April 26, 2019 From Atheism to Bible Translation By Guest Contributor Back to all stories When Farrokh* was growing up, his country was part of the Soviet Union. He was taught in the education system that there was no God. As a teenager he was a bit of a rebel, getting into trouble and even abusing alcohol and drugs. Fresh naan bread is wheeled into a market, close to the translation office where Farrokh works. Then he began to wonder if there really was a God. He concluded that if God exists, then he needed to obey Him. He then began to explore what it might mean to believe in God. First, he explored Islam, since many people in his country adhere to that faith. He read the Qur’an in Russian. He also looked into Hinduism, because there are some people in his country who worship Krishna. Finally, Farrokh met a Russian man who had come to his country to lead people to Christ, even while Farrokh’s country was in the middle of a terrible civil war. “He came during wartime,” says Farrokh, “to tell people about Christ. We had a lot of conversations. When I became a Christian, my relationship with my parents deteriorated.” The call of Bible translation Farrokh then went to Russia to study theology. There, he met a woman who worked for the Institute for Bible Translation (IBT). “I started to work for IBT and I was trained how to do Bible translation,” says Farrokh. “We started with John’s Gospel.” However, for various reasons, the project stopped. Farrokh returned to his home country, still motivated to translate the Bible into his own language. Fortunately, he soon met a man who had just started working on a translation into Farrokh’s language. There is technically already a Bible in this language, but it is written in highly academic language. This version is so “heady” that it is difficult for most people to understand it well. That is why Farrokh joined the project to make a new translation, involving a number of partner organizations. He was enthusiastic about the opportunity. “Now I’m happy that God used me. He first saved my heart, and my life, then he used me to do this work for others who are not saved yet, in mountains and villages.” From St Cyril to Farrokh The Cyrillic alphabet, used for Russian and several other languages in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, was developed from the Greek alphabet. St. Cyril and his brother, St. Methodius, brought it to the Slavic peoples from Byzantine Greece in order to preach the gospel to the Slavs, and to teach them how to read and write. Thus, creating orthographies (writing systems) for Bible translation has long been integral to sharing the gospel. While he did not need to create an orthography, Farrokh is carrying on that tradition of Bible translation for his people in Central Asia. He is part of a translation team in his home country that is working to finish a New Testament in the national language. “It was God’s call for me to do this work,” says Farrokh, “and I love it. I try to do good a translation of the Word that will help others become Christians.” *pseudonym Adapted from a story by Robby Ker, at wycliffe.net Posted in People Previous Next

April 16, 2019 Easter Message Comes Alive By Guest Contributor Back to all stories Leonard Bolioki understands just how powerful translated Scripture is. During a Good Friday service at his church in Cameroon, he began to read the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. In previous years, the congregation had heard the story in French. But this year was the first time it was being read in Leonard’s own language, Yambetta. As he read the story, the congregation was stilled by the words. Then a few of the older women began to weep. After the service, they approached Leonard and demanded to know where he found the story. “We have never heard anything like it before!” they said. “We didn’t know there was someone who loved us so much that He was willing to suffer and die like that — to be crucified on a cross to save us!” Leonard showed them the story in his French New Testament and told them it was the story the congregation heard every year during Holy Week. But the women insisted that they had never heard it before. That’s what truly motivated Leonard to translate the Scriptures into Yambetta. He wanted the Bible to be available in the only language they truly understood. Source: “An Unheard Story,” wycliffe.org.uk Posted in Impact Previous Next

January 8, 2020 Translations Nearing Completion in Tanzania By Wycliffe Canada Back to all stories A teacher uses millet to demonstrate a key word. Another five language communities in the Mbeya region of Tanzania will soon have their own New Testament translations. Sixteen years ago, translation work began in six neighboring languages in this region, forming the Mbeya Cluster project. This project allowed different language teams to work closely together, helping each other overcome challenges and sharing biblical key terms. Now, five language groups are close to finishing their New Testaments, while a sixth language community, Nyakyusa, dedicated their completed New Testament in May 2019. On his way to a Nyakyusa translation team meeting, senior translator Andrew Mwamatandala carried a copy of the New Testament. “I saw a teenager passing and asked him to read [the New Testament] for me,” Andrew said. “He did, and then he laughed and said, ‘I can read it! Before, I could not, but this writing is very nice.’” The Kinga New Testament has been reviewed and printed, while the Malila translation team is nearing the same milestone. “They just completed a draft of the typesetting of their New Testament and will read through it with their reviewers soon,” said Ahimidiwe Mahali, translation co-ordinator for the Mbeya Cluster. Vwanji translators, who work in the same office as the Malila translation team, are finishing a second typeset draft of their New Testament. And the Sangu team is working with a translation consultant on final checks, with linguistic checks to follow. The Ndali team is also approaching the finish line. “While they meet with the language committee and prepare for linguistic checks, they have even had a read-through [of the New Testament],” Ahimidiwe said. Two pastors from the Ndali community and 12 local reviewers participated in the read-through. For 15 days they took turns reading and discussing the text. “We even met on Saturdays to be sure we covered everything,” said one of the Ndali translators. One pastor told the team he was going to use the draft copies of the Scriptures immediately. “Because we have these copies,” he said, “I am going to use them for teaching and preaching right now.” In addition to printed books, all six New Testaments in the Mbeya Cluster will be published in audio and digital form. Source: wycliffe.org Posted in News and updates Previous Next

December 2, 2020 Bloom software helps blind and visually impaired By Guest Contributor Back to all stories In the world today, there are at least 285 million people who are blind or vision impaired. A 2019 report found that developing nations in Africa and Asia have a higher incidence of eye conditions and vision impairment. The level of eye problems is even greater in rural areas, among ethnic minorities and indigenous populations. Liz Pfeifer The Philippines is a country with over half a million blind or vision impaired people. In early 2019, Wycliffe Australia member Liz Pfeifer was part of a pilot project with Resources for the Blind Philippines (RBI), using the Bloom Reader to create digital books for the blind and those with visual impairments. Bloom was developed by Wycliffe’s key partner, SIL International, as easy-to-use software for creating books and translating them into multiple languages. Australian Wycliffe member John Thomson is one of the Bloom developers and says that people with limited computer skills can easily create literacy materials for their own minority language groups. Bloom is open-source software, making it accessible for more people throughout the world. It also includes “shell books”—templates that can be easily modified for specific needs. In addition to books that the general language community can access, Bloom enables groups which are often marginalized to access literature and Scripture. SIL LEAD was a major winner of a competition run by All Children Reading, a partnership of USAID, World Vision and the Australian Government. “The prize money enabled SIL to enhance the Bloom software,” says Pfeifer, “with features that allow users to create reading materials suitable for people with visual impairments. During the pilot project, 40 books were created at schools in three major Filipino languages, published to tablets and tested with students who are blind or visually impaired.” To help implement the program, Pfeifer served as an IT consultant providing Bloom training to RBI staff in Manila. She says that a moment which stood out to her was seeing one of the older teachers who did not have a lot of computer skills coming to the training and being able to create books in Bloom: “It was like this light was turned on inside her as she started writing a story in one of the local languages and creating tools to help her students engage with the story. Seeing her confidence improve within a few days of training was worth it.” One thing the team needed to focus on was the appearance of illustrations to cater for different levels of visual impairment. This required adding descriptions to images—a necessary element, particularly for those with colour blindness. Various checkboxes can be marked in Bloom to simulate how the image will look to someone with red/green colour blindness, blue/yellow colour blindness or someone with cataracts. The books also needed to be recorded as ‘talking books’, including the image descriptions. Pfeifer says she is grateful to have been a part of this pilot project, which will improve the quality of learning and accessibility for visually impaired students. Books created for the project were uploaded to the Bloom website. Many children who were previously unable to access reading materials can now read books and Bible stories and share them with their families. They may not have 20/20 vision but they do have a bright future ahead. Learn more Bloom Reader: https://bloomlibrary.org/ Resources for the Blind Philippines Source: Web article by Deb Fox at wycliffe.org.au Posted in Bible translation Previous Next

March 16, 2018 Becoming Women of the Bible By Wycliffe Canada Back to all stories The ladies’ meetings in the local church were boring. One young lady wondered why she should bother attending since there was nothing to learn. One by one, the women stopped coming, until finally only two or three die-hards were left. We could be talking about Canada, but this particular story is set in the mountains of Peru. Enter ATEK, a national organization partnering with Wycliffe to promote the use of translated Scriptures in the Cusco Quechua language. As part of its Bible reading comprehension program in the local language, ATEK presented a training workshop called “Women of the Bible.” In an effort to revive the women’s group, the local church sent two women to the workshop. When they returned, the women in the community started meeting once a month, thinking that any more frequently was still a waste of time. However, the teaching soon challenged attendees in their personal faith. They found that their lives as women didn’t line up with those they had learned about in the Word of God. As the women applied the teachings to daily life, their relationships with their children, husbands and neighbours began to improve. Rather than look for excuses not to attend, now women were walking long distances, bringing their babies and small children with them. Meetings were increased to twice a month to accommodate women eager to learn more from Scripture. The women had discovered that God’s Word, when understood and applied, is never boring. A couple of years ago I had the privilege of visiting the offices of ATEK and AIDIA, a similar ministry among a neighbouring Quechua group. In both cases, I was impressed at the comprehensive and customized way they approached Scripture engagement. In their quest to see communities and lives transformed by God’s Word, they addressed real community needs, including: • finding ways to do children’s ministry in a culture that expects children to care for the animals while adults go to church • addressing issues that impact the family, like physical abuse and alcoholism • giving strong attention to literacy and leadership development among women. In his book, Outliers , Malcolm Gladwell observed that if you select a certain subset of people early enough and give them consistent development opportunities, you’ll change the composition of the group at the highest level. I believe his lessons apply to leadership, the traditional domain of men. In Canada and Peru alike, while women outnumber men in a variety of fields, they are conspicuously absent from leadership roles. But when leadership ability is identified and cultivated in women early enough, women prove to be excellent leaders. In Peru, more and more bold women are beginning to model hardy and courageous leadership in a country where 30 per cent cannot read, and 70 per cent of the illiterate are women. Such leadership brings transformation to lives and communities. God has equipped His global Church with a wide array of gifts, strengths and personalities. He is raising up atypical leaders to meet needs that can’t be met by the majority. Originally published in Word Alive, Summer 2015 Posted in Engaging with Scripture Previous Next

April 19, 2022 Quechua translators reach Bible translation milestone By Wycliffe Canada Back to all stories Translation of the Old Testament into the Eastern Apurímac Quechua language of Peru has been completed. As a result, the minority language group will soon have access to the entire Bible in the language that serves them best. Luis Cervantes (left) poses with two AIDIA translators. (Photo provided.) “We give thanks to God, to the team of translators, our donors, the consultants, and to all the people who were involved in this project,” says Luis Cervantes, director of AIDIA. The church-based organization’s name is an acronym for “Interdenominational Association for the Holistic Development of Apurímac.” “We are sure that this translation will be a great blessing for many Quechua-speaking people in the Apurímac region,” says Cervantes. “Now our desire is to see the whole Bible printed. We are praying that God will guide the people doing the next steps of editing and the final publication.” AIDIA team members serve in one of the poorest regions of Peru. Using a New Testament translation published in 2013, AIDIA teams have worked hard to promote literacy, develop church leadership, produce audio/video Scriptural materials, and encourage children’s Sunday school classes and camps. God’s Word touches elderly man Alejandro Alvares Recently, a 91-year-old Quechua widower was moved to give his life to Jesus, after hearing God’s Word in his Eastern Apurímac language. “When I was young,” says Alejandro Alvares, “I always went to mass and the priests taught us to trust idols. They always said that the Virgin Mary . . . and the apus (gods of the mountains) are like God because they represent God; they protect us and keep us from all evil.” After a pastor visited Alvares and shared the gospel with him, he realized that he needed to put his trust in God alone. “When I was young I was an alcoholic and an idolater, but God in His infinite mercy forgave me. I am very grateful to God for all His love for me.” More: A Different God Speaks ( Word Alive archives) Global Projects: AIDIA Posted in News and updates Previous Next

September 27, 2021 Died: Marilyn Laszlo, Bible translator who inspired missionaries to “come by here” By Wycliffe Canada Back to all stories The passionate storyteller spent nearly a quarter century developing written language and Scripture for a Papua New Guinea village. Marilyn Laszlo (left) with colleague Judy Rehburg and a Sepik Iwam man. (File photo) Marilyn Laszlo always considered herself a “Hoosier farmgirl.” The 88-year-old died recently, just a few miles from her family’s nine-acre property outside Valparaiso, Indiana. But the news of her death was felt most deeply in a village on the other side of the world. This story was published by Christianity Today. Read the full story at ChristianityToday.com . Posted in People Previous Next

March 18, 2025 Capacity building: Working to strengthen local teams By Wycliffe Canada Back to all stories Wycliffe Canada’s work is focused around four key “pillars” that help strengthen individual believers and churches around the world, as they gain access to God’s Word in the language they know best. These pillars include Bible translation , Literacy , Engagement with Scripture , and Capacity Building . Throughout March, we’ll feature a brief overview of each pillar and share stories that illustrate how they are making a difference for language groups across the globe. Bible translation is a global task, best owned and carried out by God’s growing and maturing local church everywhere. It requires training, teamwork, painstaking accuracy, precision and faithful translation. As the global church embraces the opportunity to translate Scripture into every living language, Wycliffe seeks to increasingly share knowledge, skills and tools developed over eight decades of ministry . In Cameroon, local translation teams from the Ndop Plain are working together to translate Scripture for nine distinct—but related—language groups. The translators who serve in the Ndop Cluster project must work remotely due to civil unrest and violence in the region. At the same time, they do their best to help colleagues from a tenth language group gain literacy skills and engage with their translation of the New Testament. While Ndop translation teams benefit from the guidance of experienced Wycliffe members, the language communities are taking greater ownership of the work , making it more sustainable. Furthermore, some team members have nearly completed their training to receive accreditation as translation consultants, a crucial role in the translation process. Others are aiming to serve as consultants in literacy and Scripture engagement. As people who have a deep understanding of the culture and languages they serve, they are already making valuable contributions to the work of Bible translation. “Around the world, there’s a critical shortage of qualified translation consultants, especially nationals,” says Wycliffe Canada staff member Alan Hood. “Local translators often labour as long as 15 years to complete the New Testament in their language. Then, to qualify as a consultant, they have to do additional studies and work with other consultants to complete practical assignments related to translation checking. “The process can span 20 years or even longer . . . so Wycliffe and our partners want to help streamline the path for our national colleagues to become consultants. ” An eye for detail In 2023, Alan visited Cameroon on a photojournalism assignment for Wycliffe Canada. He was able to meet with Alfred Njinyo (pictured below), one of several Cameroonians who have gained certification as translation consultants. Alfred’s primary task is to ensure that translated Scriptures are clear, accurate and natural sounding . Alfred Njinyo leads a Bible translation checking session of the Bamali language, while consultant-in-training Pius Mbahlegue (back right hand corner) looks on. (Photo: Alan Hood) The path to becoming a certified translation consultant is long, and it’s one that Alfred nearly didn’t take. When he was a young man, some family members encouraged him to move to Europe or Canada for better opportunities. However, Alfred chose to remain in Cameroon instead, convinced that God was leading him into Bible translation. Over more than two decades, he has gained valuable experience in what it takes to translate Scripture. “This is the Word of God. I will take the time to make sure we [translate correctly].” – Alfred Njinyo “I want to do my utmost,” Alfred told Alan, when asked about the remaining Scriptures that still need to be translated. “What is really moving me is that I have [great] passion for the Scripture. “Maybe I’m too meticulous or too detailed,” he added, “but . . . this is the Word of God. I will take the time to make sure we [translate correctly].” The team hopes that Alfred’s workload will lighten once his colleagues Novethan Shanui and Pius Mbahlegue are fully accredited as translation consultants later this year. Translation and more As Alan prepared for his visit to Cameroon, he packed a spare camera and flash unit to share with Ndop translator Gershom Rweye, who is keen to hone his skills as a photographer. Alan was able to share some of the skills he acquired while working as a photojournalist for Wycliffe Canada. Gershom proved to be a keen and eager student, which encouraged Alan, because it can be challenging to source quality photos from the field for Wycliffe Canada’s communications needs. Gershom Rweye (centre) reads from the first draft of 1 Thessalonians in the Bamessing language, as Novethan (rear) and another colleague listen in. Gershom is also honing his skills in photography to help promote interest in the translation project. ( Photo: Alan Hood) “Often, we receive good quotes from people saying how much the Word of God has had an impact on their lives . . . but sometimes we don’t have a quality photo of the person who said it, or even the context of where the picture was taken.” In addition, the photos are often taken with cellphones, where the camera quality may not be good. “So I wondered, could we raise their capacity to produce photos . . . and really show what they are doing, so that they themselves can start to drive their media.” Gershom was able to take some quality photos in a region Alan was unable to visit due to ongoing conflicts. Two of Gershom’s photos, featuring a co-worker named Stella, were published in the Winter 2023 issue of our newsletter, In Other Words . The work in Cameroon is just one example of how the skills of local teams are being strengthened as they serve in Bible translation, and how they apply those skills to strengthen others. Capacity building means strengthening the global church’s ability—today and tomorrow—to carry out Jesus’ Great Commission . Ultimately, it means transformed lives giving glory to God. Watch : Capacity building , a motion graphic that illustrates the impact of sharing Wycliffe’s knowledge, skills and tools with our field partners and indigenous churches around the world. Posted in Bible translation Previous Next

October 5, 2018 Moved by the Word By Samuel Ko Back to all stories Efforts to engage local people in the work of Bible translation are called “mobilization.” One component of the Bali mobilization project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is to translate and produce oral Bible stories for distribution on smartphones. After one matriarch heard one of the oral Bible stories, she said, “Oh, these are Bali words that I have not used since I was a child. Please help us so that our language [stays] alive!” Although the Bali people are not as far along as the Mba in mobilizing their communities for Bible translation, they are determined to move ahead. That was the message the paramount chief of the Bali shared with Wycliffe’s Beat Kunz during his most recent visit to the project. “He came to reassure us of their strong desire and full support to see the Bali have the Word of God in their own language,” said Kunz, who serves as vice-president of field partners and projects for Wycliffe Canada. Another Bali man, Samuel Alutz, is the vice-president of an umbrella organization that oversees all the evangelical churches in Congo. When he saw draft translations from Luke’s Gospel, he showed them to his 96-year-old brother. Deeply moved by what he read, the old man said, “I don’t have the whole Bible, but I have seen the first signs. I started to serve the Lord before you were even born and I have never seen this before.” Learn more about the Bali-Mba project . Posted in Impact Previous Next

January 4, 2019 Link: Kenya’s Rendille People Receive God’s Word By Samuel Ko Back to all stories File photo: A Rendille woman practises her reading skills. In this Nov. 2018 article in Christianity Today , Canadian author and speaker Ann Voskamp describes the Rendille’s joy as they dedicate their own New Testament translation. Read the CT story Posted in News and updates Previous Next