Wycliffe Helps Bible App Reach Milestone

Wycliffe personnel have provided the popular Bible app, YouVersion, with its 1,000th digital translation. The landmark version is the first digital New Testament translation of the Central African language of Hdi (pronounced Huh-dee).

In September 2012, SIL, Wycliffe’s key partner organization, and the Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy, completed the Hdi text, which is spoken by 45,000 people, mainly in Cameroon and Nigeria. The New Testament was then delivered to the Hdi people in a special dedication ceremony in December 2013 (pictured above).

YouVersion has more than 700 languages of the Bible available on smartphones and other devices. That means God’s Word is now more accessible for millions more people in their heart language.

As the world’s largest distributor of digital Bible text, YouVersion partners with 150 Bible societies, publishers and organizations, including Wycliffe and SIL.

Bible Translated Into Brazilian Sign Language

In 2013, the Brazilian translation team finished a DVD of children’s Bible stories in Brazilian sign language. A deaf interpreter shared how captivated a deaf boy was as he viewed the DVD.

“The boy watched all four stories, transfixed. His favourite was the story of Samson. His parents were amazed that he understood it and enjoyed the Bible stories in a way they had never seen before. They gained a new appreciation for the beauty of Brazilian sign language and a new respect for their son’s capacity to understand things in his own language.”

SIL Helps Battle Ebola Through Literacy

SIL, Wycliffe’s key field partner organization, is playing a vital role in raising awareness of the threat of Ebola in the West African nation of Senegal. While the virus has been a hot topic on French radio and television, many villagers don’t understand the message well because they don’t speak enough French or Wolof, the most widely-used national languages.

Compounding the need for information is the belief by some residents that Ebola has been introduced by white people, so they can steal organs. Others also believe governments are exaggerating statistics to get more money from international donors.

The literacy team has combated the misinformation with translated Ebola facts into four rural heart languages. The group also held an Ebola awareness session where a Senegalese physician answered questions about the origin of Ebola, its symptoms, contagiousness and prevention measures.

Solomon Islands Translation Near Completion

Solomon Island translation teams are seeing progress in three languages: Rovia, Gela and Baelelea.

The entire Roviana Bible will be completed in the next two years, with only a few Old Testament books remaining and the New Testament still being revised. The Gela team is in the final stages of translating the Gela New Testament, while the Baelelea New Testament is finished, with an audio version to be completed this year.

Linguists Receive Royal Honor in Netherlands

Years of service and dedication to the Naro people of Botswana has resulted in a Wycliffe couple being knighted in the Dutch order of Orange-Nassau. Hessel and Coby Visser (above) were bestowed the honour by Mayor Pieter van Maaren (centre, above) on behalf of King Willem-Alexander of Netherlands.

The Vissers began language work in the southern African nation in 1991. Throughout the past two decades, the couple has worked alongside the Naro people to translate the New Testament, do language analysis, develop an alphabet and create multilingual educational programs.

“The Vissers’ contribution to the Naro language community has been exemplary,” said Freddy Boswell, executive director of SIL, Wycliffe’s key field partner organization. 

“They represent the servant heart and attitude that we hope will mark all of SIL’s work.”

Hope for the Chocoan Peoples

Despite living in a beautiful and fertile land, many of the Chocoan people of western Colombia still experience lives of hopelessness. Desperate to earn a living, some are lured to the drug trade for easy money, while others have joined subversive groups.

Bible translation teams working with the Chocó cluster project are preparing an evangelistic booklet entitled Libro de la Vida (Book of Life) for distribution among the Chocó people groups in the South American nation. This booklet has the potential to lead the Chocoans to put their hope in the Lord.

Word Count

120+ organizations that form the Wycliffe Global Alliance (WGA), of which Wycliffe Canada is a member.

60 countries where these WGA organizations exist.

60 years these and other organizations have been assisting language groups in Bible translation.

1,000s resources in mother tongues that WGA personnel have also helped produce for literacy, education, health and other development-related objectives.

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