In a village between two refugee camps in Eastern Chad we are working on a mother tongue literacy project among Darfur refugees. Aside from a small multilingual picture dictionary with about 300 words, there is currently no published dictionary for these people. The project is growing rapidly and it is time to have a real dictionary to help move the work forward. With only two team members based here, we are limited in what we can do and need someone to help us

 

Make a Simple Dictionary

 

Key Activity Areas

 

• Attending a 2-week dictionary-making/word collection workshop where 10’000 to 15’000 words will be collected (see www.sil.org/dictionaries-lexicography/rapid-word-collection-methodology)

• Organizing and cleaning-up the collected data

• Training one or two locals to use the software, so that a dictionary can be produced and published

 

The people are enthusiastic, hospitable and lots of fun to work with. This is a great opportunity to serve a people in exile who are eager to preserve the dignity and beauty of their culture through developing their language. A dedicated short-termer could make a significant contribution that will have tangible long-term results.

 

Location: Eastern Chad

Language: English (Sudanese Arabic as well as reasonable French would also be very helpful)

 

What you’ll need

 

• Personal relationship with Jesus Christ

• A church that stands behind you, especially in prayer

• Team-mindset, resilience and ability to work without intense supervision

• Background or training in linguistics, particularly in phonetics/phonology and/or dictionary-making (Wycliffe internal training possible)

• (Desirable) Experience or desire to work in an inter-cultural context

 

Minimum age: 18

Duration: 1 month or more

 

Finances

Please note that this job is non-salaried. A successful applicant will be required to raise their own financial support from interested friends, family and churches. Some people choose to fund their outreach through personal savings.

 

Feel free to contact us for an informal discussion about the possibilities. Our main goal is to help you find your place in God’s mission.