By Stacey
Starting tomorrow, Dave and I will be traveling to do a week-long survey among the Bakoum people. Our three two motivations for doing this are:
1. To gather more information about the people group. On the linguistic side of things, we hope to ask them things like if there is more than one dialect of the language or if they can understand the other languages groups which surround them. And then, on the more general side of things, we hope to map out exactly where all the Bakoum villages are located, how many chiefs there are, and who are the “key people” who would be interested in participating in the project.
2. To create awareness of the need for literacy and translation. We hope to help the Bakoum peoples see their need for the development of their language and for a translation of the Bible. As we have been told by numerous missionaries, if the people do not invest in literacy and Bible translation at the beginning, they will not read the Bible at the end. Thus it is crucial to get people on-board from the beginning so that as books of Scripture are published, people will be able and eager to read them.
In order to aid in accomplishing this goal, we have asked a Cameroonian brother who lives in the capital to join us during the week (Jean Yves). He is experienced in mobilizing communities to see their need for the Word and thereby take ownership of literacy and translation projects. He will also be beside us to help us not miss cultural cues and to communicate our purposes clearly in French. We are very thankful for the opportunity to work with him.
Please remember us in your prayers this week. Specifically you could pray that:
- All the meetings would happen.
- That we would communicate clearly (in French) our vision for literacy and Bible translation.
- That we will represent Christ well and glorify him in what we say and do.
- That the Lord would open people’s eyes to their need for His Word and that they would invest in the project.
Thank you for thinking of us and for your prayers. We look forward to writing about our experiences soon!
