Guest post: the Omi New Testament

A dear friend in the UK, Dr. Sarah Casson, has been working for many years as a translation consultant with the Omi Bible translation team, near the border of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with South Sudan. She recently wrote a beautiful newsletter about the translators, their community, and how the translated Scriptures are already being used. The Omi are set to publish their New Testament + Genesis in the coming months. I asked if I could repost part of her newsletter here, and she kindly agreed. I have edited slightly to remove names, and added emphasis (bold).

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 “By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth…” Ps. 65:5

motorbike travel: the quickest way in north-eastern DRC

There are upsides to being remote, and I don’t mean attending meetings in pyjamas. While much of the world was paralysed by the pandemic in 2020, it was business as usual for the Omi translators in a small town in north-eastern DRC. This meant persevering through the final technical checks of their New Testament in Omiti. It meant travelling by motorbike regularly to the nearest town –  dodging tropical storms and road blocks –  to get a good enough connection to work with me via zoom, as well as fixing the solar battery system when it fried, and pausing work to attend funerals of loved ones, including grandchildren.

Omi language team

 

Mercifully the coronavirus has continued largely to pass the Omi community by, and in November 2020, seventeen years after two translators first began work on the Gospel of Luke, the green light was given for typesetting. The process was carried out by a Cameroonian colleague, a specialist typesetter. It involved laying out the text, making maps, inserting images, headings and front matter, running consistency checks and much more. A last-minute installation of an internet connection at their office meant that the translators were able to work regularly on zoom from the heart of their community. Our first three-way video meeting with the translators in DRC, the typesetter in Cameroon and me in the UK brought broad smiles to all our faces. Ten years ago this would have been impossible and the typesetting would have been shelved till after the pandemic. I’m not always as thankful for technology as I should be; praise God for it!

preparing the text for typesetting

detail of map of 1st century Palestine in Omiti

The New Testament and Genesis, combined in one volume, are now typeset and awaiting printing. It’s hard to express how extraordinary this achievement is! Before preparation for Bible translation work began in this disadvantaged community, the Omi language had never been written. Speakers were used to their language and culture being despised and overlooked. Even in other parts of DRC, people have rarely heard of the Omi people. Church services in the Omi region are frequently led in more dominant languages such as Bangala and Lugbara, though Omi speakers often only understand these partially. This gives the message that Omiti is not a worthy medium for communicating important information and that God speaks a foreign language. Gradually as the translation has progressed the Catholic church has started to use passages in church services, following the lectionary. Scripture read in Omiti triggers lots of animated discussion outside church. People are starting to grasp that God speaks their language and loves them and their culture!

church choir and traditional harp on the move

 

The translation has demanded dogged determination from the translators and other members of the Omi project team. They’ve been through many dangers, toils and snares. They were left reeling when an American colleague died suddenly in January 2019. He had been involved with the Omi language from the beginning of the project, and had hoped to accompany the team over the finish line of New Testament publication. There have been many other moments of disorientation: the period when the Lord’s Resistance Army passed through the region in 2009, then another rebel group in 2013, the time when one of the translators nearly died of malaria while at a workshop in Bunia, and moments when highly skilled colleagues have resigned. As I scroll through the pages of precise Omi script with its delicate tone markings I am moved to tears remembering the struggle it represents. Its completion is a testimony to God’s faithfulness and grace. 

May God’s Word in Omiti bring hope, joy and fullness of life to Omi people as they hear about Jesus, who has not passed them by but has come to the heart of their culture.

by Dr. Sarah Casson