We’re still here!

We are aware that it has been a few weeks since we last wrote a blog so we thought we should let you know that we are still alive and ‘keeping on keeping on’ with all that life brings! The main reason we haven’t written is that we’ve been rather busy with our studies.

Matt started his MA Literacy Programme Development four weeks ago. The course started rather intensely, with lectures 9am until 6pm, but has settled down a little bit since then. Matt has already completed several major projects such as a grammar report on Swahili that he has done this week. I’d like to give you some idea of some of the things he has been looking at in the ‘Linguistics for Literacy’ module so far.

Whilst focusing on phonology (the sounds of a language and how they affect each other) and grammar (how the parts of speech work together at the sentence level). One thing he’s been thinking about is how we write down English, in particular features like adding ‘s’ for plural and how this is written in one way throughout our language even though it is pronounced in several different ways. Think about the plural at the end of ‘cats’, and the plural at the end of ‘dogs’. Are they the same? No! At the end of ‘cats’ it is an ‘s’ sound, whilst at the end of ‘dogs’ it’s a ‘z’! Don’t believe me? Try saying them and think about the last sound! They’re different, even though we write them both with an ‘s’ in English! Want to know why? Ask Matt! Over the next few weeks he’ll be focussing more on orthographies (or writing systems) and how we come to the symbols that we use to represent our language. As part of that he would be very interested to know what people think about how we write the English language: what causes problems and why? Where do you struggle when reading or writing English? Please do post a comment on this blog and let us know!

I (Liz) have been enjoying starting my proofreading distance-learning course. So far I have been learning the correct symbols for marking errors in a document. I have found it interesting to learn how to do things ‘properly’ at last and this will hopefully be very useful for my work in the future. I have recently stopped working on book production for Mbeya (at least for a while) so that I can focus on my proofreading course. This is necessary as due to my illness I am not usually able to do much more than a few hours of work each day before I am exhausted. Studying as well as all the normal tasks of ‘keeping house’ are enough to keep me busy for the moment!

There should be more news on my health soon as I am due to return to the doctors on Tuesday and hopefully should be coming home with some kind of ‘diagnosis’. For the moment, while I am waiting for the blood test results I am continuing to learn how to manage my fluctuating energy levels. I am still progressing in my ability to pace myself and to listen to my body when I need to rest. It is also important to change my attitudes, to adapt my expectations, to not base my self-worth on how much I do and to be thankful for the blessings I am given each day.

One such blessing recently was a weekend in Devon with my parents. I was feeling really well at that time and it was lovely to be able to enjoy some short (and very cold!) walks, watching birds in the garden, exploring the woods next to my parents’ house and family meal times along with my brother and sister-in-law. We were also able to share about our work and our lives in Tanzania at Plymouth Vineyard, the church my parents are involved in. It was a very enjoyable time and it is lovely to have memories such as this for days when I am not feeling so bright.