Rejoice with us! And with Keir and Gillian Hansford, whose many years of hard work overseeing this translation in northern Ghana have finally reached completion. On Friday I uploaded the whole Chumburung Bible via the Internet to Wycliffe’s Global Publishing Services in Dallas. (Isn’t technology fantastic? In the bad old days it would have been a huge stack of paper, taking at least a week by overseas parcel post!) In Dallas the entire computer text will be subjected to a final, rigorous page-by-page check before being sent off for printing by the Korean Bible Society.
Many, many thanks to all who prayed with us that despite the delay caused by my earlier back problems, we would still make the end-of-August deadline.
It was a close-run thing, but together we could, and we did! To prove it, you can see on the left the first page of the Chumburung Bible; and on the right, the last page. (Click on any of the images to get a closer look.)
The last page is interesting: I told the Hansfords there would be ten blank pages at the end of the book. Such blank pages are often unavoidable, as the Bibles are printed on large sheets with 16 pages on each side — i.e., 32 pages at a time. So if the total number of pages is not a multiple of 32, you get ‘empty’ pages at the end. Translation teams have done various things to fill these pages: extra last-minute material, like a Topical Index (not enough time usually!); or having them lined like an exercise book for sermon notes… etc., etc. The Hansfords didn’t like any of those ideas, so they came up with a novel one of their own: to turn these pages into an informal family record of births, marriages and deaths! Just like many English family Bibles in generations past.
In rural, semi-literate Chumburung society, important family events like these are often not officially registered. Problems therefore arise when people apply for jobs, or need a passport. But now the crucial dates can all be recorded in the back of the family Bible. These are the instructions on the last printed page (English translation below):
Your Own Genealogy Book
Write your own name and your parents’ names and your date of birth here.
If you marry, write the name of your spouse and his/her parents and the date of the marriage here.
If you give birth to a child, write his/her name and your spouse’s name and the date of birth here.
If one of your relatives dies, write his/her name and date of death here.
Pray with us that the Chumburung will find the printed pages of their new Bibles even more relevant than the blank ones! The Hansfords are tentatively planning the dedication for September next year, allowing time for final checking, printing and shipping from Korea.
Thank you again for your encouragement and support over the past six months!
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