other Wapishanas listened to the lines that had been read, and noted any errors. Then Bev reviewed the error lines and reset them to be recorded again. Through the weeks as each chapter was finished, it was sent back to us to view in its entirety.

The stress of inconveniences, such as slow internet, computer “glitches” and noise from nearby road and building construction tested our patience daily. But it was more than compensated for by the providential set-up of a cell phone tower in the south Rupununi December 2013! We had direct communication with individuals in the villages for the first time in history! We could notify readers by phone as to when they were needed in Georgetown. Those in Georgetown also worried less because they could call their families back home.

Praise: All four laptop computers worked well.

There were good relations with those working at CTV,

Who had such servant attitudes during our unavoidable interruptions to their work!

The readers kept in good health and all voices held out, with reading ability improving drastically.

The recording took only 3 months, less than expected.

There will be a 6-month wait while FCBH engineers fine tune the recording, including adding music. It will then be available to Wapishanas on CD, MP3, and a preloaded solar charged player. More on this in our next letter. In the meantime technology is already serving Wapishanas. Translator and reader Juram  Browne visited another village with a computer and small speakers we loan him. Below is a text message from him:

“On Sunday in church at Barbaraum we listened to three chapters of the audio recording from the computer. The believers were paying very very close attention. Some were following along from their New Testament while the chapters were playing… They were so happy and said they were very encouraged from listening to the chapters. Guys, your labour was, is and will not be in vain. Prayers offered financial support, time sacrificed to do the audio recording are a great blessing to the Wapishana people. Whenever you write to your supporters overseas, I would like you to mention some parts of my message which are encouraging.”

In October 2014 we will have new challenges, dubbing the Wapishana into video of the Life of Christ (Luke version), and recording/editing Wapishana songs for a revised hymn book. Both will take place in the Wapishana village of Aishalton, southern Guyana. There will be a recording engineer present this time.

Pray that Olive and Laurus will be available the next few months to help out Bev make the translated book of Luke fit into the dialogue for the video. Pray that Kaye will gain a good working knowledge of recording/editing the songs using a program called Audacity. Pray for the logistics involved in working in Aishalton.

In God’s strength and wisdom,

Beverly and Kaye Froehlich

I HAVE SEEN THE LORD         

Where the mist rises from the sea,
Where the waves creep upon the shore,
Where the ocean disappears from view,
                         I have seen the Lord

Where the sun awakens the day
Where the road winds on its way
Where the fields are sweet with hay,
                           I have seen the Lord

Where the leaves are gently rustling,
Where the market-place is bustling,
Where the rush-hour crowds are jostling,
                      I have seen the Lord

Where the stars shine in the sky
Where the streets so peaceful lie
Where the darkness is so nigh,
                            I have seen the Lord

.David Adam

In the silence of the stars,
In the quiet of the hills,
In the heaving of the sea,
Speak, Lord.

In the stillness of this room,
In the calming of my mind,
In the longing of my heart,
Speak, Lord.

In the voice of a friend,
In the chatter of a child,
In the words of a stranger,
Speak, Lord.

In the opening of a book,
In the looking of a film,
In the listening to music,
Speak, Lord.

For your servant listens.

David Adam

Indigenous Mathematic Systems

Our right to maintain ancient and sophisticated mathematical systems has been extinguished by Western assumptions about "primitive logic".

In Western culture it is often asserted that the "native brain" can't quantify. But a cursory examination of mathematics in the history of ancient Indigenous societies worldwide exposes this as a Eurocentric myth.

African Mathematics

By the 18th century, the African kingdom of Borno was the most important centre of learning of mathematics in the Central Sudan, attracting scholars from all over. They specialised in the science of Ilm al-Awfaq - magic squares. They had also developed advanced solar calendars and studied medicine, astrology, arithmetic, logic and astronomy. Not many people are aware that the famous scientist and mathematician, Ptolemy, was African, as he is usually portrayed as European.

Native American Mathematics

Native Americans developed highly sophisticated geometrical systems, although their texts recording these are usually dismissed as visual art in the West. They also developed advanced probability calculations used in gambling and meteorology, in accordance with Coyote religious texts. These algorithms were used to enhance genetic complexity in crops selectively bred for agriculture. They also developed highly sophisticated mathematical codes for smoke signal communication - codes so complex that they were used by the U.S. military in World War 2, the most famous being the Navajo Codes, which were far more advanced than their Western equivalents.

Australian Aboriginal Mathematics

In Australia, mathematical systems have been developed over tens of thousands of years to create intricate kinship systems ensuring genetic vigour. Similar systems were innovated millennia ago for species breeding and classification. Weight systems were based not on numbers, but on patterns on natural objects such as shells, conforming to what western scientists have only recently "discovered" and labelled as the Fibonacci sequence. Geometry was used in calculating time according to the angles and postion of the sun, moon and stars at different times, governing predictions about seasons and weather. This was also used for navigation.

Although in many Australian Indigenous cultures numbers had no names beyond three, large-scale quantifying was still used in records and calculations through patterns and diagrams on rocks, trees, bark and message sticks. Many language groups in New South Wales developed base five number systems. Calculators for this were developed based on one-to-one correspondence, using materials such as honky nuts (like a disposable abacus system), and served to perform calculations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Myth Of "Primitive Logic"

Sadly, in my country at least, a lot of the original Indigenous advanced mathematics has been lost through the process of colonisation. As a result, Indigenous students and workers are generally considered to be deficient in the field of numeracy, a problem that is too often attributed to genetic rather than social deficit. Shame prevents a lot of us from attempting to reclaim this ancient, sophisticated knowledge, which is dismissed as "primitive" by the dominant culture. Until the mainstream respects this knowledge, and supports our right to reclaim it, the remnants will continue to disappear, and this world will be the poorer for lack of it.

https://suite.io/woorama/n7277