Graduate students find new ways to join community development efforts.

The people of Papua New Guinea (PNG) use more languages across their Melanesian island nation than any other region in the world. Since 1956, SIL has worked alongside PNG communities in their efforts to preserve their languages and use them to accomplish the things they care about, such as teaching children in the classroom or translating spiritual resources, like Bibles, to support their many faith communities. 

So many languages distributed across PNG’s rugged interior inevitably leads to challenges carrying on these efforts, highlighting the need for more people to contribute in language engagement. With this in mind, SIL’s Associate Area Director for the Pacific David Nicholls and his PNG colleagues from the Pacific Innovations team explored an idea for inviting local youth to participate in ways not previously attempted. 

Nicholls envisioned a program which paired the education and capabilities of PNG graduate students with SIL language community development efforts. His idea became the PNG Grad Pathway program which forges new trails for PNG youth to invest in the welfare of their homeland through meaningful and productive work alongside local communities. This new approach welcomes students outside the field of linguistics, and does not require any proficiency in translation. Instead, SIL celebrates their desire to support development in their communities and is committed to finding—or even creating—roles that suit their skills and preferences. 

The three year program currently includes four participants who worked carefully with SIL staff to establish a workflow that reflects cultural norms and harnesses their existing skills and education. This aspect resonated strongly with Samuel Ravu, whose motivation to join the program included a desire to “add a new Melanesian flavor in Bible translation and language engagement.” Supported by students with shared cultural experience and world view, PNG communities already demonstrate a positive impact in making well-informed language use decisions. In turn, the program offers training to participants in the development of identifiable and employable skills. 

Participants recently facilitated a number of community workshops using SIL’s Language and Identity Journey which helps communities design strategies that meaningfully support their language’s development. Reflecting on this experience, Myrtle Masti said, “It is a joy to see people's eyes lighten up when they have that awareness of where their language is going and what they can do to keep sustaining the language use.” She went on to say, “I am most looking forward to experiencing working with people in communities, seeing how this graduate program will go about and what God has in store for me after this. I am so grateful to God for the knowledge and skills we are receiving through this graduate program in SIL.” 

After further language and linguistic training in early 2024, the students will choose which language development roles they prefer to pursue. One possibility includes Language Program Manager, which coordinates development efforts among several language projects in locations where they already have some experience. Eager to contribute towards the good of his nation, participant Jeremiah Nenakai welcomes the opportunity to be “equipped well and able to work as a young Papua New Guinean in the society and community . . . Because today there [is a] lack of young people like us to do such work.”

Similarly, Greg Castle looks forward to a brighter future for his people as he completes the program. “​​I would like to see lasting impacts in communities where we do projects or programs or even people we just interact with. PNG communities are being transformed by the language work we do and taking ownership of the outputs of the activities we share alongside them.”