Assembling Solar Panels
Together with my friend Gideon Ishaya I’ve been finally completing a project I had in mind for many years: fabricating solar panels using local components. We’ve tested the prototype panel for a few days and despite having many broken panels and the weather being cloudy, it seems to generate at least 15W but possibly more. …
May/June/July: Literacy, Translation, Holidays!
Here’s our latest newsletter, looking back at May and June and ahead to July. Do get in touch if you’d like to hear specific things next time.
You will know that I am the LORD
Reading Ezekiel with my daughter Rebekah is very interesting. The other day we had a chapter (2) that reminded her of Taffy Tegumai in Rudyard Kipling’s Just so stories. (“For they are a rebellious people.”) All the way through it’s been mildly disconcerting to have Ezekiel addressed as “Son of Man” if you’re used to …
App updates: Naija Type & Ashɛ testing
After 2 weeks of hard work some improved text is available in the latest Ashɛ scripture test app for Android phones. (Let me know if there’s any interest in an iOS version.) Some suggestions and bug reports have led to an updated Naija Type Android keyboard app and Keyman keyboard (usable in iOS with Keyman).
NCC’s 2020 TLAs: NINs for SIMs
Updated Jan 8th – see below. Nigeria’s Communications Commission seems to be trying to tighten up registration details for mobile phone users. Already when you buy a SIM you need to register it (photo, lots of details, fingerprints) before it works but now there’s a panic about requiring everyone to submit their National/Nigerian Identity Number …
Thank you CBN – Central Bank 2020s Money Transfers to Nigeria
Money transfers to Nigeria from UK/Europe were working rather well… until mid December when the CBN changed the rules. Azimo and TransferWise and a few others are setting up to do USD or EUR transfers to domiciliary (foreign currency) accounts via SWIFT. Not everyone has such an account set up, and so fortunately WorldRemit let …
Enlarge your tent!
As our girls grow we have found they could sometimes do with a little more space for doing increasingly independent homeschool. We also like having people stay with us, and a little extra space makes hospitality that bit easier, and so the opportunity came up to revamp and extend our house in Jos before we …
Nigerian Staff Raising Support
One of the great joys over the last few years has been seeing Nigerian Christians recognise the importance of translating and using the Bible enough to dedicate themselves to this great task. With over 500 distinct cultural and linguistic groups in Nigeria it’s a world within a country, and so there’s a great opportunity for …
Opening up & shutting down – protests in Nigeria
I confess having been outside Nigeria for the last year I’ve not really kept up with all that’s been going on, but just as many of Nigeria’s states are finally re-opening schools, the country is seeing a local equivalent to the BLM/Police brutality protests. https://guardian.ng/news/nigeria/national/buhari-to-youth-i-recognise-your-right-to-peaceful-protest/ We thank God that these protests seem to have been …
Making Luke Clear & Compelling
Meanwhile most of my time has been spent trying to work with translator Arams over patchy video links from his home in Kachia, revising Luke’s gospel. I’m pleased to report we are making decent progress and have managed to tidy up really quite a lot. Three weeks ago he travelled to our office in Jos …