Otta has been working with Christian
education even longer. She began by helping with Sunday school in the church
she and her husband attended. (Photo: Keith delivering Bible story coloring books in
Sinti Romanes to Otta and Kennedy, 2008.)
Indeed, Otta has since helped with camps, taught Romanes (the word Sinti use for their own language) to Sinti children in the German school system, helped create and record a bilingual Children’s Bible story book (Kalderash Romani and Sinti Romanes), and spearheaded the translation of Sunday school material into Kalderash and Romanes.
Otta then organized online and in-person Bible reading groups of
adults as well as children. This stimulated reading in their own language as
well as Bible study. As part of this work, she recently completed a daily
devotional book in Romanes. (Photo:
dedication of entire Bible, 2021. Work done in cooperation with Romanes
Arbeit Marburg. https://romanes-arbeit-marburg.de/)
But all that came later. Her calling started simply, in the local Sunday school. First she worked alongside experienced Sunday school teachers. Soon she was put in charge of her own Sunday school group. The Sunday school leaders would give her and the others the theme or topic to teach.
At the time, she and Kennedy attended a German-speaking church with members from many different backgrounds, including a large number of Sinti. Kennedy himself felt called to become a pastor. At first his own pastor did not encourage him because of Kennedy’s low educational level. However, the call persisted, so Kennedy finally talked directly with the head of the Bible School. He successfully completed the course, surviving a bout with cancer while doing it. He and Otta have since started at least three churches on their own. Quelles des Lebens (Well of Life), the church which Kennedy now pastors, is also truly international. Consequently, Otta has experience teaching Roma, Sinti, German, and immigrant children.
She also does it with much insight and experience. I have seen her lead a group of Roma children in the Republic of Moldova. She kept them occupied in one corner of the church while a worship service was going on in the main part of the same room. Otta started with a Bible storybook and continued inventing one activity after another to keep them occupied.
Otta added, “And don’t touch the children.” Keep your hands off, especially when it comes to correcting a child.
She also highly recommends the children’s coloring Bible by Margitta Paul.
“It is very good material! It is so Biblical!”
Each child in their Sunday school gets their own loose-leafed notebook. With each Bible lesson, the children get a print-out of the story (in their own language) to add to their notebook. They also get a picture which they color themselves. In the end, each child will have their own colorful Children’s Bible Storybook.
Otta also adds a Davar: Bridging to Literacy game to each lesson.
“Davar games calm the children,” she said.
“By Noah’s ark we might build a boat with chairs,” she said.
Otta now trains others to lead Sunday school, just as she herself was trained. She works alongside the new teachers for a while and gives them suggestions. Soon the new teachers are coming up with their own ideas.
“People who work with children are usually creative,” Otta observed. “They can think of things like this for themselves.”
In the meantime, she continues to work on Christian Education for all ages. The entire New Testament has already been recorded in Romanes. Now she is working towards an audio recording of the Old Testament as well.
Truly, spreading the Word of God first in her own language and then to others continues to be her calling.