The dedication took place in the village of Goima in northern Tanzania. It was held on the football field, which was right next to the weekly market location, so throughout the day many people passing by came over to find out what was happening. There were representatives from various Christian denominations, government officials, and even an honoured guest from the Muslim community. After the introductions, the choirs began to perform.  Local church choirs had been asked to prepare new songs from the texts of the newly translated Scripture portions.  Their joy was contagious as they danced and sang, accompanied by calabash and friction drums.

Johanna and I were struck by how similar the people look to the Rendille in Kenya. Both are Cushitic groups, and the picture of the women singing—their features and their bead decorations—could easily have been taken of their Rendille counterparts!

Later one of the Burunge pastors preached a message from the newly-published book of 1 Timothy. It was obvious that he had the crowd’s complete attention. One older man sat listening with tears rolling down his cheeks. Pastor Doe clearly explained the Gospel and told of God’s great love for all people. The sermon was also translated into Swahili for non-Burunge speakers.

Two men examining the Burunge book of Acts, which Steve typeset

To close the event, portions of the new books were read aloud by members of the community.  All the church leaders then gathered together, prayed over the books, and dedicated them to Lord. After the dedication, people were able to purchase their own copies from a book table.

Paul Hefft, the leader of the Burunge translation team, concludes: “Praise the Lord for a fantastic celebration and an opportunity to thank our Lord for His work among the Burunge people! Pray that the Lord would use these Scriptures mightily to strengthen Burunge Christians. Pray also that, in turn, they would boldly proclaim what God has done in their lives so others would come to know Him.”

For a fuller description of the event and further information about the Burunge translation project, follow this link.

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A Konkomba Catholic priest has now asked Steve if he can also typeset a Catholic edition: they are basing this on the existing version but will be adding the deuterocanonical sections (known to Protestants as the Apocrypha). Steve expects to work on this in the autumn.

As a result of Bible Translation and literacy work, written and linguistic materials in the language are now well established. The language is used on the local radio, and the work in Konkomba is contributing towards local development. An official request has now been made to to the Ghanaian government to use the Konkomba language in schools.

This is the beauty of translating what our great and loving God is saying into the language that people actually use. It affects not only individual lives, but also the local community. It gives people the tools they need to improve their lives by improving their relationship with God, each other and their environment—all within their local culture.

Have a look here for more images.

Dame Mary Steele is a veteran translator, who has said she will “die in harness”. Several years ago she was recognised in the Queen’s Honours List for her lifelong service to Bible translation and literacy in Africa. At the age of 80 her eyes are still bright and her heart still longs to bring God’s Word to people who have never had it before in their own heart-language.

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Though the enemy had other ideas, Richard Gravina and I have made an encouraging start on the Mbuko New Testament.* We were delayed for a week because of my swine flu; and we’ve also been battling a spate of computer problems (see adjacent posts). But after only a couple of weeks we’re already working through a near-final printout.

Richard and his wife Sue have been working for many years among the Mbuko of northern Cameroon in Central Africa. Here’s how he describes the Mbuko people:

“The Mbuko are a group of around 15,000, living in the northern part of Cameroon in central Africa. Up until 1978 there were no Christians among the Mbuko. But at that time, a few Mbuko put their trust in Jesus through contact with neighbouring groups. From then on their numbers increased rapidly. By 1990 a church had been formed in each of the Mbuko villages. Now most of the Mbuko would call themselves Christian, particularly amongst the younger age groups. As new Christians, they need to find out for the first time how to do everyday things, such as getting married, burying their dead, organising the church and so on.

“The leaders are learning how to apply Christian teaching to the Mbuko culture. Without the Bible to refer to, this is very difficult. The Mbuko are in the wonderful position of needing God’s Word, wanting God’s Word, and being about to receive God’s Word. It will be exciting to see the impact it has when the Mbuko have the New Testament in their hands and in their language!”

Please pray with us that that great day won’t be delayed by any further hold-ups in the typesetting process — health-wise, computer-wise, or any other-wise!

*For information about the language, including a map, click on the word Mbuko.

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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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