Archive for the ‘People’ Category

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Bible translation and social impact

Friday, May 11th, 2012

In 2010, Dave Pearson, who works as a language development advocate, wrote a brilliant article on the impact of language development on a community. In it he says,

Wycliffe’s language development work produces transformed lives through the translated word and through translated development information. People grow better crops and live better lives. They care for their environment and they care for their neighbours. They learn about justification by faith and oral rehydration solution. Wycliffe’s work brings both spiritual and material blessing. Read more here.

Of course, they don’t ‘grow better crops’ because they’ve read the instructions given in Leviticus, nor have the instructions for using oral rehydration solution been added to the Ten Commandments. Instead, as tools to communicate are developed in their language, so other information can be shared.

Government messages, that used to be broadcast in the national language, can be translated into the local language. Health advice provided by non-government organisations can be communicated so that all in the local community can understand the importance of clean drinking water.

This short video from our Wycliffe partners in the US show how Bible translation work comes alongside all sorts of other holistic work.

Changing lives can start with Bible translation. What can I do?

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Look2012 – a global get-together

Monday, April 30th, 2012

Today is the first day of the Look2012 international conference of Wycliffe Global Alliance and SIL International, with their key partners in the work of Bible translation. The massive gathering happens only once every four years. Just under 200 people will be participating, representing 65 countries.

We’d love it if you would take time to consider prayerfully those at the conference. These suggested prayer items come from Wycliffe USA:

  • Pray for a spirit of unity to cover this event.
  • Pray for safe travel for the conference attendees, and that everyone will enjoy good health during the meetings.
  • Ask God to grant unity and patience to all who are overseeing the event’s logistical details.
  • Pray for those who will minister as special guests – Bible study leader Lindsay Olesberg and speaker Dr. Christopher Wright.
  • Pray for open communication, understanding, and the covering of the Holy Spirit to surround the work. As a part of the conference, Wycliffe Global Alliance and SIL International will elect new board members; pray that God will raise up those of his choice who will govern well for the next four years.

This year marks the halfway point to Vision 2025, a vision to see the Bible translated into every language where it’s needed by 2025, a statement that was affirmed by the Wycliffe organisations in 1999. Find out more about Wycliffe’s vision for global Bible translation.

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Boundary-less

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

Tefera is currently at the Wycliffe Centre in the UK studying literacy. With Wycliffe Africa, he works in literacy programmes in Ethiopia, which is home to more than 60 languages. He has seen firsthand the impact of teaching in the mother tongue.

‘When you explain about the impact of learning the mother tongue, oh, they just cry. “So that’s why we feel like stupid people who don’t understand anything – that was where it went wrong,” they say. “It is because we weren’t taught in our mother tongue that we are not able to pass from grade to grade, or be intelligent like other people who are learning in their mother tongue.”’

Where Tefera grew up, education was in the national language, Amharic, spoken by few locally. The first grade alone can take up to five years for some students, if all enthusiasm for learning hasn’t been lost long before then. Very few move on to high school. Many in the community don’t understand the concept of the written script. When they see Amharic written, they despair that they have never had the chance to write their own language, which has been spoken for thousands of years. ‘Why? What’s wrong with our language?’

Tefera has been working with 25 new pilot classes in the area. The students are full of passion, involved and desperate to learn, taught in their own language. Of the six language groups, five now have a written form. Work progresses to analyse and produce a systematic orthography for the sixth, Baale. Without this script, the community suffers, financially, educationally and, without the Bible available to them, spiritually.

Unlike when Tefera was growing up, the government now strongly supports mother-tongue education in the country, but, [...] the task is still enormous: ‘I wish I could be 10 people, you know, just doing all this work. It’s too much – we need prayer, we need help, because the doors are open.’ Nevertheless, they are not discouraged. As Tefera says, ‘We should think boundary-less: there are no boundaries in God’s kingdom.’ Read more about Tefera on wycliffe.net.

Find out more about the impact of literacy work, and how it connects with sharing God’s Story in every language.

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Remembering Mary Gardner

Friday, March 23rd, 2012

Today we fondly remember Wycliffe worker Mary Gardner, who died in Jerusalem one year ago today, and celebrate the continuing work in Togo.

Mary teaching Greek in Togo

Mary had worked with speakers of the Ifè language, in Togo since 1990, and had been involved with developing a writing system and dictionary, starting literacy classes and preparing materials, and working on the New Testament translation with Togolese mother-tongue translators. In 2009, the New Testament was dedicated.

In the early part of 2011, Mary had travelled to Jerusalem, to The Home for Bible Translators, to study Hebrew. Learning Hebrew was part of her training to become a translation consultant, so that she could support the Ifè translators as they translated the Old Testament. It was on one of her days off when that a bomb exploded at a bus shelter where she was waiting.

We praise God for Mary, for her service and her love for the Ifè people. Her death has not stopped their work.

A Togolese organisation, ACATBLI (The Christian Association for Literacy and Bible Translation in the Ifè Language), runs the work of translation and literacy classes in the area, and progress is being made. Their literacy programmes have flourished: 6 areas are covered (including Ifè people in Benin), making up 100 study groups in which 4,000 people meet twice a week. As well as equipping them to read and write in Ifè, classes teach maths and French (the national language). Increased literacy has helped to share information about health issues, including HIV/Aids and Guinea Worm.

Members of ACATBLI shared this about remembering Mary:

“This March 23, 2012 will be the first anniversary of the death of our dear Mary Gardner Mariya from Ifè project wich becom ACATBLI today. Dear Mariya, ACATBLI and Ifè people will not forget you. Rest your soul.”

You can find out more about Mary from our biography of last year, and more about ACATBLI on their website (fr).

The Ifè are learning to read God’s word in their language. 350 million people still can’t, because they don’t have God’s word in their language. What can I do?

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Thomas Cranmer (d. 21 March 1556)

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

Amid discussion about the Archbishop of Canterbury in the news recently, we consider another, Thomas Cranmer, who was burnt at the stake on this day in 1556.

Cranmer was archbishop under Henry VIII, and a major figure in the split of the Church of England from the Holy See. His legacy is probably most clear in that church services are held in English in Britain today. He was influential in the royal approval for Coverdale’s Bible revision, the Great Bible, which at the King’s decree, was to be placed in every church in England:

“And they red in y boke of the lawe of God diʃtinctly & playnly, so y men underʃtode the thinge that was red.” 2 Esdras 8

(… although it may not be clearly understood today.)  He also translated and compiled the first Book of Common Prayer. The whole way church meetings were done (and they language in which they were done) was changing.

Perhaps the actions of more recent archbishops sound more radical to our ears…? For the next ascendant to the throne, Mary I, Cranmer was plenty controversial. Cranmer’s separation from and criticism of Rome saw him imprisoned to be executed if he failed to recant his views.

Cranmer’s history here strays from the expected one of a ‘hero of faith’. It reminds us of the humanity of men and women facing persecution for their faith. After a two year imprisonment, Cranmer recanted all his controversial beliefs.

Nevertheless, the date of his execution was set. He was required to give one further, full recantation publically in Oxford. It had been prepared beforehand, but Cranmer deviated from the script, announcing that he still held his reformation views. He was sent to the stake where, accounts tell us, he put the hand with which he had signed his recantations into the fire first.

Cranmer, though weak and very human, was willing to die for reforming change. Change like this is still happening, as churches and communities hear God’s word in their own language for the first time. You can help to bring this kind of change.

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The IT fixers

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

Because Wycliffe work in so many places around the world, teamwork can sometimes be a challenge. Richard Young (a Brit, working in Czech Republic and managing the IT department in Nigeria) shared this story about one of the times where cooperation across continents worked just as it should:

“It was great to go back to Nigeria in November, where I met up with some of the colleagues whom I had helped at a distance – people like Gareth Mort, who lives in a village on a bumpy road.

“One of his jobs is helping Nigerian translators to dub The JESUS Film into their languages, which makes a great tool for communicating the gospel to large groups. This involves a lot of work on the computer – preparing text from the book of Luke so that it fits well in the time slots, while still speaking Biblical truth.

“One day several months ago, Gareth switched his laptop on, only to find the screen looked like this:

“Probably it had suffered one jolt too many on those bumpy roads. So he texted me in the Czech Republic, asking for help. I found out that an American missionary was due to come to Nigeria in a few weeks, so I ordered a new screen for him to bring for Gareth.

“When the screen arrived, Sunday Ude (my Nigerian colleague) fitted it, and as you can see, Gareth was very happy to be able to see his full screen again, so he could work more effectively. It’s great when teamwork across continents works this smoothly…”

Getting God’s story out to people everywhere needs lots of skilled workers in lots of places. IT specialists, like Richard and Sunday, are especially needed. Visit wycliffe.org.uk/it to find out more about how you could support the work.

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Posted in Africa, Missionary life, People, Serving Overseas | 1 Comment »

One for all the family: children’s reources

Saturday, March 10th, 2012

The Vagla language is spoken by 10,000 people in Ghana. The New Testament was published in 1977. But, what does the Vagla idiom, ‘I doo hiah werge’ (literally, ‘You have a lot of liver’) mean…?

A) ‘You’re a brave hunter.’

B) ‘ You sure can eat a lot!’

C) ‘ You have no respect for your elders.’

Idioms, like the English ‘It’s raining cats and dogs’ or ‘He gets on my nerves’, can express meaning much more authentically – if you can decifer them. It’s not enough for a translator to just provide the literal translation; they have to know that ‘I doo hiah werge’ has a meaning that is closest to option C.

This question, along with a series of others, comes from Call my Bluff, a game developed by Wycliffe USA. In fact, it’s one of a huge number of games designed to help children and young people (and even adults) get a better grasp on the challenge of Bible translation and to get involved by praying, giving and telling others.

So, if you are looking for a source of laughter and fun for your Sunday School, youth group or family church service, have a look at the resources here on the Wycliffe website. Along with idiom quiz games like Call my Bluff, you can find Balloon Bibles (where young people carry Bibles across oceans), Big Teams (for thinking about the many different roles needed for the Bible translation task), Travel Bag (packing a bag for a missionary workers overseas stint) and many more.

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God, When Will You Speak in My Tongue?

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

This poem is by James Lokuuda Kadanya, a speaker of the Toposa language of South Sudan. Toposa is still without Scripture.

God, When Will You Speak in My Tongue?

Far and near
It is said that you, God, speak!
How do you do that?
Is it in their tongues?
If it is truly so,
God, when will you speak in my tongue?

East and west, north and south,
The Creator speaks, it is said!
Not in the language as of birds;
But in other human tongues I cannot understand!
God, when will you speak in my tongue?

Children and grown-ups of other lands,
With their different tongues,
Know your voice.
In their tongues you speak a special message to them!
If you speak messages in different tongues,
God, when will you speak in my tongue?

In the world around, we perceive you,
Yet your language is not clear.
We want to know you personally,
We want to hear you speak to us.
If you know all tongues,
God, when will you speak in my tongue?

We search you as a treasure.
Our eyes look on mountains, rivers,
Even in caves, forest and world around us.
Many voices are heard, confused we become,
If your voice is one, as of that of the Creator of all,
God, when will you speak in my tongue?

Oh! God, Creator of all people,
You who do not segregate,
Is it possible to hear you speak?
Can you speak in my tongue?
God, when will you speak in my tongue?

When he wrote the poem, James was studying in a linguistics school, and he now works for a mission, spreading God’s good news around the country. As many as half a million people who speak Toposa still only have a few portions of the Bible in their language. Do something so that people like James will hear God speak their tongue.

This poem has been reposted from the blog of a partner organisation, The Seed Company. Read their blog.

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Posted in Africa, Culture, Languages, People | 2 Comments »

The time is right

Friday, January 13th, 2012

John Hamilton, the coordinator of Wycliffe Bible Translators’ work in Northern Ireland, is making exciting plans for a trip abroad:

“Last week I booked flights to return to Ivory Coast. We left there as a family in July 1997 having completed an 8 year Wycliffe assignment at Vavoua International School teaching the children of mission families working in West Africa. Both our children and myself have made separate trips back to Ivory Coast quite a while ago, but for my wife, this will be her first time in Africa for almost 15 years.

“So why are we returning to the land of mangoes? To be part of a belated celebration of the New Testament in the Kouya language. Belated because the Kouya New Testaments arrived in the port of Abidjan in 2002, the day after Wycliffe personnel were evacuated due to the worsening political situation. Belated because that led to ten years of civil unrest and violence. Belated because the civil war battle lines in Ivory Coast were drawn right through Kouya territory. Belated because, for the past decade, the Kouya church leaders have not judged it wise to hold a public celebration of God’s word in their heart language.

“But now they feel the time is right.“ Read more from John’s blog.

As well as praying for John and his family’s trip to Ivory Coast, let’s praise God that the Kouya people have God’s word in their language. 350 million people do not, but you could help to change that.

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The journey starts here…

Saturday, December 31st, 2011

John Wycliffe, a fourteenth-century scholar, is credited with the first complete translation of the Bible into any modern European language. While many had translated portions into Old and Middle English, Wycliffe’s translation is the first complete English Bible.

His work was opposed by the organised church at the time. The concept of a Bible accessible to the common man was so vile that, in response, Bible translation was declared an act of heresy, and his body was burnt as punishment… 43 years after he died.

Wycliffe translated the New Testament almost entirely alone from the Latin Vulgate (no one in the fourteenth century learnt Greek). Every copy had to be handwritten, with each Bible taking up to a year to produce. But, by 1408, even reading a copy was punishable by death.

Why did he bother?

“Holy Scriptures is the faith of the Church, and the more widely its true meaning becomes known the better it will be. Therefore since the laity should know the faith, it should be taught in whatever language is most easily comprehended… [After all,] Christ and His apostles taught the people in the language best known to them.” From a sermon by Wycliffe.

A lot has changed since Wycliffe’s work. Today, hundreds of versions of the Bible exist in English. In fact, there are as many English translations as there are languages with a complete Bible. And there are more than 2,000 with no Scripture at all.

Wycliffe’s death was more than 600 years ago today, but Bible translation is not 600-year-old history. Give the Bible: the Story everybody needs.

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