We have a full time team of 4 native Yao speakers who have been with us between 9 and 13 years.  There are about 10 part time reviewers, a part time administrator, and a translator and visiting consultants from a world-class translation organization providing training and linguistic help.

 

Some of our projects underway include:

 

Children’s Book

As we’ve talked with Yao chiefs about what would be most helpful to them, they have asked us to produce a book containing their traditional stories, proverbs and sayings which they have used raising their children to teach good behavior. They are extremely worried that all these good things are being lost. The booklet will begin with portions of Scripture which relate to the behavior of children, youth and good parenting.

 

 Nothing like this exists in written form among the Yao. Producing a children’s book to be read in homes will also have a ripple effect on families (reading with their children) and on reading and literacy (as Yao children and adults are able to read the words of their own language for the very first time).  Imagine the impact that such a thing could have on an entire tribe!

 

Marriage and Family Book

This book began as a result of the great frustration that many Yao women feel about the state of marriage, especially because of polygamy, and the high rate of divorce and adultery. But it is not only the women who are deeply concerned about the state of marriage, the men are as well.

 

During a discussion on marriage with Yao leaders, a Yao chief asked us to put in book form scripture based teaching about marriage and family.  (Chiefs are the civil judges in Malawi and handle most of the divorce cases).  This chief wanted to use it in his village to help people reconcile their marriages, instead of granting a divorce.  Hundreds of marriages have been helped, and many divorces avoided.  Furthermore, this is reducing deaths and the number of children becoming orphans – with 1 in 9 people HIV positive, multiple marriages are like gambling with your life!

We published a thousand copies in 2011. This has been our most desired booklet, and it sold out after less than a year and a half.  We just printed another 2500 copies.

 

Teaching Booklets

Covering God’s story from creation to Jesus, each story in these booklets has been selected to help people know God and understand his rescue project for his creation. For example, a discussion of the story of God’s promise to Abraham to bless all nations helps readers to start to grapple with the hopelessness which paralyzes so many. They begin to understand that God wants to do something awesome in their tribe, that he has promised them a good future under his leadership. We follow this with the story of Abraham’s grandchildren, Esau and Jacob. In that story the reader sees Esau’s disregard for God’s future and his focus on the moment. Discussing this helps them take further steps in developing trust and hope. They begin to consider what actions steps they can take to see God’s future come to their society. They confront toxic sayings such as “the future belongs to someone else” and “I must eat first!” meaning I need to focus on what's immediate.

 

There are 3 “Teachings” Booklets (their word is “Yijiganyo”). All have sold out. Book 1 has sold out multiple times. Books 2 and 3 have yet to be reprinted.

 

Luke and Acts

This book is a complete translation of Luke and Acts. In it the reader can discover the life and teachings of Jesus, and learn how his followers obeyed him, leading to positive transformation in their lives, and how as his representatives they went throughout the Roman Empire spreading the Good News of his life-giving and life-changing leadership.

 

Genesis

Some of the Yao leaders requested Genesis to be next in our translation efforts because it gives us a clear picture of how God began his great story of which we are all a part: He expressed his great love, power and creativity at creation – everything was good, we were created in his image. It also shows us how everything took a turn for the worse when our first ancestors decided to do life their ways. The rest of the book shows us the beginning of God’s great rescue project.