Portrait of a Sinti Bible Club Leader: Otta Laubing, Germany

My husband Keith Holmes and I have known  Otta Laubing and her husband Kennedy for at least 20 years. Kennedy was one of the voice talents in the first recording Keith ever did, Jesus film, Sinti Romanes 2001.

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.)

 “My children were still little. I worked with the Sunday school,” she told me. “Then it became my calling.”

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. 

Additionally, as part of her drive for Christian education, she has been worked with the translation team which successfully published first the New Testament (2010) and then the entire Bible in 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.

 “We had to work out what we would actually do for ourselves,” she explained. “I had to develop my own program.”

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.

 “I do this with much pleasure,” Otta said.

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.

 They communicated with the basic Romani words which can be understood in both their native Usari Romani and her Sinti Romanes. But most of all, Otta communicated through her good humor, patience, and obvious love for the children and the Word.

 I asked Otta if she had any tips for other teachers working with Roma and Sinti children. Yes. Her advice was, “Do not pressure the children. Don’t be too strict. Then the parents also feel as if you are correcting them. Of course the children must follow the rules you set out, but don’t be too severe.”

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!”

Otta is so enthusiastic that she and others in her church have translated the material into (Polish) Kalderash and also Sinti Romanes. The Kid’s Bible Colouring Book had already been published in many different languages. Otta had special permission from the author to translate the material into these Romani languages. Marlute van Dam, a seasoned Wycliffe/SIL Bible translator, assisted.

The lessons begin with Creation, move through the Bible, and end with the Acts of the Apostles. Each lesson includes a Bible story, two or three discussion questions, and a free coloring sheet.

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.

 She chooses a game that matches the lesson. For instance, the story of David and Goliath was paired with one of the games using stones.

Otta also used Davar activities in the Romanes language lessons she taught in the German school system. She would get a classroom full of children of all ages and abilities at the end of the school day. A “sit-in-your-chair-and-listen-to-the-teacher” lesson would have been pointless.  She used Davar activities to actively engage the children. (Photo courtesy of RAM website:  Otta and Kennedy with the primer and other resources she uses in school.)

 This is what Otta does in Sunday school as well. 

“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.” 

Otta has offered to write down which Davar game she uses with which Sunday school lesson. Just in case teachers are not feeling creative on this or that day.

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.