BIBLE TRANSLATION
ACHIEVEMENTS – PAST 5 YEARS
Our achievements are testimonies of the Lord’s blessings and care upon us over many years. These achievements are mostly the products of work that was already started in 2003. During these years it was also the continuous financial support of our sponsors and partners – locally and internationally – that made it possible.
1.After 14 years of hard work, we finished a new translation into Khoekhoegowab in 2018. This is a meaning-based translation serving about 150,000 speakers of the language in Namibia.
2.For the first time ever, the Dhimba people of both Namibia and Angola could experience the joy of having a New Testament in their hands.
3.We could also revise both the Oshikwanyama and Oshidonga Bibles as a starting point to investigate the needs of the Bible needs of the future generations.
4.Hereby, in 3 years’ time, we revised the Otjiherero Bible to have a more accurate and reliable text of the Bible.
5.The launch of the first 85 Himba Bible passages on solar-driven audio devices in 2019 brought both joy and spiritual enlightenment to this nomadic people group in Namibia.
6.We also could launch an audio recording of the Dhimba New Testament on solar-driven audio devices in 2018 to make the Bible accessible to a highly illiterate group of people.
7.An agreement with Gospel Recording Network – an Australian-based partner – we made it possible for the SAN people to listen to the translated oral Bible Stories on the 5Fish-App.
8.In 2018 we printed and published two Books of the New Testament – Mark and John – in braille for Oshikwanyama blind people in Namibia.
Thank you to various partners who helped us – and are still helping us – to achieve these milestones in Namibia: Seed Company, Wycliffe RSA, Lutheran Bible Translators and DEGNOS in Namibia, to name a few.
OSHIWAMBO BIBLE TRANSLATION PROJECT
To make sure that the Bible stays relevant and fresh for future generations, we have started in 2017 with new meaning-based translations into both Oshikwanyama and Oshidonga. This is a cross-border project with the Bible Society of Angola and is planned to finish in 2028.
Seven translators are working together as two teams under the guidance of an exegete and translation consultant. The project is situated in Ondangwa.
Although the entire New Testament has been translated up to now, the Book of Mark is print-ready, together with 15 relevant and contextualized Bible Studies for the youth.
You can contribute by clicking the SPONSORING-A-VERSE button.
The Bible consists of 31,102 verses (23,145 in the Old Testament; 7,957 in the New Testament). The cost to translate ONE verse is: N$300.
HIMBA ORAL BIBLE TRANSLATION PROJECT
The first 3-year phase came to an end in September 2018. The translation team is now busy with the second 3-year phase, translating the Books of Genesis, Hebrew and Acts. The project represents an excellent example of real oral Bible translation; and is situated in the North-Western town of Opuwo, serving the Ovahimba who are mainly illiterate.
The Himba language is directly related to Otjiherero, therefore, the revised Herero Bible Text serves as basis for the Himba Oral Bible Translation.
As passages are finished and become available, they are added to the rest already done on solar-driven audio devices. Furthermore, the audio files are also distributed in town and in villages by copying it to memory cards for people to use in their cell phones.
Life-changing impact stories are often shared by the receivers of solar-driven audio devices. A changed worldview about who God is, how the world works and how God works with this world, culminating in the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ, as Saviour, is regularly recorded.
You can contribute by clicking the BUY-AND-GIVE button.
To make ONE solar-driven audio device available for the Ovahimba costs: N$400.
SAN ORAL BIBLE STORY PROJECT
The SAN – or better known as the Bushman people – are found in both Namibia and Botswana. No Scriptures were available to them up to the point of this Oral Bible Story Project. Currently, more than 60 Bible stories had been translated for the SAN! More Bible stories are added regularly.
The Bible Stories are translated by the SAN, for the SAN – in an oral fashion to be in line with the SAN’s way of communicating stories.
We are pleased to have both local and international partners on board: DEGNOS and Seed Company. The late Rev Hendrik van Zyl played a huge role in the translation work on behalf of DEGNOS over the
last 10 years in Tsumkwe, Mangetti Dune and Tsinstabis. The Reformed Church in Namibia in involved in the same project in Drimiopsis near Gobabis.
You can contribute by clicking the SPONSOR-A-STORY button.
The process to translate ONE Bible Story into a SAN dialect costs about N$25,000.