"It Just Takes Determination"
By Ricky DiMartino, IMN Editor

"It Just Takes Determination"

By Ricky DiMartino, IMN Editor

The newly revamped IMS Training program began offering modular courses in September of 2021. Since that time no one outside the U.S. has taken more of the training than SIL Ethiopia media specialists Lombiso Daniel and Israel Tigistu. The two have already completed three courses: Audio Production, Scripting and Dubbing Biblical Films, and The Role of Media in Ministry & Holistic Development. 

They have had ample opportunity to hone their skills. “We’ve done projects. Actually, lots of projects. We’ve done audio recording and LUMO dubbing, random Bible stories by some other language groups,” says Daniel. Adding it all up since September of last year, they have completed one video production and seven audio productions, all of which comprise seven different languages.

Lombiso Daniel, age 27Israel Tigistu, age 26Admittedly, their situation was unique compared to most new trainees. “So what makes our situation different is we had experience with audio recording and video dubbing before we went to the class. The class was kind of a catalyst to the skill that we had. It was helpful, to be honest. We were like, ‘Oh, wait. There’s some discrepancies. You know, those small things that we have to fix and just take care of,’” says Daniel. The video editing program of Reaper was one such example. “We knew about it, but we never used it. And then when they showed us, it was an eye-opening and easier way to do it.”

One function in Reaper, in particular, has made life easier for them. “I use the Envelope [tool]. It’s so useful for us,” says Tigistu. “When we edit in the audios, then sometimes we cut the sound in the middle of some sentence… especially when the reader is [stuttering]. So we just use Envelope to balance the sounds and to do Fade Out and to sometimes do Fade In.”Daniel recording audio in an SIL Ethiopia sound booth.Tigistu taking a turn running a sound booth in the SIL Ethiopia office.But Daniel stresses that experience is crucial. Talking about his previous role within SIL, he adds, “If I spoiled something, it’d be like, ‘Ugh, I don’t want to ever do that again.’ So that’s how you grow. We messed up in places. You know, you learn from it, you fix it. Experience is a good teacher.” 

Prior to being a media specialist, Daniel first got his start at the SIL Ethiopia office in the IT department, eventually taking on part-time media work. Then the two members of the media department who had been primarily responsible for the work gradually left the branch. And then the pandemic shutdown hit. There was little time for transition. Tigistu was hired around the beginning of the pandemic, and it fell to Daniel to train her. And then, says Daniel, “We were just handed stuff, not knowing anything. So we learned it together. We asked some questions. For the first month or so, we bothered [the previous director of media]. We were like, ‘How do you do this? How do you do that?’ But then we also got sick of calling and we started researching ourselves. And we went through it. It just takes determination. You can do it. Anyone can do it.”

AUDIO DOCUMENTARY

Lombiso Daniel produced a fascinating audio documentary as part of his training. He tackles the very timely subject of localization within SIL and what people understand of it. 

If you have 20 minutes, click the icon or this link.

As for those considering IMS training in the future, Daniel explains, “I would say it could be a standard to work in SIL, any branch, especially for the media departments or a volunteer service giver.” He adds, “Whether you have experience or not, it is encouraged. You never stop learning.” 

In the end, the ultimate question is: What do the people they serve think? Tigistu is confident the response has been positive. In her experience the people have been “so happy and glad to work with us because their community is [an] oral community. So they want the audio recordings more than the hard-copy Bibles. Everyone in the ‘down country’ place, they can hear more than read anything. So they’re really happy and glad to record their audio with us.”Ricky DiMartino joined SIL International Media Services (IMS) in 2020 and works as the IMS PR Coordinator. He became editor of the IMN (and defender of the Oxford comma) in 2021. You can contact him at ricky_dimartino@sil.org.