USA — Archaeological evidence indicates that the Inupiaq people lived around Barrow, Alaska, as far back as AD 500. Today, this town, the most northerly settlement in the United States, is home to around 4,700 people. They belong to an ethnic population of around 8,000 in the United States and Canada who speak Northwest Alaska Inupiatun (Inupiaq), a group of dialects of the Inuit language.

Yesterday, Sunday evening, I arrived in Barrow, the top of the world, after 16 hours of airports and flights. It is minus 29 deg C and feels like minus 43 deg C. My luggage has still not arrived, so I am without all the clothing I carefully selected to withstand the extreme temperatures.

The translation meetings, which are emphasising technical procedures using Paratext, are complicated yet satisfying, intense yet exhilarating. Today was all about getting everybody’s agreement about the goal of our meetings and how we are going to achieve this over the next five days.

The translation team took me out to lunch at the local Chinese restaurant. The conversation was hilarious, as their conversation is filled with humour.

Day 2

My luggage arrived. Praise the Lord!

The sessions went very well today, despite the usual start-up issues. The translators are very spiritual and we stop numerous times to have a word of prayer, for any reason that comes up. I find this very refreshing, and transparent.

One woman asked, rather peeved, why they didn’t get this training a long time ago when the translation project started. I explained that they would not have been able to absorb the training at that time. We did not have laptops then, so we would not have been able to have classroom sessions like the ones we are holding now. Also, they had not yet experienced the frustrations of doing translation in real time and in non-textbook conditions. They were not hungry enough then, and would have complained, wondering why they needed to learn these things. It would not have seemed to have a direct application. There would have been no context.

I am cooking for myself, which will save a lot of donors’ money. Up here a breakfast costs more than US$10 and a supper around US$20. I’ve also found out that, as I am 60 years old, I’m entitled to free seniors’ lunches at any of the local schools. I go with all the translators who are over 60 on a free bus, which picks us up again after lunch and takes us back to the building where we are having our sessions.

One of the translators told me her life story over lunch today. How she grew up in a traditional village setting. How her mother died and she was brought up by her aunt. It was so interesting. She is very committed to the translation project, as are all the participants.

Day 3

Wonderful conversations with the delightful seniors over lunch. They have experienced so much and have so many stories to tell. All of them know about the translation work and support it fully.

This morning we reviewed all the technical learning that had taken place so far. We were joined by Dr Bob Bascom, the Translation Consultant. After a time of greetings, everyone went to the home of Ida, one of the translators, for a big feast.

Over lunch, stories flew back and forth in a mixture of English and Inupiaq. Bob called this ‘code switching’, a linguistic phenomenon that is still not fully understood.

In the afternoon, I suggested that the remaining time should be spent doing actual translation work. This will allow their new skills to be confirmed and strengthened. Bob will be able to observe and assist with translation advice, and I will give technical training.

Everybody set to work. Molly completed the final checks and corrections to her book, Obadiah, so everybody cheered for her. This translation team really rocks! They laughed when Molly confessed that she had chosen to do Obadiah because it’s the shortest book.

This far north, daybreak advances by 15 minutes each day. This is very noticeable on a day-by-day basis. I’ve never experienced anything so amazing before.

We’ve managed to get the books of Obadiah and Ruth exegetically checked and signed off for publishing. Bob did the checking and Edith, one of the reviewers, read a ‘back translation’ to him. As she back translated the Book of Ruth, she would stop and exclaim repeatedly, “This is so beautiful, this is so amazing!” She would sometimes have to stop because she was weeping over how wonderful the Word of God sounded in her language.

I have to admit to a few tears myself. When Bob announced that both books had passed his test, the group just stood up and cheered, raising the roof. I will be taking the finalised copies back to Kitchener with me and will make arrangements for them to be produced.

The team has committed itself to getting the first five books of the Old Testament done by next year. This is very ambitious, but right now they are very motivated. We said goodbye about 30 minutes ago. The closing prayer was a very moving experience, since so much can happen before we meet again. Illness, accidents, family commitments: all of these can hinder the progress of the translation.