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| This is not the man in the story, but the closest picture I have to what he might have looked like. |
When the two Ikizu Bible translators went on a trip to an
Ikizu village to test the draft translation of Genesis chapter one, a small
group of people gathered to give their opinions about the work. Usually on such village trips, Christians are
the ones who form the listening panel, because they are interested in
furthering the work of Bible translation in their mother tongue. But in this village, an elderly Muslim man
who was a respected local religious leader joined the group. He said, “I am an Ikizu and am interested in
hearing what is being translated into my language, even if it is not my
religious book.”
After listening to the translators read the chapter aloud and
ask the group questions about the use of language and clarity of the content,
all the members of the group affirmed that the creation story was well-told and
that they understood it well. The Muslim
man stood up and said, “This chapter about God creating the world is one that
is a very good story for both Muslims and Christians to hear and learn. Why can’t Ikizu children learn excellent
things like this in school instead of only using Swahili there? For many years I have thought and argued with
government officials that our children should learn to read and write in their
own language. However, I had never seen
anything written in Ikizu, so I didn’t know if it was even possible. But now your Bible translation proves that
Ikizu can be written, and that there is a very good book available that all
Ikizu people should read!”
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