Word Alive Magazine - Spring 2009

Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada • Spring 2009

Nothing thrills—or frightens—a fun-loving Danny Foster like coordinating Bible translation for clusters of languages in Tanzania.

World Translation Update

Wycliffe Launches Children’s Ministry

After All’s Said and Done. . . .

Foreword Spring 2009 • Volume 27 • Number 1 Word Alive, which takes its name from Hebrews 4:12a, is the official publication of Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada. Its mission is to inform, inspire and involve the Christian public as partners in the worldwide Bible translation movement.

Magazine Makeover

Editor: Dwayne Janke

Dwayne Janke

Designer: Laird Salkeld Senior Staff Writer: Doug Lockhart Staff Writers: Janet Seever, Deborah Crough Staff Photographer: Alan Hood Director of Communications: Dave Crough Word Alive is published four times annually by Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada, 4316 10 St NE, Calgary, AB T2E 6K3. Copyright 2009 by Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada. Permission to reprint articles and other magazine contents may be obtained by written request to the editor. A donation of $12 annually is suggested to cover the cost of printing and mailing the magazine. (Donate online or use the reply form in this issue.) Printed in Canada by McCallum Printing Group, Edmonton.

Member: The Canadian Church Press, Evangelical Press Association.

For additional copies: media_resources@wycliffe.ca To contact the editor: editor_wam@wycliffe.ca For address updates: circulation@wycliffe.ca Note to readers: References to “SIL” are occasionally made in Word Alive. SIL is a key partner organization, dedicated to training, language development and research, translation and literacy.

Wycliffe Canada Vision Statement: A world where translated Scriptures lead to transformed lives among people of all languages.

Translating Scripture, Transforming Lives Together with partners worldwide, we serve indigenous people through language-related ministries, especially Bible translation and literacy. Our goal is to empower local communities to express God’s love in Word and deed—for personal, social and spiritual transformation. Wycliffe personnel currently serve globally in nearly 1,500 language projects for more than a half billion people. However, about 2,400 minority groups still wait for the power of God working through their own languages.

Wycliffe invites you to participate in this effort through prayer, service and funding.

Canadian Head Office: 4316 10 St NE, Calgary, AB T2E 6K3. Phone: (403) 250-5411 or toll free 1-800-463-1143, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. mountain time. Fax: (403) 250-2623. Email: info@wycliffe.ca Cover: Wycliffe Canada’s Danny Foster relaxes during a visit to Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park (see story, pg. 6).

Photograph by Alan Hood

In Others’ Words “ The Bible appeals to me strongly . . . because it is such excellent medicine; it has never failed to cure a single patient if only he took his prescription honestly. . . .”

—Dr. Howard A. Kelly (1858-1943), renowned surgeon and scientist, in A Scientific Man and the Bible.

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ou don’t have to click far through today’s “reality”obsessed, multi-channel TV universe to realize that “makeover” programs are popular with viewers. It can be interesting, informative and, of course, entertaining to see the change from the “before” to the “after.”

In such makeovers, canine handlers and super nannies stop the chaos created by misbehaving dogs and out-of-control children.

Interior decorators and hyperactive construction crews work their magic to spruce up single rooms or rebuild entire homes for families that want face-lifts to their living conditions. Fashion experts, cosmeticians and hairstylists transform poorly dressed women with bad self-images into confident, diva-like dazzlers who impress families and friends.

Though it will never be featured on TV, magazines need makeovers too. Occasionally, periodicals must be given careful improvements, new looks and altered content to keep them fresh, and to better communicate their message to readers. We at Word Alive have been doing some redesign thinking over the past year, led by our busy designer Laird Salkeld. The results of that process can be seen starting in this issue.

Our magazine cover nameplate (“Word Alive”) has a new look.

The lettering reflects the solid, foundational and ancient character, but also the dynamic, modern relevance of the Scriptures (and the Hebrews 4:12a basis for Word Alive’s name).

Departments, including this column, We have made Word Alive have been renamed for continuity (“word” is in every one of them). Some sections are visually cleaner and more relocated and enlarged (such as the newsoriented “Watchword” on pages 4-5). All contemporary. We hope have been refocused or even created anew you like the changes. (e.g. “Beyond Words” on pg. 34). Behind every department name (look at the top of this page, for example) you will notice a light, supporting graphic, with ties to our translation work on the field. The strange-looking symbols are actually how each department name is written with the international phonetic alphabet that is used by Bible translators to record unwritten languages.

The layout grid and lettering of this magazine have been reworked too. Overall, we have made Word Alive visually cleaner and more contemporary. We hope you like the changes.

Speaking of makeovers and redesign, the face of Bible translation has been changing for centuries—and chronicled in this magazine for 25 years. In this particular issue, we take you to Africa, for stories about Canadian Wycliffe personnel working in something new called “language cluster projects.” In these, Wycliffe workers serve a group of languages that may be linguistically related and/or are from similar geographic regions or cultural backgrounds. Language cluster projects are part of a strategy to do work smarter, not harder, to accelerate the Bible translation effort worldwide.

Who can argue with that kind of makeover?

6 Contents

Features

6

One Cool Coordinator Nothing thrills—or frightens—a fun-loving Danny Foster like coordinating Bible translation for clusters of languages in Tanzania.

Articles By Doug Lockhart • Photographs by Alan Hood

16 A Show of Unity In Tanzania’s Mara region, church denominations are putting their differences aside to focus on Bible translation for nine related languages.

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22 Sonrise in a New Dawn An international team,

including Canadians, helps Bible translation move forward in 10 related languages of Cameroon.

By David J. Ringer • Photographs by Alan Hood

28 Alphabet Makers Linguistic research, new software tools and community input craft an alphabet for an oral language in Africa.

By Curtis Hawthorne and David J. Ringer • Photographs by Alan Hood

32 They Now Have “God’s Paper” The Chachi

speakers of Ecuador are among another 30 groups globally to receive God’s translated Word in their language.

By Janet Seever

22

Departments 3

Foreword Magazine Makeover

4

Watchword W ycliffe Canada Launches Children’s Ministry

34 Beyond Words Cross Watch

Photograph by Alan Hood

35 Last Word A fter All’s Said and Done. . . .

By Dr. Mike Walrod

Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca 3

Watchword Wycliffe Canada Launches Children’s Ministry

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ycliffe Canada has launched a new Children’s Ministry program to inspire youngsters for future work in missions and Bible translation.

Paul Meisner, Wycliffe Canada’s public relations director, says the research is clear: before the age of 14, children tend to make life-long decisions to enter in to the mission field full time. Children simply can’t be overlooked.

Today’s six-to-nine-year-old children will be the Bible translation personnel integral to helping “Vision 2025” become a reality, says Meisner. Vision 2025 is a call to action by Wycliffe and others to see Bible translation started in every one of the world’s languages that need it, by the year 2025.

Meisner has appointed Christy Edwards as coordinator of the new ministry. She envisions assisting childrens’ leaders—including parents, homeschoolers, church kid’s ministry staff and Christian teachers—to inform, inspire and involve kids in missions and in fulfilling Vision 2025.

Edwards has been charged with helping develop programs and resources to meet the need for training children. Wycliffe Canada has already set up a kid’s section on its website [www.wycliffe.ca/kids].

Wycliffe Joins WEA for Bible-based Transformation

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orld Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has welcomed Wycliffe International as its newest “Global Partner,” boosting the alliance’s efforts to promote Bible-based transformation.

WEA Global Partner membership, which now stands at 11, is given to international organizations that specialize in a field that contributes to WEA’s mission and objectives.

“We are delighted that Wycliffe International has become a WEA Global Partner,” said Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, WEA’s international director, who is from Canada. “As a global network, Wycliffe is one of the best known and respected Christian ministries in the world.

“WEA clearly supports the aims of Wycliffe to be a catalyst for God’s solutions for the communities of the world who don’t have His Word in their own language.”

Kirk Franklin, the head of Wycliffe International, is excited by the new partnership.

“Our ministry and all whom we represent respect the impact WEA is having around the world,” he says. “Our particular focus is a good fit with WEA’s desire to extend the Kingdom of God by proclamation of the gospel to all

nations and by Christ-centred transformation within society.”

WEA is a network of churches in 128 nations forming an evangelical alliance, and more than 100 international organizations. It gives a worldwide identity, voice and platform to more than 420 million evangelical Christians.

Wycliffe International consists of 49 autonomous Wycliffe organizations, including Wycliffe Canada.

JAARS Inc. Gets New Leadership

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avid Reeves, a Wycliffe member for 24 years, is the new president of JAARS Inc., an arm of Wycliffe that provides technology and support services to speed Bible translation.

Reeves (at left) and his wife Jane have served with JAARS in communication and aviation services in its Waxhaw, N. C. headquarters, as well as in Indonesia. He also held multiple management and supervisory roles with YAJASI, JAARS’ national partner in Papua, Indonesia.

“I am courageously confident that the Lord is using Bible translation to change the face of His church and His Kingdom,” says Reeves, when asked about filling his role as JAARS leader. “We need to expand our comfort zones and to open our minds to new perspectives.”

Reeves succeeds Jim Akovenko, who has led JAARS for a dozen years and now moves on to senior leadership with The Seed Company, a partner organization to Wycliffe, based in the U.S.

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Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

Forty Adventure Seekers Raise $36,000

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en teams of adventure seekers raised more than $36,000 for crucial Bible translation projects in West Africa this past September.

The 40 participants competed in Wycliffe Canada’s weekend Race to 2025: Cameroon held in the Canadian Rockies near Nordegg, Alberta. They climbed rocks, rappelled cliffs (below), rode mountain bikes, canoed rivers and trekked mountains. In an ethnic linguistics challenge, they also discovered a hidden village where they attempted to speak and write a language they didn’t know.

Race to 2025 bridges the gap between the passion for adventure sports among young Canadians and the eternal adventure to which Jesus called His Church— making disciples of all nations.

The race was the third in 12 months. They have yielded more than $88,000 to fully fund projects in Africa and Southeast Asia.

A comprehensive mother tongue Bible literacy initiative in Ghana, Africa, is the funding focus of the next demanding winter race, to be held February 13-15. For details, visit <www. wycliffe.ca/raceto2025>. (See also the related reply form.)

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uyana police have issued Warrants warrants for two Brazilians Issued in accused of killing Wycliffe’s Wycliffe Richard and Charlene Hicks 2005. The two accused, who Couple’s in were ranch hands on the couple’s Death farm and are now believed to be

in Brazil, each face one count of murder.

A police spokesman said that while Guyana does not have an extradition treaty with Brazil, it would ask its southern neighbour to hand

over the men. Police suspect that robbery was the motive for the murders, which included setting fire to their house.

Richard, a dual Canadian/U.S. citizen, and Charlene had worked in Bible translation among the 7,500 Wapishana people since 1994 (see Word Alive, Summer 2008).

Bev Dawson, who started the language project that the Hicks later joined, has nearly completed the New Testament with several Wapishana language helpers.

Wycliffe Book, Workshops Healing Trauma

Bible Translation Training Boosted in Africa

housands of trauma victims in Africa are building new lives out of their pain, thanks to workshops and the book they are based on: Healing the Wounds of Trauma: How the Church Can Help.

Four Wycliffe Scripture use and mental health specialists wrote it after church leaders in Africa asked for help as they encountered trauma among war victims and refugees. The book explains basic important mental health principles within a biblical framework for those suffering from war, crime or natural disasters.

Harriet Hill, Scripture use coordinator for SIL’s Africa Area and one of the authors, says the book has been reprinted three times. Six Africa-wide workshops have been held for church leaders, and those trained have conducted hundreds of local seminars.

Now published in 20 languages (including Tarok in Nigeria, pictured above), translation of the book is underway in more than 40 others.

Workshops outside of Africa have been held or requested in Papua New Guinea, Asia, Latin America and India.

wenty-three theological schools in francophone Africa have agreed to offer a course on Bible translation by the 2009-2010 academic year.

Painstakingly developed by Wycliffe personnel, the curriculum was outlined during a major presentation to 82 representatives from 27 schools at the Council of Theological Institutions in Togo this past June.

Adoption of the course is an enormous opportunity to encourage more African Bible translators in French-speaking countries.

Located in west-central Africa, these nations are home to 261 languages requiring Scripture translation, one of the largest concentrations of need in the world.

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T

Michael Johnson

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ycliffe staff serving in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have created an HIV/AIDS-fighting DVD and accompanying booklet for use among the country’s many language groups.

Entitled “Kisim AIDS—Kisim Taim” (Get AIDS—Get Trouble), the DVD dramatizes how the disease affects the whole family. It was produced and performed in Melanesian Pidgin by Wycliffe workers.

The accompanying booklet, HIV and AIDS Information, clearly describes the causes, consequences, preventive measures and care needed for victims.

It has already been translated and printed in more than 30 of PNG’s 800-plus languages.

N umber of languages with current In the next 10-15 years, Bible translation projects worldwide. the infection rate in PNG is projected to skyrocket.

P ortion of current Bible translation Unfortunately, low literacy projects involving Wycliffe. rates and lack of access to reliable information mean P eople speaking the that many PNG residents Languages in those face this sickness with projects. misconceptions.

Wycliffe Staff Translate HIV/ AIDS Media

Word Count

1,953 72%

568,000,000

Alan Hood

Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca 5

A

Nothing thrills—or frightens—a fun-loving Danny Foster like coordinating Bible translation for clusters of languages in Tanzania.

By Doug Lockhart Photographs by Alan Hood

6

Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

t the wheel of his family’s sturdy Land Rover (above), Danny Foster is doing his best to dodge pedestrians, pedlars and pushcarts as he drives along a bustling downtown street in Musoma, Tanzania.

Danny, his wife Ranette and their sons Josiah, 3, and 18-month-old Isaac, are heading to a nearby restaurant as lunchtime approaches on a hot Saturday morning in this east African country.

“I love this,” says Danny of the marketplace buzz surrounding them. “I’m still a city kid at heart.”

Eyeing a rough, washed-out dirt road to his left, the Toronto native voices his temptation to use it as a shortcut, but after some thought, abandons the idea.

“I hate to be defeated by a road,” Danny mutters.

“You mean, defeated by anything,” Ranette counters with a knowing smile.

Few of Danny’s friends and co-workers in the UgandaTanzania Branch of SIL, Wycliffe’s key partner organization, would refute Ranette’s observation.

Danny’s outgoing personality and fluency in Swahili have enabled him to build an ever-growing network of friends that include Charles Papaa (left), an experienced guide who knows his way around the vast Serengeti game reserve.

Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca 7

“Danny’s energy is infectious.

He really does have . . . a tremendous belief in the power and ability of God, as well.”

Brimming with energy and blessed with an ear-to-ear grin “He has a big personality, and when he that lights up a room, the affable 38-year-old teacher, linguist walks into a room . . . he gets lots of attenand former pastor seems ideally suited as a leader of the Mara tion. As a result, I sometimes lose the transCluster Project. The innovative project is starting New Testament lators’ attention,” he adds with a smile. translation in nine related languages—simultaneously—in But Rietveld says Danny, who served as a Tanzania’s Mara region. pastor for eight years with the Pentecostal To start with, Danny—a Wycliffe Canada member and graduAssemblies of Canada (PAOC), clearly has ate of the Canada Institute of Linguistics (CanIL) in Langley, a heart for people.

B.C.—speaks fluent Swahili. Add to that a friendly, easy-going “I wasn’t surprised when I first heard he manner, a first-rate education in linguistics and translation had been a pastor. You can see that.” and a God-given gift for teaching. The result is someone well Danny’s co-workers see a man not only equipped—and apparently chosen by God—to coordinate trainintent on facilitating Bible translation in ing for 18 Tanzanian translators.

Tanzania, but also someone who is sensitive He also leads an office staff of 27 expatriate and Tanzanian to his colleagues’ needs. workers. They include Ranette, who handles finances for the “If one of us is dealing with personal project, and Rachel Workentine, a fellow Canadian and CanIL issues, Danny’s quick to see that,” adds graduate who serves as a translation adviser.

Brewerton, “and he’s got good ideas about Although Danny seems to exude confidence, he admits to wres- how to address them.” tling with an underlying fear, one his colleagues know little about.

For Danny, it boils down to a simple philosophy.

They just appreciate the skills he brings to the leadership team, as “There are two things that will last forever: The Word of together, they develop a cluster strategy for this particular group God—and people. Those are the two things we need to be of Bantu languages (see “Meet the Bantu Family,” pg. 19). investing in.

“It’s too easy, in this cluster approach, to focus on speed and efficiency and getting Bibles translated—too easy to leave people behind and forget about them.”

“Danny’s energy is infectious,” says Dave Brewerton, manager of operations for the Mara project. “He really does have . . . a tremendous belief in the power and ability of God, as well.

“On the other hand, I struggle to keep up with him sometimes.” While Danny clearly demonstrates compassion for people and a Another SIL colleague, Patrick Rietveld, finds it challenging high level of competency as a teacher, administrator and linguist, when he and Danny work together to provide training for local those who know him also see a man who’s living out his dream. translators.

After they arrived in Tanzania in 2004, the Fosters began serv-

A Pastor’s Heart

More Than He Dreamed

8

Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

“My life dream was, if I could just see God’s Word translated into one language . . . and some language community had the Word of God—what a feat!”

ing with SIL in the southern region of Mbeya. There, they helped coordinate a program to train mother tongue translators working in 10 related languages.

With that project now well underway, Danny and Ranette joined the Mara project in February 2007.

Encompassing translation for 19 languages, the Mbeya and Mara cluster projects could potentially impact about four million people by providing them with Scripture in their heart languages.

Those statistics far exceed the life goals Danny had set for himself.

“My life dream was, if I could just see God’s Word translated into one language . . . if I died and some language community had the Word of God—what a feat!”

The seeds of that dream were first planted in Danny’s heart in 1989, during his studies at Eastern Pentecostal Bible College in Peterborough, Ont. That year, Wycliffe Canada’s Ross Errington visited the campus and spoke to students about the need for Bible translation.

Errington’s challenge rocked Danny.

“Here we were, studying all these issues about missions . . . and then I found out there was an even more fundamental need; that all these millions of people didn’t even have a Bible in their own language.”

In his current role as branch training coordinator and interim team leader of the Mara project, Danny doesn’t do any actual Bible translation. But he’s definitely a driving force behind the work.

In his home on the outskirts of Musoma (opposite), Danny unwinds after a full day at the office by preparing a gourmet meal. It’s one of many interests and hobbies that help the former Ontario pastor make room for fun in his busy schedule as interim leader of the Mara Cluster Project.

Tanzania At a Glance Official Name: United Republic of Tanzania.

Population: 40.21 million (20% greater than Canada).

Location: Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Kenya & Mozambique; includes islands of Pemba & Zanzibar. Capital (designate): Dodoma – 250,000 pop.

Commercial capital: Dar es Salaam - 3 million pop.

Peoples: 99% African in 160+ indigenous ethnic groups; 92% are Bantu peoples.

Bible translation status: Bible/NT available - 12 languages NT/OT translation in progress - 44 • Possible remaining Bible translation need – 74.

Literacy Rate: 78% of adult population (2003 est.).

Religion: Christianity 44%; Islam 33%; traditional religion 23% (SIL figures).

Geography: 945,087 sq. km Languages: 124 – of which, Bantu languages make up (roughly the size of British the largest group. Official languages – Swahili & English.

Columbia). Includes a hot/ humid coastal plain; semiarid, temperate highlands in the north and south; and a central plateau. Home to Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest point, near the border with Kenya. Woodland and brush cover more than half the country.

Uganda Rwanda

Kenya

Burundi Lake

Tanzania

•Dar es Salaam

ika

arry

Tang

Zaire

Indian Ocean

Malawi

Lake Nyasa

Zambia

Government: Republic with National Assembly; multi-party democracy; has 26 administrative regions.

Danny Foster

Economy: One of the world’s poorest countries; depends heavily on agricultural subsistence economy. Industry has traditionally featured processing of agricultural products & light consumer goods.

Lake Victoria

Mozambique

Sources: The World Factbook; Operation World (21st Century Edition); Wikipedia, SIL Uganda-Tanzania

At the office, Danny prays with some of the 27 local and expatriate team members involved in the Mara project. While Danny is excited about furthering Bible translation for nine related Bantu languages (see sidebar, pg. 19), he believes itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just as crucial to invest in the lives of the individuals involved.

Ranette Foster

During a camping trip in the Serengeti National Park, Danny surveys a herd of Cape buffaloes—one of Africa’s “Big Five” game animals coveted by hunters. His wife Ranette (opposite, holding 18-month-old Isaac during a Sunday morning church service) doesn’t hunt, but she, Isaac and three-year-old Josiah enjoy camping and other outdoor activities with their adventurous husband and father.

“There are tons of people involved, but to be on the ground implementing it all, running the training workshops, choosing the translators and setting it up . . . it’s pretty amazing.

“It’s a riot. We have an awesome team up here,” says Danny with his characteristic broad, toothy grin, “a really fun group of people to work with.”

“I’ve got to be able to The Fun Factor word “fun” crops up regularly in Danny’s conversations. laugh at least once a day. The Some people might conclude—mistakenly—that having fun is most important thing in his life.

That’s my thing. I tell all the“I’ve got to be able to laugh at least once a day,” says Danny.

“That’s my thing. I tell all the people I’m training, ‘Make your the people I’m training, students laugh once a day.’ ” Despite his fun-loving nature, Danny’s dead serious about ‘Make your students getting mother tongue Scriptures into the hands of Tanzanians, who only have access to Swahili translations which, for many, laugh once a day.’” are hard to understand.

However, Danny sees no reason why he can’t enjoy life to the fullest. And the slender, 6-ft.-2 in. Jamaican-Canadian, who’s most comfortable in a T-shirt and jeans, has been finding ways to have fun ever since he was a teenager growing up in Bancroft, Ont. Even in his work, he gets a kick out of using some of the “toys” a generous supporter and best friend has donated, like his BlackBerry smartphone, a state-of-the-art laptop computer and the GPS navigation device that helps him find his way around the Mara region.

12 Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

Good News for the Last Languages

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uring a break at a Scripture translation workshop this past fall for the Mara Cluster Project in Tanzania, Danny Foster took a moment to check email messages on his mobile phone.

A broad grin lit up his face as he read one particular message in his inbox. He immediately alerted two other project leaders, SIL colleagues Dave Brewerton and Tim Gilmore (below).

Rumours of a major donation to the work of Bible translation had been confirmed. SIL’s Uganda-Tanzania branch (UTB)—and the Mara Cluster Project—would be one of the beneficiaries of a $50-million gift to Wycliffe U.S., whose Last Languages Campaign aims to help fund the Last Languages Initiative (LLI).

The initiative is part of Vision 2025, a global vision to accelerate the pace of language development and Bible translation for the world’s remaining language groups. About one third of the world’s 6,900 language groups still have no Bible translation program in place.

Vision 2025 aims to see Bible translation projects started, in all these remaining groups, over the next 16 years. Innovative “cluster” projects, like the one in Tanzania’s Mara region, are helping make the vision a reality by grouping related languages together in joint, coordinated translation efforts.

“He loves his gadgets,” says Ranette, rolling her eyes.

Danny’s other passions include gourmet cooking, as well as a variety of outdoor pursuits like camping, riding motorcycles and mountain biking—to name a few.

Mountain biking is a hobby he shares with Ranette, who vigorously maintains she was quite innocent when, as a single girl back in 1997, she invited Danny to join her for a day of biking.

“Danny might have been expressing some interest in me,” she says with a smile and a faint blush on her cheeks, “but I was not picking that up.”

Some time later, Ranette started working with Danny on a job that had them cleaning up a burned-out factory. Sparks from that fire had long since cooled—but they were heating up between Danny and Ranette.

Later that same summer, she and Danny went canoeing together.

“That weekend—and he cannot deny this—he said, ‘I’m not looking for a girlfriend, I’m looking for a wife,’ ” Ranette reminisces.

“And I’m thinking, ‘Great—I’m in a canoe in the middle of a lake. What am I supposed to say?’ ” The couple married in 1999 and while they share many interests, Ranette is resigned to live with Danny’s other love—hunting.

It’s been one of his favourite pastimes since he was 14. He dreams of bagging a Cape buffalo, one of the most sought-after big game animals in Africa because of its reputation as a dangerous, unpredictable adversary.

For the Mara Cluster Project, UTB’s share of the colossal donation will ensure that money is in place to hire 18 mother tongue translators, two for each of the nine languages.

It will also cover costs to build a new administrative centre in the city of Musoma, and supply the translators with reliable computers and translation software.

But Danny Foster is especially pleased that with funding now in place, the branch can invest in the lives of gifted translators and begin building capacity for additional Bible translation projects.

“We’re going to have a lot of Tanzanian people trained in these workshop programs,” says Danny, “so we can start assisting qualified translators to receive further education.”

The Last Languages Initiative is touted by Wycliffe, SIL and partner organizations as a “comprehensive, coordinated and corporate” response to the challenges of Vision 2025. The scope of language work will expand, for example, to include planning that covers an entire country or region, rather than projects that impact just a single language.

Furthermore, LLI will broaden the number of partner agencies involved in funding and fieldwork. Currently, 110 organizations around the world are affiliated with Wycliffe, working with churches, language communities and partner organizations to accomplish Vision 2025.

Last November, Wycliffe’s U.S. organization launched the Last Languages Campaign, an ambitious fundraising strategy that aims to raise more than $1 billion in gifts and pledges to LLI over the next 10 years.

So far, the campaign has attracted about $120 million in gifts and pledges—including the $50-million donation from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous.

Campaign goals include engaging with current and new donors, raising awareness of the need for Bible translation, mobilizing more volunteers and cultivating prayer for field work.

Wycliffe Canada is set to play a significant role in the LLI through its project-funding partner, Global PartnerLink (GPL). As the largest Wycliffe fundMore On The Web: To learn more about GPL’s projects around the world, ing organization outside of the U.S., GPL aims to involve Canadians and mother tongue Bible translators in helpvisit www.globalpartnerlink.ca. ing fulfil Vision 2025.

“By 2010, we plan to focus on language projects in three countries,” says GPL president François Robert. “Projects in Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon and a region in Asia should account for 50 per cent of all language projects we support, thus aligning our efforts with the Last Languages Initiative.”

Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca 13

Radical Change Danny’s love of adventure and just plain fun stems, in part, from

the commitment he made to Christ at age 17. Back then, he was into a whole different kind of fun—the kind he’s reluctant to talk about today.

Although Danny lived in Toronto until he was 11, he moved to Bancroft in 1981 with his parents and two of his six older brothers.

“I never considered myself to be part of an ethnic group until I moved to Bancroft,” he says with a smile.

In the small southeastern Ontario town, he endured taunting from local kids because of his city roots, his darker skin and a racial heritage that includes Jamaican, African and Jewish bloodlines.

Danny had received Christ at the age of seven, but in high school his grades began to nosedive and he drifted into the party scene. One summer morning, alone in a Toronto-area park after a night of partying, Danny decided to get serious with God. Away from his family to attend summer school, he had become disgusted by his own behaviour and determined to change his life—radically.

But there was one thing he refused to change.

“I decided that serving Christ . . . didn’t have to be boring. I decided to serve Him with as much passion and fervour as I had served the world and myself.”

Before long, Danny also began reading a Bible his brother Jonathan had given him.

“The Word of God took on a new meaning in my life at that point,” he recalls.

Ever since that August morning in 1987, the hand of God has clearly been on his life.

Sense of Destiny Signs of God’s leading and provision in Danny’s life have been,

at times, miraculous. For example, while attending Eastern Pentecostal Bible College, he pleaded with God to heal his lifelong struggle with chronic asthma so he could become a missionary.

Concluding that his prayer needed to be followed up by “an act of faith,” he discarded his asthma inhalers. Since that day in 1989 when he prayed for healing, he estimates he has only used five or six inhalers.

Then in his last year of Bible college, Danny’s oldest brother, Tim, told him, “God’s going to do some big things in your life.”

On another occasion, while studying at Pan Africa Christian College in Nairobi, Kenya, for one year as part of his degree program at Eastern, a missionary friend told him, “If you’re not careful in your walk with God, you could miss out on something really, really big.”

Danny believes God inspired those words—and others—to encourage him.

“Those two comments have always echoed in me, says Danny.

“They’re just hiding there in the back of my brain like a little motor, just running and running.”

14 Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

During a Sunday morning church service in Musoma, Danny receives prayer from Lukasi Munumbo, a pastor with the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, and congregants.

Missionaries from the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC), where Danny still holds pastoral credentials, founded the East African denomination. Danny has just disclosed that he is feeling discouraged by some challenges in the project and by some bad news just received: his close friend Steve Rehn, whose mother Linn volunteers at Wycliffe’s Calgary office, was killed in a road accident while cycling in Nigeria.

“ When I walk into the office every day, I feel like I could mess everything up. I know my weaknesses. . . .”

He’s amazed at what God has done through him already—but also terrified.

“When I walk into the office every day, I feel like I could mess everything up. I know my weaknesses. . . .

“My whole life intimidates me,” he says, laughing. “It scares the living daylights out of me, what I do and the responsibilities I have. I really feel like they’ve just happened around me; I don’t feel like I’ve made them happen. I have no clue how it’s all been put together.”

But he clearly knows who’s behind it all.

“It’s just completely God.”

Danny stops to chat with friends—in Swahili—in front of their small shop in the city. While Danny is quick to emphasize he’s just part of a team, it’s equally true that he brings to the cluster project a vast reserve of skills, energy and enthusiasm. Once a rebellious church kid growing up in rural Ontario, Danny stands in awe that God is now using him to help provide His Word for up to four million speakers of Bantu languages in Tanzania.

Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca 15

In Tanzaniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mara region, church denominations are putting their differences aside to focus on Bible translation for nine related languages.

ust a few years ago, many of the church leaders now involved in the Mara Cluster Project rarely worked together for a common cause.

But since its formation in 2005, the advisory committee of the Mara Vernacular Bible Translation Ministry has demonstrated an unprecedented show of unity. Twenty-seven church denominations and three nongovernment organizations—including the Uganda-Tanzania Branch of SIL, Wycliffe’s key partner organization—are cooperating to further New Testament translation for nine related Bantu languages.

On the advisory committee, Baptists sit with Pentecostals and Lutherans with Catholics. Other groups represented include Mennonites, Methodists and Moravians.

Based in Musoma, a city in Tanzania of more than 100,000 inhabitants located on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, the committee has chosen to focus on Scripture translation, rather than doctrinal differences.

“Many people thought we’d be talking about the beliefs of our different denominations, but it wasn’t like that at all,” says Jacob Lutubija [loo-too-BEE-ja], a denominational leader who serves as the current chairman of the advisory committee.

That they were meeting together for any reason was a surprise to many Tanzanians in the area.

“Before this ministry started here in the Mara region, we weren’t together like this as denominations,” adds Lutubija. “We didn’t have meetings together with the other churches . . . but after SIL came, they brought us together because of the languages we share here.”

Focus on Essentials

Church leaders in the Mara region are strongly motivated to see the New Testament translation program succeed. First, several of the languages have not yet been written. They will benefit from the development of alphabets and a writing system, and all will eventually benefit from Scripture use and literacy programs.

Second, Scripture in their mother tongues will help individual believers grow spiritually and strengthen the entire Church.

Although English and Swahili are Tanzania’s official languages, most speakers of minority languages find English and Swahili Bible translations difficult to comprehend.

“The Church in Mara is struggling,” says Chris Kateti, a former teacher and evangelist who now serves as partnership officer for the Mara Cluster Project. He believes that in rural churches especially, being limited to only Swahili would be problematic.

“If they receive teaching in Swahili only, they can’t understand fully.”

The veteran educator and leader has done an outstanding job as partnership officer, says Danny Foster, team leader for the cluster project (see related story, pg. 6).

“Kateti has played a key role in bringing all of these denominations together. He visits, he talks to the bishops, the pastors; he really communicates well the work SIL is doing. He’s able to focus on what’s important and doesn’t get sidetracked from the goal of facilitating Bible translation.”

In his role as training coordinator for the Mara Cluster Project, Danny joins in a prayer session (opposite) following a computer workshop for potential mother tongue translators. Above, candidate translators Rachel Manyori (left) and Diana Kitaboka begin translating the first-ever verses of Scripture into their language, Ikuzu, from Luke’s Gospel.

“ Before this ministry . . . we weren’t together like this as denominations. We didn’t have meetings together with the other churches… but after SIL came, they brought us together because of the languages we share here.”

Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca 17

The chairman of the advisory committee for the Mara project, Jacob Lutubija (above, centre), emphasizes a point while meeting with Danny and the project’s partnership officer, Chris Kateti. The chairman and church leader says the participation of 27 denominations, in any church-related activity, is unprecedented in Musoma.

“ T he work we do really is one work and that’s to preach Jesus Christ.”

18 Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

Thanks in part to Kateti’s efforts, members of the advisory committee are sold on the need for mother tongue Scripture.

Their chairman, Lutubija, has also helped them stay on course and avoid potentially divisive issues.

“The work we do really is one work,” says Lutubija, “and that’s to preach Jesus Christ.”

Lutubija has been very effective in directing the diverse group of church leaders, says Foster, citing one meeting where some leaders began discussing ideas outside the scope of the committee’s true purpose.

“But Rev. Lutubija said, ‘Look, you do what you want in your church. Our job here is to get the Word of God into these languages.’

“He catches even the slightest diversion,” adds Foster, “and I think his ability has really helped us to have that unity.”

Joint Effort

The advisory committee’s goals for the Mara Cluster Project include facilitating Bible translation and literacy programs, as well as producing booklets and pamphlets. Future plans include publishing histories of the local language groups and health-related publications to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, for example.

Currently, the group advises SIL’s Musoma team on planning, language development and even the selection of potential translators to attend training workshops. Members of the committee also hope to hold fundraising events for the project.

SIL provides computer training and, of course, training in translation, linguistics and literacy.

Last October, during a historic three-week workshop held

Meet The Bantu Family

By Dwayne Janke

Languages in Tanzania’s Mara Cluster Project have brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins, of sorts, living all over the southern half of Africa.

They are part of the far-flung Bantu [BAN-too] family of about 500 languages. About 200 million people, stretching from the equator to South Africa, and from Cameroon to Kenya, speak languages from among this group (see map below). These Bantu tongues share a family resemblance, linguistically speaking, because they developed historically from a common ancestor.

About half of these Bantu languages have something else in common—they are without the translated Scriptures. These languages represent 14 million speakers in 17 countries and about a quarter of the remaining languages that still need Bible translation to begin in Africa. The average population of these groups is 50,000-60,000.

The five countries with the greatest Bible translation need for Bantu languages are: Democratic Republic of Congo (99 of 142 Bantu languages need Scripture); Tanzania (40 of 94); Congo (26 of 34); Gabon (22 of 28); Cameroon (19 of 43).

To address this big need, Wycliffe and its key partner, SIL in Africa, joined the United Bible Societies, Pioneer Bible Translators, and Bible Translation and Literacy-Kenya in 2003 to form the Bantu Initiative.

It is a multi-organizational effort to see translation proceed with

greater speed, efficiency and quality so that Bibleless Bantu speakers have access to Scripture.

How? By working together to develop, test and share language program strategies, linguistic tools, computer software and training resources that can be used more broadly because of various similarities among Bantu languages and cultures. Since 2000, for example, SIL personnel have been developing and testing tools for use in working on phonology (language sound systems), grammar, discourse, dictionaries and alphabets to serve many Bantu languages.

“This approach encourages simultaneous linguistic and translation work among the various languages in a cluster,” says Ken Boothe, director of SIL’s Bantu department, “reducing the time and human resources needed to complete the task without reducing the quality of the materials produced.”

Language cluster strategies are a major part of the Bantu Initiative thrust. The Mara Cluster Project will provide valuable experience in joint planning and decision-making with partners, as well as testing the Bantu linguistic and cultural tools that are being developed.

Representatives from the Bantu Initiative agencies, such as Wycliffe and SIL, see great potential in its approach.

Hardly surprising, really—that’s what happens when you work together as a family.

Africa’s Bantu Languages & Their Translation Status

While Scripture is available in Swahili—as seen on the T-shirt above—it’s not always clearly understood by people, especially in rural areas. Members of the advisory committee have united around the goal of providing mother tongue Scripture translations for each of the nine languages represented in their ranks.

•• •• •

KEY No adequate Scripture - 270 languages Translation needs revision - 10 Work in progress -73 Has New Testament - 120 No project anticipated - 45

Source: SIL International, used with permission

Translation status colours on this map are from August 2004. Numbers of languages for each status category (at left) are for 2008. No political statement is intended by any language or international boundaries placed on this map, nor are they necessarily authoritative.

Members of the advisory committee pray together and they hope Canadian believers will join them.

20 Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

in Musoma, translators from each of the nine language groups began translating Scripture passages from the Gospel of Luke into their languages. Using a specialized computer software program called Adapt It, translators can quickly produce a rough draft by translating from a closely-related language that already has the Scriptures.

The advisory committee aims to publish the Christmas story, as related in the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel, by December 2009. In addition, two translators from each language will eventually be hired to begin translating the rest of the New Testament—a task that could take anywhere from five to eight years.

Foster says these translators must be paid competitive salaries to draw quality people and retain them.

“I believe you’ve got to take care of the people who are coming to do the Lord’s work,” he says. “If we pay well, we’re going to get the best people; we’re going to keep them and the work is going to be strong.”

Chris Kateti agrees.

“Some of the translators have been employed as teachers,” he says, “so it is very difficult for them to give up teaching to join this project. They have had good salaries, so when they come to join us, we need also to offer a good salary so they can continue with us.”

Furthermore, SIL leaders in the country want to assist promising Tanzanian translators by helping them access further education in linguistics and translation.

Leaders of the translation workshop (including Canadian Rachel Workentine, centre) debrief after a day’s work. The team’s chemistry is one reason Danny so enjoys his work in the Mara Cluster Project. “There are no ‘cowboys,’” he says, “nobody trying to run the whole thing or take credit for it. Everybody’s just trying to do their part.”

Prayer Needed

Good planning, training and competitive salaries will go a long way to reach the goals set by the committee.

But Lutubija believes prayer is even more vital. Members of the advisory committee pray together and they hope Canadian believers will join them.

“Pray for success,” pleads the chairman of the advisory committee. “We haven’t gotten very far yet, so we really want to see success in this work . . . and that the unity we have between all these churches would continue.”

The committee’s remarkable unity has surprised many— including some of its members.

“Before the cluster project began,” Kateti recalls, “some of them asked, ‘How can we try to be together, because we have different doctrines, different practices, different faith? How are we going to come together and what are we going to talk about?’

“But we said, ‘We are coming together as Christians. We are going to talk about the Bible; we are not going to talk about your doctrine, your liturgy, or how you conduct your service.’

“And they agreed. We thank God for that.”

Pastor Albinus Chokera (foreground) leads a lively song of spiritual warfare during a morning session at the translation workshop.

“ We are coming together as Christians. We are going to talk about the Bible; we are not going to talk about your doctrine, your liturgy, or how you conduct your service.”

Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca 21

etween two towns on the Ndop Plain, two men survey a grassy plain in the cool light of dawn (above). I can’t read their thoughts, but I wonder if they are thinking about the future of all the people who live in this region of Cameroon, Africa. They might even be thinking about the future of Bible translation itself—big thoughts to be sure.

Novethan Shanui and Dan Grove are one face of an increasingly important strategy for Bible translation and related ministries around the world.

Novethan is a young Cameroonian pastor. He was born in Bambalang village on the Ndop Plain, and his mother tongue is Chirambo. Dan is a Canadian pastor-turned-Bible-translator who lives in Cameroon with his wife, Melody, and their children, Caleb, Sam and Anna.

Together, they are part of the Ndop language cluster project.

22 Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

The project aims to translate Scripture into the languages of the Ndop Plain and to see the Scripture having an impact on people’s hearts and lives.

These days, cluster projects are a hot topic in the Bible translation world. It’s not a brand new idea, nor is it a complete solution to immense and complex challenges that translators face.

But in more and more places around the globe, Wycliffe and its partners are recognizing that cluster projects are smart, effective ways to work in a rapidly changing world.

So what is a cluster project? Clusters necessarily look very different in different parts of the world, but in general, the idea is to share ideas and expertise, maximize resources, increase community motivation and involvement, and build capacity for future work by working with groups of related languages instead of working separately on individual language projects. Cluster proj-

An international team, including Canadians, helps Bible translation move forward in 10 related languages of Cameroon.

By David J. Ringer • Photographs by Alan Hood

ects tend to emphasize training, workshops and group sessions at a common location, such as a regional centre or provincial capital.

In some places, travel even over short distances is very difficult, and sometimes languages have no close relatives. Not every situation is suited to a cluster approach, but in much of SubSaharan Africa, groups of related languages do occur in reasonable geographic proximity to one another. The Ndop Plain is one of those places.

The Ndop Cluster includes 10 languages on the Ndop Plain, which is home to about 180,000 people. Their cultures and ways of life are similar; most people are subsistence farmers who live in mud-brick family compounds. Most people on the plain are monolingual or have only “market ability” in Cameroon Pidgin, a simplified

derivative of English.

Animism is the dominant belief system, though sometimes it is dressed in the trappings of Christianity or another religion.

“They can go to church in the morning and sing, dance and pray and then go home in the afternoon and sacrifice a chicken for a dead ancestor,” says Dan. “Are they reached even though they have a church to go to on Sunday? For me the answer is a resounding ‘NO!’ ” Thus, the area was identified as having a high need for Bible translation and also as being a good candidate for a pilot cluster project.

Dan and Melody, who grew up in Ontario and New Brunswick respectively, moved with their family to Bambalang in 2003, beginning an early phase of the project. They were soon joined by Cam and Valerie Hamm (see story pg. 28) and then by Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca 23

Jon and Sandra Blackwell (from Ireland) and Christine Devisser (also from Canada).

The teams decided to settle in different villages and begin learning different languages. They identify with the project as a whole and do their planning together. But they believe it is important to build deeper personal relationships and learn more language and culture by concentrating on specific communities, particularly in the early stages of the project.

Their first job was to build vision and support for the work among local church and community leaders. Traditional authority structures are strong in this part of Cameroon, and when the fons (kings) (see photo, pg. 31) and traditional councils lent their support to the project, the doors were open to proceed.

ALPHABET FINALIZED Wycliffe Canada’s Dan Grove talks with local council leader Emmanual Sancho about language development courses offered in the area. Such efforts are helping build relationships and a sense of ownership among local church and community leaders, as they work towards translating Scripture for the 10 language groups involved in the project.

From the beginning, the teams took the approach that they had come as mentors, facilitators and consultants—not to do all the work themselves. So, they began asking church and community leaders to identify people who could work with them as the project got underway.

“It will help the people to be better Christians [when they can] read the Bible and reason things out for themselves.”

24 Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

Improved literacy skills may help prevent frequent drowning in this serene-looking reservoir, by equipping local villagers with basic water-safety information.

Pastor Novethan (right) congratulates fellow pastor and translator, Edward Woghombong, following his graduation from the Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary. The seminary now offers a four-year degree program in Bible translation.

Most languages on the Ndop Plain did not have any sort of alphabet at the time the cluster project began, so one of the initial project goals was to develop or finalize an alphabet for each of the 10 languages. Working in cooperation with local language committees and several short-term volunteers, that goal was completed in early 2008.

Many people, from young children up to government leaders, have expressed their excitement at seeing their language written down for the first time. Novethan and his brother Franklin (a school teacher) say that the ability to read and write in Chirambo will bring about a better future for their people.

The brothers believe that illiteracy and the lack of education affect their people’s entire outlook and way of life, keeping them impoverished not only physically but also spiritually and intellectually, as well. For example, villagers regularly drown in the nearby Bamendjing Reservoir because they refuse to follow basic water safety procedures. Wild rumours, like the story of a huge bomb planted underneath the reservoir, periodically sweep through the village, causing irrational panic and alarm.

Christianity is perceived as a foreign, white man’s religion that has little or no relevance to daily life.

Novethan and Franklin hope to see these things change as a result of literacy and Bible translation.

“Somebody lives better when he is able to read and write, even if he doesn’t have a white-collar job,” says Novethan. “The person will reason better.

“Because we don’t know how to read and write, it has affected Christianity so much,” he continues. “It will help the people to be better Christians [when they can] read the Bible and reason things out for themselves.”

Cameroon At a Glance Official Name: Republic of Cameroon Location: Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Biafra, between Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria.

Capital: Yaoundé–1.5 million pop.

Geography: 475,440 sq. km (about as big as Canada’s Yukon Territory). Diverse, with a coastal plain and rainforest in the

southwest, a dissected grassland plateau in the centre, mountains in the west and plains in the north. Climate varies with terrain and with the season. It can be very rainy in the tropical south, and is semi-arid and usually hot in the north.

Government: Republic with National Assembly; multi-party presidential regime; has 10 provinces.

Economy: One of Sub-Saharan Africa’s best-endowed primary commodity economies, based largely on favorable conditions for agriculture and modest oil resources.

Population: 18.46 million (56% of Canada’s pop.).

Peoples: It is one of Africa’s most complex countries with nearly 300 indigenous ethnic groups, 60% of which are Bantu.

Religion: Christianity 40%; Islam 20%; traditional, indigenous religions 40%.

Languages: 279, mostly indigenous. Official languages – English & French.

Sources: The World Factbook; Operation World (21st Century Edition); Ethnologue; SIL Cameroon

Bible translation status: Bible or NT available – 49 languages • NT/ OT translation in progress – 64 • Remaining Bible translation need (definite or possible need)– 84 languages, spoken by about 761,000 people.

Literacy Rate: 60% of the adult population, 2/3 of these being women.

Chad Nigeria

Cameroon •Yaoundé Gabon

Central African Republic

Congo

Members of the Chirambo language committee question the Groves about the orthography, or writing system, being developed for their language. Linguists must often help people in language communities understand some of the unique features of their languages, such as unusual sounds, which need corresponding alphabet symbols.

S HIFTING UNIVERSE God’s Word is finally coming to the Ndop Plain in a way that people will understand deeply. It will never be the same again.

The cluster team says goodbye to Njeck Mathaus, who worked with them for five years and completed alphabets for three languages in the cluster project. Mathaus left to work in another language-related project in a different region of Cameroon.

26 Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

In March 2008, translation officially began in Bambalang and Bamunka villages. Dan describes feeling “a shift in the universe” as he realized that God’s Word is finally coming to the Ndop Plain in a way that people will understand deeply. “It will never be the same again,” he says. “We will begin to see the Sonrise in a new dawn.”

The teams still have much foundational and relational work to do in order to see translations started in the remaining languages.

They hope to have work in all 10 villages underway by 2010.

“Our biggest prayer would be for the Lord to show us godly and qualified men and women from each of these languages, so we can begin helping them prepare for the start of translation,” Dan says.

Pius Mbahlegue, another young pastor from Bambalang, thanks the Canadian Church as he reflects on all he has seen in the last few years.

“Thank you for sending us people like Dan who have a heart for God and who teach the people practically and live the life,” he says. “Dan will go into the mud [to help us]. We like people like that to work with us.”

Dan and Melody believe that mentoring young men and women like Pius and his wife, Delphine, and the brothers Franklin and Novethan, is one of the most important things that they can do. These young people are the future Bible translators and Christian leaders in their communities. They and others like them will be the ones who work to achieve the transformation they long to see in their people’s lives.

After all, a completed book is of little value if no one has the skill or the vision to use it. But a group of knowledgeable and passionate people with the Word of God in their hands? Well, they could change the world.

Pastor Novethan (left) greets members of his congregation following his Sunday morning sermon, which he preached in Chirambo. Since he started preaching in his mother tongue, church attendance has increased.

“Thank you for sending us people like Dan who have a heart for God and who teach the people practically and live the life.”

David J. Ringer is a communications consultant with Wycliffe International.

Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca 27

Linguistic research, new software tools and community input craft an alphabet for a language in Africa.

By Curtis Hawthorne and David J. Ringer Photographs By Alan Hood

28 Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

alerie Hamm stands at the chalkboard with her husband Cam (left). She has a twinkle in her eye.

She sees a breakthrough coming! Children peer through the classroom windows as puzzled expressions on their elders’ faces dissolve into wide white smiles. It’s a monumental day, an historic day. The language committee in the African village of Bafanji is reading and writing the Chufie' language for the first time.

Letter by letter, their new alphabet is introduced. Example words illustrate each new sound. At first, people are hesitant to try reading. The room falls silent, and finally someone volunteers, shyly sounding out the word. But by the end of the session, committee members are able to read short stories written in Chufie'—slowly and with hesitation, but they are reading!

Valerie and her husband Cam are linguistic specialists, from the U.S. and Canada respectively, serving in the Ndop Language Cluster Project in western Cameroon (see related story, pg. 22).

They live in Bafanji village and are learning the Chufie' language, which is spoken by about 20,000 people. The Bafanji people do not have any Scripture in their language, and until very recently, their Chufie' language did not have a written form.

Tonal Challenge

Chufie', like many languages in Sub-Saharan Africa, is tonal. In tonal languages (Chinese is a well-known example), the pitch at which certain syllables are pronounced can change the meaning of a word or a sentence. This makes the language hard to learn for people who speak a non-tonal language like English, and it also makes the language difficult to analyze.

Cam and Valerie have been using a software tool called PTEST, the Phonology Template Editor and Search Tool, to help them with their analysis of Chufie'. PTEST was developed under the Bantu Initiative, a language-family strategy to help speakers of Bibleless languages in the Bantu family have access to Scriptures (see related sidebar, pg. 19).

About 500 African languages are classified as Bantu languages; all of them are related and present similar challenges for linguists and translators. Rather than trying to solve the same problems over and over, common processes and tools like PTEST were created to help all Bantu translation teams speed their work.

Although PTEST has proved to be less useful for studying tone in Chufie' (owing to its distant relationship to Bantu languages), it has been useful in the analysis that leads to letters of the alphabet in many languages in Cameroon. Chufie' and the other languages in the Ndop Cluster aren’t technically Bantu languages, but they are related to the Bantu family. Tools like PTEST are still very helpful.

“I’m pretty sure it would cut the time in half for doing phonological analysis,” Cam says.

Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca 29

Phonological analysis is the process of examining and figuring out a language’s sound system, an important precursor to alphabet design. The first step in the process was to collect at least 500 basic nouns and 500 basic verbs to get a good sampling of words and sounds in Chufie'.

With a growing list of basic words, the Hamms started to analyze the language to create an alphabet. One of the basic steps toward alphabet creation is to determine what “minimal pairs” exist in the language. Minimal pairs are pairs of words that differ from each other by only one sound. For example, in English, the words “pat” and “bat” are distinguished only by the sounds “p” and “b.” But using PTEST, the Hamms determined that in Chufie', the difference between the “p” and “b” sounds never changes the meaning of a word. So, while English requires different letters in the alphabet for “p” and “b,” Chufie' might not.

some feel that “p” and “b” should be written as separate letters in Chufie', even though the sound distinction does not separate one word from another.

Expertise-based Input

The Hamms are working as linguistic consultants to the Bafanji language committee. In the end, they can’t tell the community what to do, but they do try to inform them based on their linguistic analysis and expertise.

The experience and insights that the couple gains through their work in Bafanji is preparing them to serve as linguistic specialists for the rest of the Ndop Cluster Project. They are also looking forward to the day that Bible translation will begin in the Bafanji community, which they expect will be in 2009 or 2010.

The Bafanji church is very small. Most people practise traditional animistic rituals, even many of those who say that they are Christians. If any Christians do refuse to participate in aniMore Complex mistic festivals and sacrifices, they are subject to persecution by It may sound relatively simple to develop an alphabet based on their family and friends. that information, but alphabet creation is much more complex Every week, a small, interdenominational group of Bafanji than just processing linguistic data.

“You have to deal with social factors and political factors,” says Christians has been meeting to pray for the Bible translation project. They are eager to see the Scriptures available in a Cam. “People have to agree that this is how they should write language that will impact their community. it or a different way is how they should write it . . . there’s never But first things first. It all has to start with an alphabet. the ideal way of writing something.”

Many people in Bafanji are literate in English, and because David J. Ringer is a communications consultant with Wycliffe International. Curtis Hawthorne, they are used to seeing different ways of writing the “p” and “b,” who did an internship with the Wycliffe International communications department in 2007, now works at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland.

30 Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

Little Noah Hamm rests comfortably in the arms of a local woman as Cam and Valerie enjoy a casual chat in Chufie’ in front of their village house. It’s a nice break from the Hamms’ more formal work analyzing the language.

From making alphabets to ultimately finishing the Bible translation, it is key in language projects for the Hamms and their colleagues to work with local authorities, such as His Royal Highness the Fon (King) of Bamunka (HRH Fon Feunghi IV). Here he poses in front of paintings of his father and grandfather.

“ You have to deal with social factors and political factors. People have to agree that this is how they should write it or a different way is how they should write it. . . .”

Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca 31

s of r e k a e p s i h The Chac other n a g n o m re a ive Ecuador a e c e r o t y l lobal g s p u o r g 30 in d r o W d e t sla God’s tran age. u g n a l r i e th eever

By Janet S

A

fter decades of hard work, the New Testament with Genesis and Exodus is now in the hands of the Chachi people. They number almost 10,000 in villages along the Cayapas River and other rivers in the northwestern province of Esmeraldas, Ecuador.

Wycliffe U.S.A. members John and Carrie Lindskoog originally started the work among the Chachi people in 1955. After a six-year period from 1964 to 1970, when no Wycliffe team worked on the project, Wycliffe Canada members Neil and Ruth Wiebe took over. On August 17, 2008 (exactly 38 years later), the translated Chachi Scriptures—called Diosa' Kiika (meaning “God’s Paper”)—were dedicated in an overflowing church at Zapallo Grande, a village on the Cayapas River.

The dedication service began with music, including hymns composed by Mártires Tapuyo, the Wiebes’ main co-translator, and his nephew Darwin. Several participants, Chachi and others, spoke of their gratitude for the translation. Twentyeight of the people attending were expatriate guests, including 81-year-old John Lindskoog, now widowed, who came to the dedication with his five children and six of his grandchildren.

Melody Willms, one of the Wiebes’ two married daughters, also attended. Several canoe-loads of Chachi people travelled two hours downriver from a new Chachi congregation, pastored by a Spanish-speaking man, and from the village of Loma Linda, where Neil and Ruth spent 12 years.

32 Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES

Over the years, the Wiebes overcame numerous challenges to reach the milestone celebrated this past summer. One of them came in 1992, when SIL International (Wycliffe’s partner organization) closed down its branch offices as work wound down in Ecuador. As a result, the few remaining translators—including the Wiebes—were “loaned” to other missions, isolating them from their colleagues. They keenly felt the separation from their families.

The Wiebes also suffered from a lack of continuity in coworkers on translation.

“We did not have a regular co-translator for long periods at a time,” said Neil. “Having to train new ones repeatedly was discouraging. Supervising Chachi co-translators who lived and worked at the west coast of Ecuador (a day’s journey from us) proved to be only partially successful. After Mártires Tapuyo volunteered to work with us on site in a town near Quito, and then persisted in his commitment, we experienced the dramatic improvements that daily face-to-face interaction provided.

“We thoroughly worked through the linguistic and theological bottlenecks that would otherwise inhibit the average Chachi from comprehending the biblical message in Spanish.

Consequently we feel that we have an accurate and clear translation and are well satisfied with the final product.”

READING PRIMER FOCUS

Ruth taught their two daughters with a B.C. correspondence course through grades four and five. With their neighbour Santiago Añapa, she wrote the Chachi reading primers and illustrated them for the bilingual schools. After their daughters left for university, Ruth focused on making translated Chachi Scripture available to the people. As soon as the consultant approved Scripture that had been translated, Ruth produced illustrated Scripture booklets, which they printed. She solicited the co-operation of Chachi schoolteachers to encourage the children to read the booklets and to send a copy to each home.

Ruth and Mártires spent years developing a plan for ongoing promotion of Chachi Scriptures and evangelism in outlying communities. A lot of effort went into digital audio recordings. Twenty sets of 40 audio CDs have been made for outreach by responsible Chachi Christian leaders. Thirty-four of the CDs in each of those sets are used to record the entire Chachi Scriptures, five give a Bible teaching panorama focusing on the character of God, and one has 24 Chachi songs or hymns. They are intended for each community to be able to listen to Chachi Scripture and understand God’s message whether the listeners are literate or not. With the JESUS film DVD also available, the Chachi community now has the translated Word of God in print, audio and visual formats.

INTENSE LISTENING

served as a consultant for the project, her last effort after a lifetime of service in Bible translation. A woman with a quick wit and dry sense of humour, Con retired this year at the age of 80.

In Guatemala, cheers went up from the 800 lay people and pastors at a celebration held for the completion of the New Testament in the Nebaj Ixil language—spoken by 35,000 people. Present was Wycliffe member Ray Elliott, who spent 46 years of his life (19531999) working on the project. Although his wife Helen was unable to attend for health reasons, their eight children, with spouses and some of their children attended, for a total of 34 family members.

After the Elliotts retired in 1999, Dwight Jewett took over work on the translation but died suddenly in July 2006. Juana Raymundo, one of the three Ixil translators, died five months later. David Henne, who had worked on a related Guatemalan language at one time, was able to help the struggling team bring the project to completion.

Global Translation Summary

Scriptures translated with Wycliffe involvement were dedicated in 30 languages, spoken by nearly 4.3 million people, since we prepared our last “Translation Update” report in Word Alive a year ago. The following table provides a regional global breakdown of the affected language groups, with their populations.

New Testaments

In communities where Mártires has gone to introduce God’s Word to the people, they have listened intently to the CDs of Scripture recordings, and responded to his invitation to learn more about God. In one place 40 people agreed to adopt his suggestions for change in their lives, because, they said, Mártires “is offering the message in our own language, and has written materials in Cha'palaa” (the name of the Chachi language), not in Spanish. The DVD of the JESUS film in their language brings the same response of intent listening, interaction, and commitment to follow Christ. One lady, who has heard the gospel for years, says: “I understand the Bible and its message well, but now that I hear it in my own language it reaches into my heart.”

During the dedication ceremony on August 17, four Chachi believers held up the four elements of the listening program: battery, solar panel, boom box, and an album of CDs. When Mártires announced that the recording and copying was completed, and that this equipment would be used to evangelize new communities, the audience burst into applause.

Location No. of Groups Combined Total Populations Africa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,886,200 Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,000 Pacific. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232,100 Americas . . . . . . . . . . . 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100,600 Totals . . . . . . . . . . 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,263,900

OTHER TRANSLATIONS OF NOTE

Africa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100,000

New Testaments + Old Testament Portions Location . . . . . . No. of Groups. . . . . . Combined Total Populations Americas . . . . . . . . . . . 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,000 Totals . . . . . . . . . . . 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,000

Whole Bibles Location. . . . . No. of Groups . . . . Combined Total Populations

Asia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24,300 In other notable translations around the world, the Digo people Pacific. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845,100 of Kenya, numbering 300,000, received their New Testament in December 2007. Missionary linguists Martien and Arisa de Groot, Americas . . . . . . . . . . . 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 from Holland, began the translation in 1987. Others later joined ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 984,400 the team to provide God’s translated Word for these people.

Con Naish, a British Wycliffe member who lives in Canada, Total Scriptures. . 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,261,300

Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca 33

Beyond Words Cross Watch Photograph by Alan Hood

A Bafanji Christian woman joins a weekly, interdenominational group from among her people who gather to pray for their Bible translation project in Cameroon, Africa (see related story, pg. 28).

Eager to see mother tongue Scriptures impact their community, this small prayer group looks to the cross of Jesus. Their example would please Wycliffe’s founder Cameron Townsend. In 1961, he exhorted Wycliffe colleagues to look to Christ’s sustaining power for the Bible translation task: “Only under His blessing, only under His miracleworking power, can we go forward and obtain the goal. The methods are secondary. Trust in Him is basic. He will never let us down.”

34 Word Alive • Spring 2009 • wycliffe.ca

Last Word After All’s Said and Done. . . .

By Dr. Mike Walrod

C

onsider the heading of this new magazine column: Last Word. That reminds me of certain idioms we use: “The bottom line is. . .”; “At the end of the day. . .”; and “After all’s said and done . . .”. I have sometimes pondered what it would be like “after all’s said and done,” since there would be nothing left to say or do! That would make most of us very uneasy.

Anyway, don’t panic, because it seems that time will never come. We are told in the Bible (Revelation 7:9,10) that there will be people from every tribe and tongue and nation, at the throne of God praising Him for eternity.

In the meantime, we believe that our mission at the Canada Institute of Linguistics (CanIL), as Wycliffe’s training partner, is to recruit and train young people in linguistics and translation principles, so that they can be part of the worldwide team who will share this good news with people of every tribe and tongue and nation! Some of their But there is still a stories are in this issue.

We hear from our lot of work to do. alumni almost daily, from their places of assignment CanIL trains so that around the world. Recently “all people may have Michelle Smith returned to CanIL and gave a report access to the Bible in of her work as a linguist in Tanzania, in the same Mara their own language.” language cluster project as Danny and Ranette Foster (see related stories, pgs. 6-21). She gave examples of how her training at CanIL was being used in her fieldwork. Our current students were encouraged to persevere with their studies. Our teaching staff were encouraged that their classroom instruction methods are effective.

Michelle shared a story about one day when she was working with a small group of people from the Zanaki language in Tanzania. They had been working on developing an alphabet for their language. One afternoon she learned that an elderly pastor in the group had never prayed in his own language, but instead had always used the national language, Swahili.

“I believe God understands Zanaki,” he said, “but because the Bible I have is in Swahili, I

never thought to use anything but that when I pray.”

That afternoon Michelle called the group away from alphabet development work to spend some time praying for the upcoming translation project. She asked them to pray in Zanaki instead of Swahili, and they hesitantly agreed.

For the first time ever, the elderly pastor and the others in the group spoke to God in their own language. After they said “Amen,” they looked up to see tears running down all of their faces. One man said, “This is very good.” He added that he was going to teach his children that they could use their own heart language for talking to God. If a single session of prayer in Zanaki has this kind of impact, imagine what will happen once the community has the Scriptures in their language.

Hundreds of our trainees from CanIL are now positioned around the globe. They are partnering with people of many nations, saying and doing the things that communicate the good news of God’s plan for humankind.

But there is still a lot of work to do. CanIL trains so that “all people may have access to the Bible in their own language.”

The job is a huge one and training our CanIL students is not without challenge. Still, after all is said and done, could there be any greater privilege than equipping dedicated students so that someday they help communicate His love for all people?

I don’t think so.

Dr. Mike Walrod is president of the Canada Institute of Linguistics (CanIL), located on the campus of Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C.

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A Tale of Two Translators

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In Southeast Asia, Lisa Koester is a translation facilitator with a team of committed local people translating God’s Word into their heart language.

In Africa, Danny Foster helps train Tanzanians to do Bible translation in 19 languages spoken by 4.5 million people (see stories in this issue).

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