Perseverance: the life of a Bible Translator (by Jennings)

     In September, I was scheduled to work again with the Tembo translation team. Because of recent fighting in Goma, where they live, we asked them to come up here to Bunia. We planned to check 1 and 2 Peter and James. This time, we were joined by a Congolese consultant-in-training, Dr Londroma. Though still officially "in training" as a consultant, he is far more experienced than the rest of us: he worked for 30 years as a translator on the Lendu Bible, which was completed last year. His knowledge gave us a broader understanding of the translation process. With his help, we finished our planned checking a week early (!) and started on 1 Corinthians. It was a pleasure to work alongside him and to benefit from his experience.
He was also able to joke around with the translators in a way that I - a foreigner and a woman - will probably never will be able to. It was a sweet thing to see how comfortable they are with each other.

     But perhaps the greatest blessing Dr. Londroma brought us was his perspective on life as a Bible translator.
  
     As we were sharing prayer requests at the end, one of the translators asked for prayer for “perseverance”. We all knew what he meant. Already this year, two project members have had to move because their rent went up; they are not always able to pay school fees and medical bills; and – just last month – their city was bombed in fighting between a militia group and the army. Some of their neighbors were hurt or killed. The fighting has raised both the level of stress in people’s lives and the cost of living.

     None of these are new issues; insecurity and financial difficulties have always been part of their daily life in Goma. When we're together, they update me (often reluctantly... they don't like to "bother" us with these problems) and we pray. This time, however, was different, because we had with us a Congolese translator with 30 years' experience. He can hear them, and he can truly relate in a way that I cannot. He knows what it is to live on little or no financial support; he has lost a son to ethnic conflict; he has seen others with his qualifications earning much more and receiving more honor. He shared his stories with them. He encouraged them to depend on God, to persevere, to be ready to suffer for Christ, to be humble, to accept that translators do not receive the recognition that pastors and other church staff do. He also urged them to look for other ways to support themselves financially and to prepare for the future. He could speak to them as one who knows what their lives are like and who has suffered as they do, because of the conviction that his people needed the Scriptures in their language. By the end of the meeting, there were tears in all our eyes.

     This is an encouraging glimpse of what we are working toward: Congolese translators working with Congolese consultants, who are able to understand and speak to them in ways that expats cannot. I thank God for this.