New Testament Projects

I went to visit the four projects in the Volta Region who dedicated their New Testaments this spring and getting to the villages tended to be quite treacherous. One village in particular felt as though we were pioneering a new road as we cut through overgrown bush clipping branch and bush as we made our way down roads that were two tire tracks with over grown grass in between and the bush closing in on the sides. Each of the NT’s costs probably 30-40 dollars to print, but they sell them for about 2 dollars. The national office has many financial problems and has not received some funding they anticipated. You could tell that they were frustrated that work hasn’t been progressing on the Old Testament and Sylvester encouraged them to take more ownership of the project and that they need to work with the churches and community to raise support. Some projects have developed guest houses, sell honey, grow yams, and other things to be somewhat self-sufficient. It is important for the communities to be empowered and I think they can do much more for themselves than they realize. The numbers however, particularly to run and sustain a translation project, literacy programs and printing operations is heavily stacked against the community. Start-up capital and national infrastructure are the main private and public problems hindering Africa from growth.

Sylvester accompanied me, and he has worked a lot in the U.S. to share with donors about translation projects in Ghana and to give them first hand interaction. He and his wife helped to translate the entire Bible in a community in Northwest Ghana. As a Ghanaian who has worked as a community member, volunteer, in the field, in the national office as management and overseas in development, his words carry a lot of weight with the translation teams and community volunteers that tirelessly review the translations to make sure they are appropriate for use.