Africa changed my life!
Janet Hazlehurst
Straight after graduating, I went to Burkina Faso on a short-term assignment with Wycliffe. Later, I returned to Burkina to work in the print shop managed by the Bible translation and literacy organisation ANTBA. Making God’s word and educational publications available in many languages and training Burkina people was a great privilege and a lot of fun.
Last summer I returned to hilly, green and damp Cumbria, savouring the sea-and-mountain air and admiring the changing colours in gardens, hedgerows and fields. It’s lovely to call such a beautiful place home. What a contrast to Burkina’s flat dusty landscape and oppressive climate, either too sticky or too dry.
Leaving Burkina wasn’t easy, however—wonderful people, and a job that was creative, ethical and financially beneficial to ANTBA’s work. Nor was it easy to settle down into ‘normal’ British life again. I’ve made one trip too many to Africa! For several months I felt a loss of purpose. Would I find a job that suited me as well as my work with ANTBA? Could I stay here when it made me so restless whenever Africa was mentioned?
Having lived in Africa, the excessive consumption and waste here makes me uncomfortable. Society seems to be losing its direction, and Christians seem overwhelmed by work and family pressures. I don’t want to be trapped into the same problems and routines as everyone else! In Burkina nobody had much, but wider and stronger family relationships held things together. People seemed more aware of God in everyday life and talked freely about him. Of course, I realised I would never understand African culture well enough or approve of everything in it to be completely at home there either. Christians are supposed to be aliens and strangers on earth. (Hebrews 11:13)
So, after much thought and prayer I decided to join Wycliffe Bible Translators ‘properly’. It was a leap of faith; there’s no obvious security in this sort of life! However, living in Africa, I have learned to lean on God more.
Watching the Olympics last summer helped me make up my mind. It seemed perfectly acceptable for athletes to give up their jobs and train full-time for a 10-second race, with only the slimmest chance of winning. Why then is it foolish for a Christian to give up ‘normal’ life and do something to bless others?
I have been seconded to the Kenyan organisation Bible Translation and Literacy (BTL) in Nairobi, where I will be typesetting Scriptures as they are translated, and supervising and teaching Kenyan colleagues. Two New Testaments are scheduled already. I’m very excited to be seconded to an African partner organisation again, thus expressing confidence in them and perhaps helping to reduce the us/them barrier. By working with Kenyans I will also get a lot more out of living overseas. It will mean working harder at friendships, to avoid misunderstandings, but it will be worth the effort, as my sweet memories of Burkina remind me.
As an arty person, I have always felt that my gift and pastimes were a bit frivolous and self-indulgent, but I’ve been delighted to discover that what I enjoy doing can be channelled into an important job. God gave us gifts to use for the benefit of others. Doing what God wants us to do is good for us too, because that’s what we were designed for! (Eph 2:10)
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