1st Survey Trip!!

Oct 23rd, 1st day

Left Bangui at 8:30-was raining hard but luckily we stayed on paved roads until noon or so. It stopped raining at 10:00 A.M. Drove all day stopping in the middle of nowhere at noon to eat our sandwiches by the side of the road (there was very little traffic on the road besides an occasional passing pedestrian. We were continually passing small villages which would have houses on both sides of the road spaced about 20 feet apart for 2 or 300 yards and then would abruptly end. Had to watch out for chickens, goats and pigs who wandered on the roads as we drove through these villages. Arrived in the town of Ippy at 5:00 P.M and went to inquire about housing at the Baptist Mid-mission which is a mission hospital. There was only one mission family on the property at the time and they allowed us to stay in a vacant house where we each had our own room and bed (there were 4 of us). Having settled in we drove into town and had a dinner of Gozo (a pasty blob made from manioc which you eat by taking portions from a common bowl, rolling it into a ball and then dipping into an accompanying sauce of meat or fish. It is pretty good once you get used to it and don’t mind eating from a common bowl. No double dipping of food though please! Went back to the house and electricity was turned off at 8:00 which is when we decided to go to bed.

Oct 24 2nd day

Left Ippy at 8:00 and arrived in Bria, a fair size town at 10:30. Roughly the same size as Accident Maryland. Went and presented ourselves at the prefect- told him our mission for being there. He was polite but not very interested in the work we were doing but did give us a letter of recommendation for presenting in the villages. We were lucky to catch him in because right after he saw us he left the office. After getting the letter of recommendation about 15 minutes later we went to the Catholic mission in town and asked if they could house us for a night or so. They were very nice and gave us 2 rooms with 1 bed each. 2 of us slept on the floor on mats and mosquito nets. The rest of the morning and afternoon we continued planning for the survey- reading past reports and deciding which villages to see. At 6:00 we walked into town and had a dinner of grilled meat on plastic plates that were used repeatedly without washing (as soon as you are finished eating, the plate is taken and put right back into the serving pile.) A little disconcerting but the meat was tasty! Walked back to our rooms and sat talking outside till 8:00 when the power was turned off and we went to bed.

sleeping arrangement with mosquito nets

Oct 25 3rd day

Left mission at 7:30 and drove 5 minutes to the river where we took a ferry across, a trip of 5 minutes. Usually, the trip is free but we contributed a few thousand CFA to help cover the fuel. When we got to the other side the road quickly deteriorated and became almost impassable because of water and mud. We thought we had gotten stuck within the 1st 5 minutes, the vehicle was leaning over a fair amount and even though we got through, we were continually running into water and tough decisions about where and how to maneuver. I was beginning to question whether I was cut out to be a surveyor. After about 10 minutes we arrived at a section of road which was almost completely underwater and we had to make the decision to go on and possibly get stuck or turn around. After much talking with some villagers and among ourselves we decided to turn around and perhaps try in a weeks time when it would be drier since the dry season was theoretically starting. The decision greatly comforted me, I decided that if I have a say in it, surveys in Congo we NOT be done anywhere near the rainy season!! Also, having a powerful winch on the front of the vehicle should be considered a necessity. We turned back, went into town and parked at the mission and went to a small cafe to have a warm coke and decide where we should go. We were looking for a fair size village of 100-300 people which had a school with all six grades. We decided on a village about 28 kilometers from Bria and a much better road. We arrived and sat down with the chief of the village and 12 or so other men and explained what we were interested in doing. The school director was there and told us there were only 2 grades of students in the village but he told us where some villages were that did have all 6 grades and also villages which had a majority of Togbo languages speakers, the language we were primarily interested in. After spending about 90 minutes with the men we left and went back down the road and picnicked at 1:30 on French baguettes, cheese, and sardines (a first for me). We then continued on into Bria and out another road towards this new village. The road was good in places but in others very steep and rocky and I was surprised we were able to continue. It was only 10 kilometers to the village but seemed a lot longer. We arrived and again met with the chief and other men including one of the 2 school teachers and explained what we wanted to do. Sentence repetition testing (SRT) which is a simple exercise in repeating recorded phrases to measure levels of bilingualism with 2 of the older classes of students, and a group interview with the people of the village. They agreed to this and we set up the testing for the next morning and interview for the afternoon. They then gave us a very nice house with 3 rooms and 3 beds to sleep in. I slept on the floor with an air mattress and mosquito net. After getting set up we sat out with some men. They were interested in Bible translation and when it would be done. A man earlier had said they would be praying that a translation was done in their language. We had to explain to them that this was only a preliminary survey and we couldn’t say when or if a translation would be done in Togbo. There are 2 churches here, a protestant and a catholic. They both use Sango (the national language in the services). They brought us dinner of ears of sweet corn just like back home except for no butter and gozo with a pork meat sauce. Went to bed around 8:30.

Oct 26 4th day

Woke up about 5:20 and had breakfast of french baguettes and peanut butter and oranges. Went over to the school at 7:30 to conduct the SRT on Sango and French. There were about 80 students there and we tested 2 of the older classes which amounted to 30 students. Dan Duke took down the biographical info for each child. Elysé did the Sango test and I did the French. Jurg supervised. The student did quite well in Sango (2+-3 FSI) but less well in French. We finished about 11:30 and walked back to the village to picnic and rest. At 3:30 we gathered under a large shade tree where all meetings are held and did the group interview with about 30 men, 15 women and various children. It was basically done in Sango by Elysé and he translated when necessary. Many of the questions though we could follow along on the sheet and their answer of such and such a language we could follow. The questions asked about the level of comprehension of neighboring dialects, attitudes and use of Sango and thoughts about whether their language would ever die out or be replace by Sango or French. We also had them listen to stories recorded in various neighboring languages and they were able to understand all of them very well, indicating that perhaps one translation could be shared among some of these languages.

Mike doing sentence repetition test with young boy

Oct 27th 5th day

Talked with Wendy on the radio this morning and was good to hear her voice even though it was badly distorted and sounded like a robot. Did some more testing of recorded languages and had 2 men record stories onto tape which Elysé then transcribed into French. When we were ready to leave we left them a packet of literature and scripture portions in Sango (a large majority of the people have a fairly high level of Sango, 3 or 3+ FSI or in other words about the level that I have in French) and a cash contribution for their hospitality. Drove back to Bria at about 10:30 and contacted the director of one of the 5 schools and arranged to do SRT testing the next morning with the same grades so we could compare the levels of bilingualism in a rural setting compared to urban setting. Went back to catholic mission to spend the night.

Wendy talking to Mike on radio

Oct 28th 6th day

Did SRT testing from 7:00 to 11:30 with 41 students, all went well and we returned back to the mission where we fixed a picnic of hot-dogs fried in oil with onions- the way Dan says all hot dogs are prepared! We had decided Friday afternoon that we would walk 18 kilometers to another Togbo village (along the same road where we had to turn back) since it has again rained and the roads are likely to be the same. The afternoon we spent preparing our bags- deciding what to take and leave behind. It looked like we would need 1 or 2 porters to help with our stuff.

October 30th 8th day

Left Bria with our bags I had my rucksack with a few clothes and bed sheet and mosquito net and my large black bag that had all of our food and a few other things. Since we didn’t know if the villagers would offer us meals, the food was quite heavy. Arrived at the river and arranged for 2 young men to carry the black bag and a green army duffel bag. We each had rucksacks which we carried. They originally wanted 2000CFA and we bargained it down to 1500. After finishing the negotiating, one of young men picked up the black bag and asked what else he was taking. Everyone on the ferry laughed at him for wanting more to carry but we think he was a little embarrassed to be getting so much for carrying so little! Arrived on the other side of the river and began the march at 8:20. Had a good breakfast of Wendy’s banana bread before leaving so were well fueled for the hike. Arrived in the village at 12:40 quite tired and sore. Met with the adjoint of the the chief and who offered us the school house to sleep in and who brought us water and an evening meal of gozo with chicken sauce. Bathed in a nearby stream and went to bed at 7:30. Was a little hard to sleep owning to soreness, a very creaky bamboo bed and very little padding and a rain storm which lasted much of the night but did get rested and up at 5:30.

Oct 31 9th day

Had breakfast of granola and baguettes and prepared for the SRT. At 7:30 the school teacher came and got us and we walked over to the other school building. We did testing with about 25 kids and then had lunch of gozo with fish sauce. At 2:00 we had the group interview which lasted until 5:00. The results were similar to those from the other village. After the interview we went back to the school and had a dinner of gozo with beef and sat around the campfire talking with the adjoint of the chief about diamond mining which is done in the region. Went to bed around 9:00, it rained again much of the night.

Nov 1st 10th day

Woke up at 5:00 with hope of getting an early start back to Bria to beat the heat but the rain was still falling quite steadily which held us back a little. At 6:30 Dan and I decided to brave the weather and get a head start so we could walk slower and take our time. Jurg and Elysé stayed to wait for the rain to stop and also do some additional recorded text testing, They left the village at 11:00. Dan and I took our time which was just as well because the mud was very slick and my shoes had no traction. My umbrella however kept me quite dry and it stopped raining at 9:00. We arrived at the river at 12:00. Our decision not to try the trip in the vehicle turned out to be wise, there were sections almost indescribable you would have to see them in person to believe them. The hike was pleasant but my left knee started hurting me towards the end (from the injury I got in the running race last November). We waited for Jurg and Elysé under a shade shelter with a bunch of pirogue (dug out canoe) operators until 2:30. Went back to the catholic mission and prepared for leaving for Bangui the next morning..At 6:00 we went into town and had grilled beef, sticks of cooked manioc and a glass of hot sugary tea. Went to bed at 8:00.

Nov 2nd 11th and last day

Woke up at 4:45, ate breakfast and was on the road at 6:00. Arrived in Bangui at 5:30 P.M Total distance 600 kilometers