3 Workshops in a Faraway Place

by Martha

Temotu Province makes up the easternmost part of the Solomon Islands. Small islands are scattered across the ocean with great distances between the island groups. The Reef Islands are home to speakers of the Äiwoo (ay-woh) language. 

At the request of our colleague, John Rentz, we traveled to the Reef Islands to conduct 3 workshops. To get to there we boarded a twin-engine 48 passenger Dash 8 and flew 2 hours to Lomlom airstrip where John met us. After disembarking, John shared with us the news that due to a dispute between local land owners, our flight might be the last one for some time. After a few days, we decided there are certainly worse places to get stuck!

Last week, Tim led a workshop for priests and clergy to help them become more familiar with reading the Äiwoo language. Due to their education, these 18 participants were familiar with reading in English but had had little experience in reading their own language. Armed with a transition primer, Tim has helped them learn how reading Äiwoo differs from English. For some time, these clergy have been asking John for help in reading so that they can read aloud Äiwoo Scriptures with clarity and fluency. By the end of the workshop and with plenty of practice, they expressed gratitude and excitement about their new ability, and we trust that they will continue to practice and read the translated Scriptures in Äiwoo. This week, Tim is leading a similar workshop for church catechists and lay leaders. 

Meanwhile, Martha was in a different village leading a teacher training workshop to equip 22 attendees from various communities to teach Äiwoo literacy. The training has gone well and the teachers are gaining understanding and confidence. The two week workshop runs all day and Tim comes to help in the afternoon as his workshop is in the mornings. 

You may wonder how we can teach anyone when we don’t speak Äiwoo ourselves. Good question. As we lead the workshops, we use Solomon Islands Pijin, the national trade language. In the literacy workshop, Martha demonstrates how to teach each part of the lesson using a Pijin reading primer that uses the same strategy. Then participants break up into small groups where they practice that same activity from the Äiwoo primer. One person teaches the lesson while the others play the part of the students. Moving around from group to group, Martha can check to see they are remembering to follow each step. (In the afternoons, Tim makes the 20 minute walk from from his workshop venue to help with the teacher training.)

One grade 1 student who has stayed out of school due to a cough has wandered into the workshop to watch and he has become a participant. It’s been quite fun for all of us because as a result of sitting in on the training, Raphael has started to learn to read Äiwoo – providing real proof of the effectiveness of this reading method. 

The first week went really well for both groups and we are almost done with week 2. Participants are excited to start using the training they have received and they have thanked us for coming here. In turn, we feel really blessed to be here and serve these beautiful people who have made us feel so very welcome. 

A Workshop for Kwaio Preschool Teachers

by Martha

Buma Catholic Mission Station – Malaita Province – the rainbow and moon

In our last newsletter, we shared about a new opportunity – to help develop a curriculum for an ECE (Early Childhood Education) program in two schools. The first step was to hold a workshop for ECE in a Kwaio-speaking area on Malaita Island. The venue for the workshop was a beautiful Catholic station where we were welcomed warmly by the Sisters of Charity.

3 of the 4 of us in the photo are named, Martha!

This ECE project is under the direction of two local non-profit organisations, LASI (Literacy Association Solomon Islands) and COESI (Coalition for Education Solomon Islands). While we taught most of the workshop content, three trainers from LASI were observing, as they will be responsible for the ongoing training of teachers in the program.

The training included looking at principles of early childhood education and preparing a ‘cultural calendar’ for their community. This involves a process of thinking about weather patterns, seasons, growing seasons, etc. in the local community. The teachers then used that cultural calendar to choose weekly themes for the curriculum.

The list of themes

The teachers practiced writing stories in Kwaio.

One of the next tasks will be to develop storybooks for the various themes. We have enlisted the help of the Kwaio Bible translator, David Fonosimae, to help translate some books into Kwaio, using the Bloom Library, which was developed by SIL International. You can look at the books that David has translated here: Bloom Library – Kwaio books. We are looking forward to adding more books to the Bloom Library.

In early 2022, we plan on going back to Malaita for a writers’ workshop where the teachers will write original stories to coordinate with the curriculum.

The teachers left the workshop excited about the things they learned. Their village community will be working on building a classroom for the many small children who will benefit from this new program.

Workshop staff and participants

The kids along with the visiting Australian and New Zealand High Commioners, standing where their new ECE classroom will be built.



We enjoyed traveling to Malaita and working together.

A visit to Sinasuu

by Martha

When the opportunity came up to travel to Malaita Island with my friend, Priscilla, I jumped at the chance. Priscilla is the National Coordinator of the Literacy Association of the Solomon Islands (LASI) and she was going with some colleagues to visit Sinasuu Village, where LASI has had a successful literacy program.

In addition to the visitors from LASI and COESI (Coalition for Education Solomon Islands), the village was preparing for the arrival of the Australian and New Zealand High Commissioners (within the British Commonwealth, this is the equivalent to the position of Ambassador) the next day. 

The successful Sinasuu Village Literacy Program was originally designed to meet the needs of illiterate adults, but kids started coming to classes as well. The nearest school is 2 kilometres (1.25 miles) away, so it was too far for young children to walk. By the time they were old enough to walk to school, they had already missed the foundational years of kindergarten and first grade, so many never went to school at all.

LASI helped the community start a preschool program. The community built a classroom from local materials and the kids were able to attend class. But the building is small and there are a lot of kids in the village. 

Australia and New Zealand agreed to help fund a permanent school building and that is why they were coming to visit the village. 

LASI and COESI agreed to help provide a curriculum for the kids that was appropriate for their age, in their own Kwaio language, that would be culturally appropriate. They were able to find funding to cover the costs of curriculum development, teaching materials and teacher training. 

As you can imagine, the village is excited to be getting a school building and program which will help educate their kids right in their own village and in their own language. 

We are pleased that LASI and COESI have asked SITAG (Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group) to write the curriculum and Tim and I are excited to take this on. Martha having seen the local situation will certainly make writing the job easier. 

We feel excited and honored to serve the people of Sinasuu and help develop a curriculum that we hope will be helpful to other communities around the country.