Pictures from the second drama week in August; Damaris and the children were also there for a few days. From top left to bottom right:

1) Damaris makes up actors for the poster advertising. 2) Potiphar's

Woman gets close to Josef. 3) Jacob and Leah. 4) Rebekah, Samuel and the

Sangu play UNO. 5) Mwasandube familiarizes himself with a larger mixer.

6) "Go quickly to Egypt," says Jacob to his sons,

"but without Benjamin!"

We postponed our original plans to go on tour with the Joseph story this year at the beginning of July until next year. We always wanted to make a 2-3 year project out of this, but the time pressure with the work permit made us believe that we would have to or could do the most complex parts of the project this year, such as the tour of the 12 villages - totally unrealistic, as I see today. On the one hand, the money for the tour and all the preparations would not have been available. Also, in several prophecies, God hasn't given us the green light to tour this year either. We are still in the process of checking and improving the 29 scenes that the actors improvised over the course of two acting weeks for linguistic and theological correctness and dramaturgical expression. When that's done, the lyrics, along with the videos, go back to the villages where the actors come from so they can practice hard.

Other elements of this project are finding and training leaders for Bible listening groups in all 12 villages. We need more preparation time for this. We're also missing instruments for the tour and we're getting to know other artists from other art forms and building relationships with them. Here is a small excerpt from this work in a short video, how we make drums in the village of Ukwavila and talk about the Bible. It shows that the goal is not just to bring people closer to the Joseph story so that they understand the Bible as relevant to their culture and life - the way to get there is just as important:

https://vimeo.com/649353416/41581bf5d3

Even a copy of European march music is forbidden. Why? Nobody can explain that.

October. With the Nyiha Bible translators, we drove to their territory, just two hours from Zambia. A two-day workshop brought together Nyiha from diverse backgrounds to reflect on art in the Bible, on their culture and its potential, and also on the challenges in their culture. One thing that struck me there more than anywhere else was how great the gulf is between the world of Christians and the world of people outside of the churches and congregations. All traditional forms of expression were forbidden by the Christian missionaries and consequently also by the communities. When traditional music is made among the people, the Christians secretly look on from the outside. They rejoice in what has been forbidden them. This is not about bad content that would have been banned. Even a local copy of Western march music without lyrics was demonized. The sounds of their instruments, the movements during the dances, the joy that is expressed - this is not appropriate for a proper churchgoer. Paradox! Since there are many Christians among the Nyiha, the traditional arts are dying out, and this encourages non-Christians even more not to accept the Christian faith, lest they lose their culture altogether. A single traditional art form had found its way into the churches, and this is the liveliest and most widespread genre throughout the Nyiha. It's not just sad when Christians throw the baby out with the bathwater. It is downright dangerous when communities prohibit acts and expressions that fall within the realm of what is ethically and morally neutral. Three Nyiha representatives were found who are now planning concrete steps with us to combine good content with good art. We want to encourage those responsible in churches and communities to combine a clear message with forms of expression that touch people's hearts. We believe that this will give many more people access to the life-giving Word of God.