GROVE, Dan and Melody

Dan grew up in Brampton, Ont. and Melody in Campbellton, N.B. They were married in 1988 and worked in ministry in Canada for a number of years, including six years in a Baptist pastorate.

The Groves joined Wycliffe in 1996 and began working in Cameroon, Africa in January 2000. They were asked to begin the project that is called the Ndop Cluster in the fall of 2002. This cluster consists of 10 languages, nine of which had no alphabets when they began. A New Testament was completed in the 10th language in 1993, but it was not used much  because mother-tongue literacy was almost non-existent in that village.

Melody homeschooled their three children from 2001-2012. In the Ndop Cluster, her focus is literacy. The literacy team first taught people to create materials for people already literate to learn to read and write their own language. They helped groups make reading primers for those who did not go to school and trained people to teach these materials.

Two Cameroonians (Daniel and Emmanuel) were trained to supervise new  teachers. In 2013, the team began using a mother-tongue school program in a primary school in Bambalang (for class one through four). Along with Emmanuel, who is now the literacy co-ordinator for the cluster, Melody has helped the teachers acquire teaching skills and learn to use the program.  They have seen encouraging results in teachers and students. In 2016, two more schools began the program. Melody helps train teachers, mentor Daniel and Emmanuel, and produce literacy materials. Church groups are encouraged to include literacy in their weekly meetings, so more people in the churches will be able to read the translated Scriptures.  

Dan began working on the basic linguistic study in Bambalang in 2003. He quickly transitioned to co-ordinating the work of the cluster as other missionary team members joined the project. He was involved in the training and mentoring of translation teams in the seven languages currently in the process of translation.

Dan continues to co-ordinate and supervise the work in the cluster, with much of his time now involved in co-ordinating, budgeting and planning. He is also continues mentoring a co-worker and is involved in Scripture engagement projects (Luke film and Scripture audio recordings), along with regular meetings with the different translation teams and Inter-church committees.

The Groves have three children: Caleb (soon to marry Courtney),  Samuel (married to Laura), and Anna, who is finishing high school.