In mid-October, Douglas and Bagamba were invited to the office of the Governor of Ituri Province (a few hundred yards from our office in Bunia) to participate in a meeting on the Ebola outbreak. They were asked to give advice on the best languages to use in different areas, in order to make sure people are understanding important information about the disease.
About one million people in Ituri Province speak the Lendu language. The Lendu Bible has been available for two years. Although it was produced by another organization, we knew the translators and one of them is now part of our translation consultant team. In addition, Bagamba understands the language, due to having spent part of his childhood in the Lendu area. Recently he visited a Lendu-language church service that started in Bunia a few months ago (photo above).
Services at this chapel were held only in Swahili and in French until this year, when many Lendu speakers fled to Bunia because of violence in their villages. The leaders of this church realized that many of these displaced people did not know Swahili or French, and started a third Sunday service to minister to them in their own language. This service has become very popular among Bunia residents, including among people who understand Swahili and even other local language better than Lendu!
Unlike most other denominations in Bunia, this church has the custom of confessing their faith each week using the Apostle's Creed. But Bagamba noticed that they said the creed in Swahili. They have the Bible in Lendu, but this brief but important text is not yet available in their language. Bagamba is looking into having a faithful translation of the creed prepared for use by this congregation -- and why not by others?
That's great that the church started a third service for the Lendu speakers! And good to know, also, that the government is working with other groups to help spread important information on the outbreak.
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