Among the Safwa people of western Tanzania, at least six dialects are spoken. From serious conflict and suspicion in the translation project’s earliest days, many years of prayer and hard work has delivered a complete New Testament the community sees as very inclusive and easy for all to understand – and celebration dominated by a powerful sense of unity and joy…
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“It feels so good to see change and hope in our people!” Joshua, a local pastor and married father of five, is one of the Bena speakers who worked for years to translate the New Testament in his own language. He and his colleagues have now completed that work, begun 18 years earlier, and they are excited to be part of the big celebration…
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“Scripture teaches we should love each other — that’s how this is happening!” Alongside a dusty dirt road lined with small shops, hundreds of Nyiha spent a day loudly celebrating a huge milestone in their history. “I once thought God only speaks the ‘big’ languages,” said a translator. “But now I know he speaks to all people in their own languages. From today, all Nyiha people can grow in understanding God’s Word…”
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“What joy, to see our community use and understand God’s Word for themselves!” Morning rain storms may have kept some away, but a determined crowd packed the small village church for hours of singing, dancing, ceremonies and feasting to mark the completion of the New Testament translated in the Kabwa language…
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On the edge of the Serengeti, threats of rain could not keep away the crowd as the Ikoma community celebrated completion of a 14-year work to translate the New Testament in their own language. Speeches and preaching, dancing and singing went on for hours. “Even the new songs were in Ikoma!” one guest cheered. A colleague of the translation team added, “This day greatly encourages me that all our labour has not been in vain”…
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“We now have God’s Word in Simbiti!” cries a dancing man. “Simbiti people say Oye!” They shout it in response, as a growing crowd parades through the village. The long-awaited celebration of a completed New Testament for Tanzania’s Simbiti people has begun. “This day was not easy,” says one of the Translators, “but the people are very happy to see that now the Simbiti New Testament is in their hands…”
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“I’ve been a Christian a long time,” said one Sangu translator. “But working on this translation, it’s like being in a Bible school. It has shown me anew what life with Jesus is about.” At the big celebration of the completed Sangu New Testament another translator said, “I see the people receiving God’s Word… receiving God himself.”
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The small church roared with celebration as the first Ndali language New Testaments were opened. Songs and speeches in Ndali thrilled the crowd. “We welcome the Scriptures with two hands,” said a translator as he gestured a giant handshake. “It means a good welcome. This day will be remembered…”
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“Now God’s Word has a direct path to the hearts” of the Kinga language community of western Tanzania. Numerous Christian doctrines celebrated together publically, near a main local bus stand…
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“Truly, I feel joy, great joy,” said one Malila Translator at the celebration of the completed New Testament. “The Word of God will reach our people in the right way, and cause many to be saved and discipled. When they hear it in Swahili, sometimes they can’t understand. But now, in the language they understand, there will be great change…”
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Tanzania’s Vwanji people welcome their New Testament! Before he was a Bishop, leading the celebration of this day, Nguvila worked for years as one of the translators. Today, he is surrounded by his former colleagues, fellow church and community leaders, hundreds of Vwanji people, and the Scriptures for which they have gathered to praise God…
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Rain kept down the crowd’s numbers, but not their joy. Sheltered inside a church-within-a-church, Nyakyusa speakers used this day of singing and dancing, preaching and feasting to celebrate their newly translated Scriptures “even our children can understand!”
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