The Ndruna New Testament celebration: to the "zone rouge" and back (by Jennings)

Avuta, who started the Ndruna language project 30 years with SIL, and his wife, holding an Ndruna NT

One Sunday in March, we put on our party clothes and walked to the translation office at 6 AM. We were meeting another 60 people to travel by bus to the town of Gety, to see the Ngiti people receive the New Testament in their language, Ndruna! It was the culmination of many years of hard work for the translators, much of it done on a displaced basis here in Bunia because of war and militia activity in their home area. This is the first language project we've worked with that has never had an expat missionary assigned to live with them and work on the translation... it is a completely national project.

Our office staff, family and friends, with the boxes of Ndruna New Testaments

We didn't leave until a few hours later, though. Gety is in the "zone rouge", the "red zone", where there have been ongoing militia attacks. The bus driver was afraid to go there, and it took hours for the bus company to find someone willing to drive us. We were not completely unprepared, though. We had arranged for a United Nations escort to accompany us from the town of Bogoro to Gety and back. We had an uneventful trip through beautiful countryside.

Some of our office staff come from an ethnic group that has been the enemy of the Ngiti. One of them has been kidnapped twice by Ngiti militia; others lost family members in a massacre 13 years ago in the town of Bogoro. Despite their apprehensions at going to the Ngiti area, they were excited to attend the ceremony and welcome God’s word in a new language.

When we got close to the dedication site, we started hearing singing... both inside the bus and out. The people in Gety were welcoming us, and the Ngiti who were traveling in the bus with us joined in! When we arrived, there was a huge crowd, singing and dancing. I was literally lifted out of the bus and into the arms of a lady who danced me through the crowd to the place we were to sit, in the guest shelter.

Welcome committee! They had been waiting for us for hours, as our bus was late.

Special guests, including church reps and a local radio administrator, in the VIP shelter

Thousands of people came and stood for hours in the sun, to see the presentation of the New Testaments, to hear speeches, and to watch choirs sing and dance.

One of the youth choirs performs

Playing traditional harps

Children start singing and dancing in choirs from a young age.

The New Testaments were carried onto the stage by the Ndruna language committee, to great fanfare.

The New Testaments are brought onto the stage.

Dr Loba, a translation consultant for Bible Society who is Ngiti himself, gave the dedication prayer.

Dr Loba, a Bible Society translation consultant and Ngiti himself, dedicates the New Testaments.

Dr Constance Kutsch Lojenga, an SIL linguist who started language work in Ndruna 30 years ago, addressed the crowd in Ndruna and read a New Testament passage to them. Ndruna is a very complex, tonal language, and the crowd cheered with delight at her reading.

Dr. Constance Kutsch Lojenga, who first started work in the Ndruna language some 30 years ago, addresses the crowd in Ndruna and reads a New Testament passage.

Two of our group's staff, Maryanne and Bagamba (sociolinguist and mobilization leader) addressed the crowd to urge them to see the ongoing translation project as “their” project, and to support it spiritually and financially. They emphasized that there are fewer and fewer expat missionaries coming to Congo, and that the work of translation needs to be increasingly locally-run. Bagamba showed them that, if each Ngiti gave just 50 cents a year, they could completely finance the project on their own. (He gave a similar presentation about a year ago, at an Ndruna service in town.) Several people stepped forward with donations for the Old Testament work.

Staff members describing the "new reality" of missions and encouraging local participation

In order to get home before nightfall, we had to leave by mid-afternoon. We were (quickly) given a lavish meal (guests must eat!), and then a traditional send-off as our bus pulled away.

We were given an enthusiastic, traditional farewell

Our trip home was also uneventful... as far as we knew at the time. We heard later that there had been militia in the area, on the road we traveled. They had been instructed by their leader to leave us alone, out of respect.

But two translators from another language, coming by motorcycle from the opposite direction, were not so fortunate. They were stopped by militia and told they would be hacked to death. Fortunately, though, the bandits got distracted by the men’s baggage – they had all their clothes and shoes for a 2-week trip, plus their translation computer and a digital camera lent to them by their church. While the bandits were poring over these items, the translators hopped back on their motorcycle and took off. The attack was very traumatic for them, but God preserved their lives. It’s a reminder to us of the dangers many language project workers face when they travel by road, even in their home areas.

So far, hundreds of copies of the Ndruna New Testament have been sold! The proceeds will help with ongoing translation work. Getting New Testaments to villages has been a challenge, due to the dangers of road travel. Literacy classes are also ongoing, in the villages.

An Ndruna translator and a consultant (from the "enemy" tribe mentioned above) have just returned from 6 months in Israel, doing in-depth study of Hebrew and Biblical geography. Together, they are ready to bring their new knowledge and enthusiasm to the translation team as they work on their Old Testament. Meanwhile, the rest of the Ndruna translation team have been working hard on Genesis and building local support to carry the project forward.