One of the privileges of working as an MK teacher is I get to see exactly what God is doing through missions. One of the mission organizations our school serves is SIL- and we have several students whose parents are part of their work. Recently in Mali we had some major progress in one of the Bible translation projects- so I asked a friend to fill you all in on what God is doing! So here goes…
Hi, friends of Sarah and Ed! I’m neither one of them…sorry for the disappointment. My name is Kathryn (far right in the picture), and I am their neighbor. I work in Mali with an organization called SIL, and, as our website
http://sil-mali.org/ states, “Our primary objective is to see that ethnic groups in Mali can make use of the languages they understand best - in their written and audio forms - for their spiritual, social and economic development. Our areas of work are: linguistic research, training, literacy and the translation of Biblical texts.”
Sarah asked me to write about the privilege I had a few weeks ago of attending the dedication of the entire Bible in the Dogon Toro-so language. This is only the second complete Bible ever published in a Malian language, the first being in Bambara in the 1950s. It’s the first complete Bible that SIL Mali has been involved in, and it is the fruit of almost 30 years of work! Needless to say, the dedication was a big deal.
My colleagues and I had not been certain we would be able to attend the dedication, as it required traveling to a place previously off limits after some of the recent troubles in Mali. Thankfully, as the time got nearer, our administration agreed that a small contingency of foreigners could go, and I was lucky enough to be one of them. I was so glad to be part of the group because I had looked forward to this for months. I work on one of the first steps in the long process of Bible translation, and I really wanted to see first-hand the beautiful end result.
Our SIL group joined about 4,500 Dogon Christians as they celebrated the completion of the Bible in their mother tongue. There was singing and dancing, of course, and plenty of speeches, including an appearance by the Minister of Education and many of his subordinates, which was quite an honor for the occasion. All of that was wonderful, but the best part of the day’s festivities was watching the procession that carried in the first Bibles. They were presented to all of the people who had worked so hard for its completion, all of the dignitaries received copies, and missionaries who had spent years of their lives working toward that goal, but who couldn’t be there to see its fulfillment, were also honored.
While those moments were certainly moving, I found the next day’s worship service even more meaningful. That was when the preacher had everyone raise their new Bibles in the air and then asked them to open to the book of Joshua. We watched as rows and rows of Dogon Christians followed along while the preacher read from the Old Testament for the first time in their language. It was a magnificent moment!
The Bible in a people group’s mother tongue is, in my opinion, the most valuable contribution anybody can make to the life and health of the Body of Christ among them. It is a permanent witness of the power, the love, and the plan of God. That’s why I’m here.
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| Pastors and lay leaders reading from the book of Joshua in Dogon--the first time ever to do so. |
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| This man, Timothée Kodio, who worked for 30 years to translate the Bible in his mother tongue. |
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| Dancing and music |
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| The Minister of Education wearing his new Dogon outfit | | |
Hi, friends of Sarah and Ed! I’m neither one of them…sorry for the disappointment. My name is Kathryn (far right in the picture), and I am their neighbor. I work in Mali with an organization called SIL, and, as our website http://sil-mali.org/ states, “Our primary objective is to see that ethnic groups in Mali can make use of the languages they understand best - in their written and audio forms - for their spiritual, social and economic development. Our areas of work are: linguistic research, training, literacy and the translation of Biblical texts.”
Sarah asked me to write about the privilege I had a few weeks ago of attending the dedication of the entire Bible in the Dogon Toro-so language. This is only the second complete Bible ever published in a Malian language, the first being in Bambara in the 1950s. It’s the first complete Bible that SIL Mali has been involved in, and it is the fruit of almost 30 years of work! Needless to say, the dedication was a big deal.
Our SIL group joined about 4,500 Dogon Christians as they celebrated the completion of the Bible in their mother tongue. There was singing and dancing, of course, and plenty of speeches, including an appearance by the Minister of Education and many of his subordinates, which was quite an honor for the occasion. All of that was wonderful, but the best part of the day’s festivities was watching the procession that carried in the first Bibles. They were presented to all of the people who had worked so hard for its completion, all of the dignitaries received copies, and missionaries who had spent years of their lives working toward that goal, but who couldn’t be there to see its fulfillment, were also honored.
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