Seasons of life

It feels like we are entering a new season here in Gloucester - thankfully one that is very exciting! In October, when I (Liz) began volunteering at a local school and Levi started playgroup life suddenly felt very different. For the first time in a while I was able to look up and out from my daily life of details and had space to think, dream and to help others (aside from fulfilling the needs of a toddler that is!).

Now, at the start of a new year (well, kind of!) we have learnt that 2015 will bring another big change - we are expecting a baby in the summer! We receive this news with both excitement and trepidation! For a while we have wanted to make our family a four, for Levi to have a sibling to care for and (hopefully!) play with one day. But at the same time we have both had to wrestle with the fear that we will feel like we are going back to the challenges we faced in 2012 when Levi was a newborn. Anxiety, illness, depression, loneliness, and exhaustion are not things which we are in a hurry to repeat!

Of course the challenge is for us to remember that things are different now to how they were three years ago. Now we are settled in Gloucester rather than moving to a new place, we have friends and support around us, we are getting established in a church, my health is better than it was then and we have learnt a lot in the last few years. It is still scary but we know God will carry us through as He did then and He gives us hope for the future. I choose to believe we are not going backwards; this is a new season and God is doing a new thing!

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My new chapter

Someone told me recently that everyone lives inside a virtual box. The 'box' is your experiences. If you don't push the sides of your box and challenge yourself by experiencing new things then eventually the box starts to shrink.

I was amazed by how much I could relate to this.

Moving around a lot and so not being able to put down roots fully, having ME and depression, and being a stay-at-home mum, meant my box was closing in on me and with it my confidence. This is despite taking my toddler out almost every day to new places with new people and getting settled in a new city! By the time the end of the summer holidays came around I was getting desperate. I needed to do something for me that was challenging, but that would also give me life.

And so I found myself walking into the local primary school to do some volunteering, testing the boundaries of my box. This is my new chapter, maybe it's not hugely groundbreaking (as I've done this job before - albeit in another city and not for 7 years) but I needed a manageable step. I am currently swinging, almost daily, between anxiety and excitement as to what this new chapter might mean for me. However, I know God has opened a door here for me that I need to walk through.

I read this in 'Barefoot in the Kitchen' by Alie Stibbe: "Even adversity can become comfortable after a while. But God demands that we face up to the tension that exists between willing acceptance of our situation and the necessity of facing new horizons." Too true. My last 'Women on Friday' group before I left Thame was a bible study on doors, a slightly odd topic but it struck a cord with me and I felt God saying he had a 'door of hope' for me to walk through in moving to Gloucester. For this reason I feel confident that God has some exciting things in store for me in this next chapter!

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Since moving

Taking a well earned break!

It’s hard to believe we’ve been living in Gloucester for over two months now! It is starting to feel like home and Thame is already starting to feel a long time ago. There are some things we miss about Thame (aside from many good friends, our favourite local supermarket would feature highly!) but we have been very blessed in Gloucester so far. We have been able to rent a slightly bigger house with a spacious garden for less than the house in Thame. We found the house after just one day of looking, and it has turned out to be just what we needed (and more besides!). The location is great for us, being within easy reach of college, the doctors, a supermarket and several toddler groups. I (Liz) have met some lovely mums who have been very friendly and helpful as I’ve settled in. There are also more than enough toddler groups to keep Levi and I occupied each week!

Levi loves the garden!

It also seems as though Levi has really grown up since we moved. Of course the ‘big’ bed does remind us of that fact. His speech has also come on in leaps and bounds and often he barely pauses for breath! He provides a continual commentary on life and repeats what daddy says to mummy and vice versa, which can be helpful but also rather testing at times! It is lovely to be able to communicate with him and makes us realise just how much he is taking in! (We better be careful I think!) He also seems to be getting a lot better at playing imaginatively and independently with his toys, though when there are people around he still does like to have their full attention. Mostly he is a lovely boy to have around and most importantly seems to behave well when he goes to play at other people’s houses!

Teaching always seems to involve colour!

Since we have been living here Matt has also been busy teaching on two courses - ‘Language Project Planning and Implementation’ and ‘Multilingual Education’, the second of which he is currently in the last week of teaching. He also has made a trip to Thailand and continued with his other work activities. Alongside enjoying the interactive nature of teaching, Matt is also enjoying starting to engage in the community at Redcliffe College. It will still take some time for him to settle into a routine that works well with his wide range of responsibilities but it is a nice challenge to face!

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Why we're moving (again!)

To answer that question we need to go back to our time in Tanzania (and probably before, though we'll stop at Tanzania for now).

One of the things we both enjoyed most when living and working in Mbeya was the opportunities we got, both structured and informally, to share our knowledge, experience and passion with colleagues, friends and others we met (you can read some old posts from that time here, here and here). Some of it you would recognise as 'training', standing at the front of a workshop introducing new concepts to try to help others innovate and develop the work. Much of it, however, you might not immediately recognise, such as the times when we were chatting through problems with colleagues in the office or at home. Whatever it looked like, in my book it was all about learning.

So when we returned to the UK I (Matt) knew I wanted, if possible, the opportunity to keep on being involved in these kinds of learning processes. One way to do that was to do some teaching on the Masters course I had recently completed. At the time this was being delivered at the Wycliffe Centre between Oxford and High Wycombe and so we decided to relocate to Thame to be near enough for me to be involved in this way. In summer 2013, however, these training courses moved to Gloucester to be taught at Redcliffe College and so we are following them there.

Training, of course, is only part of my role, with the majority of my time spent focusing on supporting language, education and development work in Asia (you can read a nice article about what that actually means here). Over the last couple of years, however, I have loved having the opportunity to constantly access and relate the theory that I encounter when preparing to teach, with the practice that I see and work with in Asia (I try to explain some of the impact of our work in this post, and the subsequent series of blogs entitled 'Connections').

Although the process of moving isn't fun, we are hopeful that Gloucester can be a real home for us as a family for the foreseeable future. That said, given that Gloucester will be the 7th place (don't ask about houses... that's even more!) we've lived in since leaving Sheffield (just 7 years ago) another move wouldn't be out of character...

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Conversations and pages

In a job like mine, as with many others, it is often quite hard to see the results of your labour. What we are working to bring about are changed lives, both outwardly and inwardly. These kind of changes not only take time but we're also very rarely around to actually see it happen! However, sometimes we do get indicators of progress that show us we're moving in the right direction. Just like buses, after having waited for a while without seeing any, during my most recent trip to Thailand two encouraging things happened at once!

Firstly, we held another Language, Education and Development (LEAD) 'community of practice' event, with 60+ participants from 15 different country contexts attending. The group was very enthusiastic and keenly explored many of the challenges and successes of working with other organisations. As they interacted in small groups, they were able to share their own experiences and learn from others. It was exciting to see such a hive of activity and energy and to hear so many encouraging comments afterwards. It is our hope, of course, that as the participants return to their normal work contexts they will be able to put into practice all that they have learnt.

Secondly, the book that a colleague and I had been working on for the last 6 months was finalised and published! Based on experiences gathered during community of practice (CoP) events, the book sets out practical examples of how to work sensitively and sustainably with minority groups. We wrote Signposts to Identity-Based Community Development (IBCD) as a Guide, literally outlining resources (and giving real life stories as examples) and directing people to them. We really hope that community development practitioners all over the world can make use of the learning that has been generated through the CoP. If you would like to take a look and see the final result, click here to read an introduction and then download it and let us know what you think. We'd love to hear your thoughts!

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New year, new opportunities

Having just posted a new blog I noticed this one (below) written at the beginning of the year. We must have saved it to post later and just forgot! Whilst it's a little out of date now, for a sense of completeness (for our own sake if no one else's!) then we'd thought we'd post it anyway.

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Funnily enough, 2012 felt as though it ended in almost as much of a blur as 2011, only this time for very different reasons! While December 2011 was full of getting used to having a new baby, November/December 2012 was full of travel (Matt with work to Thailand and Cambodia, and Liz and Levi to Devon), catching up with life on all our returns, and ‘big’ birthdays (30th and 1st!).

Now we are into 2013 we are excitedly looking towards the year ahead. We start by moving house (worryingly, something that is becoming an annual occurrence), although thankfully just within Thame this time. Liz is looking forward to being slightly closer to town, Matt is looking forward to having his own proper office (or spare room!) and Levi will enjoy a bit more space to spread his toys around!

Matt is already straight back into busyness at work helping prepare for another event at the beginning of March. This will require him to return to Thailand at the end of February for 10 days, returning just in time to teach on another course at the Wycliffe Centre at the end of March. It is good that he is currently enjoying the new challenges his role presents!

Liz has also started an NHS course on Chronic Fatigue management. She is looking forward to learning more strategies to help her manage her condition and getting to know some others in a similar situation.

Thank you for your continued support of us throughout 2012. To keep in touch with us throughout 2013, including finding out more about how you can support our work directly, please sign up for our quarterly updates.

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Reminders

Let’s face it, my day-to-day work really isn’t that exciting. Thankfully I’m someone who often thinks about the ‘big picture’ and so I can be encouraged to keep going because of the part my work plays in the bigger picture. That said, every so often even I need a direct reminder of why I’m doing what I’m doing – if you like, the chance to ‘complete’ a task and to see a result! My trips to Asia, such as my time in Thailand in early March, serve as just such reminder.

My latest trip was split into two parts. It started with a visit to a government school near to the border with Myanmar. The school serves a minority language community that, despite having moved from Myanmar to Thailand many years ago, still struggles to be recognised as Thai. The community exist largely separate from the surrounding people groups and because of this they mainly use their own language (their ‘mother tongue’) at home and for daily activities. Because of this the children’s ability in Thai is very limited and so the school is trying to help the children by allowing lessons in pre-primary and the first couple of years of primary school to be delivered in their mother tongue instead of just Thai. It was great to see the children enjoying learning, but the trip also helped me to understand better some of the challenges such initiatives can face. Minority communities, and the institutions that exist to serve them (such as this school), face very real challenges in terms of resources and opportunities. That is why my team, LEAD Asia, are trying to support this kind of work (and ultimately why I do what I do!).

The second part of my trip was based in Bangkok where we (the LEAD team) facilitated an experience-sharing event around the topic of ‘Identity Based Community Development’ (for more about what this means see here [http://wisbeys.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/exploring-identity-and-development.html]). It was such a privilege to be in a room with 60 people from all over Asia sharing about how they are successfully addressing language and culture in their education and development work. Whilst we did introduce a few new tools/techniques, the majority of the time was spent facilitating the sharing of knowledge between participants themselves. In fact, one of the most exciting things for me to see was actually AFTER the event had formally finished! One morning, on the way to breakfast, I walked past two colleagues from different countries sitting at the end of the corridor excitedly explaining their work to each other! Our events are attended by people who are part of what we call our ‘Community of Practice’, if you like ‘a group of people who do the same stuff’, and they represent all kinds of different organisations and types of projects. Seeing these participants discussing in such energised ways encourages me that there really is a ‘community’ after all.

Now I am back in the UK the real work begins! As part of the funding we are required to write a report, a guide, explaining the discussions from the event. Although it is going to be challenging to summarise such rich and diverse discussions, I am looking forward to sharing people’s experiences, challenges and encouragements with a wider audience. We will try and do justice to the excited conversations that took place!

Before then, however, I am in the middle of teaching on the ‘Language Project Planning and Implementation’ course, helping 23 students think about how they can better plan, monitor and implement their work (literacy, development, translation etc.) so that it brings about change in peoples lives. This is particularly exciting as, once again, the participants come from all over the world and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience. This not only enriches their own learning but also challenges me to think about how these tools can be used in different kinds of situations. These connections, both with the students themselves and the communities with which they are working, again help to remind me why I do what I do. Thank you for continuing to be a part of that with us.

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Two sides of the same coin

Last week I had the privilege of attending meetings at UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) about progress towards the ‘Education for All’ goals. You can read more about that in my (updated) previous post.

photo by Ari Vitikainen

And next week I am looking forward to visiting a project in Cambodia that LEAD Asia (the team I work with – see this 'old' post for some background info) is currently helping to support. As their website says:

“[The] ICC – READ Project works with the Bunong people of Mondulkiri Province to implement bilingual education and food security initiatives that enable the Bunong to make informed choices about their well-being and the future development of their communities. (READ = Research Education And Development.)” (Click here to read more about ICC's work in Cambodia or click on the picture to find out more about READ.)

I’m excited to see how the project works and how it is impacting people’s lives. Much of my work in the UK is supporting, directly or indirectly, exactly these kinds of projects and so it will be great to see some of the realities with my own eyes. Of course I am also interested to see how things compare to our own experiences in Tanzania, and to think about how we can better communicate the need and the impact of such work back here in the UK.

On face value the UNESCO meetings in Paris and this project in Cambodia couldn’t seem more different. However, to me, they are just two sides of the same coin. Decisions, policies, consensus and goals at the international level do have an impact on the way individual projects operate. They can affect finances, government policy and therefore support, and even potentially community willingness or interest. At the same time, individual projects like this should (and increasingly do) influence international meetings. More and more it is being recognised that a strong evidence base is necessary for setting agendas. Practical examples of solutions that are bearing fruit are essential in convincing other organisations and countries of the importance of particular issues, such as language. (And, in reality, many ‘on the ground’ NGOs like ICC also do a lot of advocacy work in their own contexts, helping influence national policies etc.)

My current role is, in some ways, trying to help connect these two realities. Understandably people, in their daily lives and work, generally either have a preference/focus for one or the other. My job is to try and show them how both sides of the coin are equally important, and to help them make connections between what they are doing and something that is perhaps very alien to them. It’s a challenge but I feel it’s a job worth doing.

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Keeping busy

Was it really ‘only’ a month since our last blog? Despite the summer (did we actually have one?) usually being a quieter time for many people it seems our August and September have been the busiest months in quite some time! In many ways that is a good sign, since Liz obviously felt well enough to cope with so much activity! Whilst we try to make sure we don’t pack our days with too many activities, she still needs to rest often and gets lots of help around the house she has generally been doing better. Please do celebrate with us and continue to pray for her full recovery.

Since we last wrote I (Matt) attended, and presented at, my first academic conference. My (co-written) presentation was on how to set up effective and sustainable mother tongue-based multilingual education, with some examples from our work in Africa and Asia. It was a good experience for us all; with me getting to meet others interested in this area of work/research and Liz and Levi coping well at home without me (with some valuable and much appreciated help). Since the conference I have spent most of my time preparing for teaching (alongside three colleagues) on the Literacy training course currently running at the Wycliffe centre. You can see all the things the students will be learning here. Fancy giving it a go next year?

Whilst the course is giving me a good opportunity to practice my teaching skills, it is also a nice chance to work with colleagues face-to-face and get to know the nine students. It is also a good reminder of the breadth of work we are involved in since the students come from six different countries and will be heading off to work in eight different locations! What a privilege it is to be part of helping to prepare them for the work they will be doing all over the world.

My focus is also now turning to the next few months. After a reasonably settled period: next week I will be travelling to a roundtable discussion in London hosted by UNICEF, Save the Children and a large research project; at the end of October I will spend a few days with colleagues in Paris at UNESCO discussing the role of education in post-2015 development goals; and in November I will travel to south-east Asia to visit a project and attend a workshop and meetings with colleagues. My teaching commitments will fit around these trips and run until Christmas so it is a busy, but exciting few months ahead! Not to mention that at some point during that time I will turn 30!

Finally, we couldn’t write without mentioning Levi. It is amazing to think that this time last year we were eagerly awaiting his arrival, attending antenatal classes and buying last minute items! Now he is ‘cruising’ (slowly for now!) around furniture, walking while holding our hands and saying ‘Mama’ (who knows what it really means) at every opportunity! Needless to say we are loving seeing him grow and hope that you can see him (again, or for some for the first time) soon.

The photos are mainly from a lovely week-off that we had with family in September. To see more just click here.

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Catching up

What a difference a few weeks make. Less than six weeks ago we were eagerly (very eagerly!) awaiting the arrival of our (late) little child! Five weeks ago we were in hospital, trying to get to grips with having a (very) strong and determined (not easily feeding) baby boy. Four weeks ago we were at home, dazed by the reality that we were now parents and have to try to cope with looking after this boy ‘alone’. Three weeks ago we were in the midst of Christmas celebrations, enjoying family help and ‘encouraging’ our boy to do as we were and keep on eating! Two weeks ago we were back in Devon again, trying to get into more of a routine. And last week we all, most importantly baby boy as well, started to relax a little more and things became a little easier!

We’d like to think that maybe we’re starting to get to grips with things as they are but we know (as all our friends and family are ‘happy’ to tell us) nothing stays the same when there’s a baby around! Tomorrow will be different, next week more so, and in a month's time… maybe we’ll have a little man on our hands!

Although, as ever, most things in our life are still very unsettled, one thing that is sure is the fact that we will be moving to Thame at the end of the month! Whilst another move is daunting, we hate packing (you may have thought we’d have got used to it by now but we haven’t!) and it’s always very tiring to have to ‘start again’ in a new place, we are looking forward to having ‘our’ own place again and starting another chapter of our lives.

A few months ago we wrote a short bit about what we might be doing when we arrive in Thame. We’d love to be able to share more about that, however at the moment things are still very much ‘up in the air’. There are lots of practicalities that need to be sorted out and so we probably won’t have more details to share until we’ve moved and Matt is ready to submit his dissertation. One thing we do know is there is lots of work that needs doing and so we are confident we can find some way to be of use! On the topic of Matt’s dissertation he is back at his desk working away, eagerly trying to put the ‘finishing’ touches to his paper. While he may not finish it before we move, he still aims to hand it in soon after our arrival in Thame.

In other news (as if there is any that isn't about Levi!), amongst our packing, we will celebrate Liz’s first birthday as a mum on Thursday! As ever we love hearing your news so please do write when you can. 

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New beginnings

So, as feared/expected/promised it has been some time since we last wrote a blog! Thankfully we have a pretty good ‘excuse’ for not being as active online as usual. We hope that most/all of you will already know that just in time for Christmas we were blessed with the arrival of our first child, Levi James Wisbey. We are still getting used to being parents (does that ever stop?!) and so this Christmas period has been challenging and exciting in equal but different ways!

We’ve managed to get a few pictures online (at last) so if you’d like to see our son just click here. We hope that we’ll be able to introduce many of you to him in person over the coming weeks and months. Please continue to pray for us all as we all get used to our different roles and responsibilities at this time! We will endeavour to update some more in the New Year.

All three of us wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy start to 2012.

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Changing steps

As we mentioned in our latest newsletter, we will be changing direction next year with Matt probably taking up an assignment focusing on literacy work in Asia. We wanted to take a moment to explain a little more how this might look and to introduce the group he will possibly be working with.

As with any large organisation working in different parts of the world Wycliffe partners with other organisations (both local and international) that hold similar values. As we’ve mentioned before Wycliffe’s primary partner is SIL International, with whom we worked in Mbeya as part of the Uganda-Tanzania Branch of SIL. We are currently pursuing the possibility of Matt’s new assignment being with another regional unit of SIL, LEAD Asia (which stands for Language, Education and Development). This team is working to help minority language groups access development opportunities in all areas of their lives. You can read more about LEAD here.

One large obstacle stopping minority language communities develop in ways that they want to is the opportunity for them to access education in a language that they understand well. Mother tongue based multilingual education (MTB MLE, or just MLE for short!), of which literacy is a huge part, is central to helping many communities around the world access development opportunities. If you’re interested in how and why, take a few minutes to check out this great presentation from UNESCO on why ‘Education Counts’.

Whilst this change in assignment may involve a change in geographical focus, it will allow Matt a real opportunity while based in the UK to help support MLE work in a tangible and practical way. It should also allow him to make use of many of our experiences in Tanzania and much of his Masters studies. Many of the organisations LEAD is partnering with, or would like to partner with, have offices in the UK and so relationships could be built here that could strengthen the work in Asia and elsewhere around the world. Equally raising the profile of the work internationally and helping to develop appropriate materials to support the work in Asia can all be done from the UK.

As details become clearer we will try to update the blog with more information. For now, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to send us an email (look left) or catch us on Skype (have you added us to your contact list yet? Click on the link to the right to do so).

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