Donor Stories

 

One by one, the twenty-two letters of the Machiguenga alphabet were projected on the wall for all to see. Pausing at each letter, a representative from the Ministry of Education asked participants: “Should this letter be included in the Machiguenga Alphabet? Raise your hand if you are in favor of this letter being included in the Machiguenga Alphabet.”

Twenty-two times, a hundred Machiguenga speakers shouted, “Yes!” Twenty-two times, a hundred hands stretched high into the air. Some couldn't resist raising both hands. And each time, the representative added one more letter to a growing list.
For the past fifty years, those twenty-two letters have been used to create readers, math books, health and hygiene materials, Scriptures, and dictionaries in Machiguenga. Finally, at this historic and emotional event, they would be officially recognized as the standard for writing the Machiguenga language.

It’s been a long time coming. Wycliffe translators Wayne and Betty Snell moved to Machi-land in the 1950s and began painstakingly translating the Bible and other materials into Machiguenga.

Betty, who attended the September 2009 Conference for the Standardization of the Machiguenga Alphabet, shares, “As the final ‘Y’ was added, memories filled my mind even as tears filled my eyes. Suddenly, I was back on the Timpia River in 1952... In our house, the Coleman gas lantern hummed along overhead as Wayne and I sat at an old kitchen table and chipped away at the data gathered that day—data that would help shape and validate a unique alphabet for the Machiguenga language.”
After the slideshow of letters, person after person waited patiently to sign the formal document that would carry their decision to the Ministry of Education in Lima.

To Betty, “it was sort of like watching people exercise the right to vote for the first time.” As each person approached the table, they wrote their full name, occupation, district and region of residence, personal identification number, and signature. The representative from the Ministry of Education then pressed their index finger on an ink pad and placed their fingerprint on the appropriate line to identify each signature as valid. The document was now finished, setting an official standard for all Machiguenga writing.

Dressed in traditional garb to celebrate their cultural heritage, many younger Machiguenga speakers wanted to know how the alphabet was designed, and what it was like “back then.” Even as they move forward with the development of their language, many yearn for a connection to their past. Created so long ago, their alphabet is a vital piece of Machiguenga history—one that, now, won’t be lost.