Christine Platt visited our Kenyan team from 21 - 28 September. She was very impressed with the work our team is doing. They are:
- Working with local churches and mission societies to record God's word in the languages of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
- Researching the languages spoken in these three countries, looking into the priorities and seeking partners to work with.
- Finding partners to translate God's word (normally in the form of Bible stories) and then recording them as they tell the stories in their own language
- Providing God's word (picture books and recordings on mp3 players) to the speakers of those languages, and training pastors and evangelists so they can be effectively used.
Christine goes on to report:
"I visited the GRN office in Nairobi. It is very well maintained and is complete with a sound room for editing and storage for printed materials along with office and meeting space.
"James (recordist) had recorded Look, Listen & Live books 1-8 in the Sengwar language last year. These recordings were edited, programmed and ready for distribution. I joined the team on an eight hour drive through the Rift Valley to visit these people and observe the distribution.
"We arrived at a rural church to find church leaders from 16 Sengwar speaking churches assembled. The SIL translator, working on the Sengwar Bible, had helped with the script translation, the choice of readers for the recording, and had also organised this distribution event.
"Our team demonstrated the use of the flipcharts and mp3 players, encouraged people to use them, explained how and when they should be used and we left safe in the knowledge that the SIL people were there to help the churches with any problems they might face.
"We left 16 sets of flipcharts and mp3 players behind - one for each church. The churches know how to contact our team should they want any more materials."
Over the last 6 months, our Kenyan team has distributed 80 sets of flipcharts. Some from the initial distribution of new recordings like this event. Others are from churches and evangelists wanting materials that have already been recorded and they want to reach speakers of that language.
The team is currently researching possible recordings in a couple of languages and are planning their next distribution of the politically sensitive language.