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BIRTH OF A BIBLE TRANSLATION PROJECT
- A case history in Zambia/Zaire -
BY: NEL CLAASSEN AND BETTY Lou LORE


The Taabua people living near Lake Tanganyika in Eastern Zaire had
been pleading for the Bible in their own language for a long while, Finally pastor Frederick Kasokota, who pastors a local church, began translating the Gospel of Mark at the insistence of his congregation. When he was informed that there were two white ladies in Mporokoso (Zambia)
in April last year; looking for speakers of Kitaabua in order to begin a Bible translation project, he was overjoyed. He readily made the 200km journey by bus on the bumpy, potholed sand road from the border to meet these ladies. 

When he met Nel Claassen, the project leader and Betty Lou Lore, her team mate, and heard their plan of recruiting mother tongue translators, he shyly volunteered to become one of the translators. He then left for Zaire to find two more people to complete the team in readiness for the start of the project. 

Research 

The launching of a new translation project, like any major undertaking, entails painstaking research, meticulous preparation and massive co-ordination in various spheres. Needless to say, it also means relocation for the team leaders. 

When and how was the Zambia/Zaire project born? Where did Nel begin and what has been the process of development? The following are a number of the steps which trace the unfolding of the project. 

The first preparatory step took the form of three research trips. In 1994 Nel and Seamus Spira flew to Kinshasa to meet the head of the Bible Society of Zaire. They were hoping to learn from him which language is recommended for Bible transla tion. 

There were three language groups immediately desiring the Scriptures, and Taabua was one of them. The Taabua translation was the most workable as it offered the option of living in Zambia where the political situation was more stable.  Furthermore the other two were due north and south of Kinshasa, but access would be via Kinshasa which one can only reach by air This would have bedeviled the logistics of setting up a translation project, not to mention the relocation of the team leaders.

 The second phase of research began in August, 1995. This was to establish the condition of the roads, the climate, and to pinpoint the whereabouts of the Taabua settlements. Nel and Seamus traveled by car all the way to Lake Tanganyika - a trip of around 3000km from White River; South Africa. They came back with a positive report.

'The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.'


The third fact finding trip took place in April, 1996. This time Nel was accompanied by Betty Lou, a literacy expert who had been working with The Word for the World (WW), and who was to join Nel's team in Zambia/Zaire. They went to Mporokoso, 200km south west of Lake
Tanganyika and stayed there for six weeks, intent on finding three Taabua-speakers to be trained in the principles of Bible translation. That is when they met up with Lazarous Kapasa, a Zambian, who went forth to inform Pastor Kasokota in Zaire of the planned Taabua Bible translation
project headed by these two ladies. Some of the people spoken to were
skeptical of a Taabua translation of the Bible saying that it is the same as Bemba and that everybody understands the Bemba Bible. 

Confirmation

However, Nel and Betty Lou were not convinced. An unexpected confirmation of the need for a separate translation came from a local choir master whose choir stopped singing the Taabua songs they used to sing as they were not being understood. They lea med later that the Taabua spoken in that region of Zambia was a mixture of Bemba and that 'deep', proper Taabua was spoken only in eastern Zaire by a politically persecuted minority That conclusively made out the case for the Taabua translation and confirmed Nel's original mandate to translate the Bible into
Zairian Taabua - to fulfill Cod's promise for Zaire that she found in Isaiah
9.1-7 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned" (v.2). (Nel experienced the 'shadow of death' over Zaire very poignantly ever since she set foot there, yet the civil war only broke out there in October
last year) Zambia provides the gateway into it.

They returned to South Africa to prepare for their final departure, confident that they accomplished what they set out to do. On October 7, 1996, Net and Betty Lou left for Zambia in Net's VW Beetle and Betty Louts bakkie (pick-up) packed to capacity with  axles practically sagging, and Clive Frederiksson of White River as co-driver. 

In the meanwhile they had ruled out Mporokoso as the base for the project, as the roads become impassable during the rainy season. Their search for a suitable position took them to Mbala, near Lake Tanganyika, a short ferry ride away from their target group in Zaire. 

In Mbala they found a house ideally suited to their purposes and which could also accommodate the three Zaïrian mother tongue translators. The team's key man, Lazarous Kapasa of Mporokoso sent word that the project was about to start and for the team to meet there. 

Lusaka 

It was, however, not all plain sailing. They were stuck in Lusaka for about six weeks for vehicle registration and repairs to Net's car and to complete certain protocols. While getting entangled in the maize of red tape and other frustrations Nel made good use of the time and established invaluable liaison with the United Bible Society of Zambia (UBS), the NG Church and the Justo Mwale Bible College whichis run by South African theologians. All of these institutions have expressed their desire to become involved and have pledged logistical support.

Before they moved into their house in MbaIa they stayed at the New Grasshopper Inn for three weeks. This picturesque name for the inn is apparently not co-incidental as swarms of grasshoppers habitually bash against the building, sounding like a shower of rain and which have re-
moved the paint from the walls in places. However; it was home, albeit water only being available in the morning - cold water - while the bakkie stood, still exactly as it was jam-packed in White River; at the local police station. 

Project
The moment of truth arrived on December 8 when the project got off the ground with the first weekly training session on the principles of Bible translation. The rest of the week is on-the-job application of what had been taught. 

It wasn't long before they realized that the Lord had put together the most capable, highly motivated and dedicated team imaginable. The three Zairians are Pastor Kasokota (39), Bishop Clement Kibombwe (70) and Kalinde Nzika (32). The fourth member of the team is, of course Lazarous Kapasa (27), who is also the linguistic link with the Zairians. The Bishop, an erstwhile Catholic priest and strong academic, had been pastoring a church. However; he was so convinced that the Lord called him to this translation work that he traveled the 200km from Moba to Musosa on the back of a bicycle. Not being accustomed to this mode of locomotion, he fell off twice, but yet continued steadfastly. 

By December 23 they had translated the first five verses of the Gospel of John into Taabua, using English, Afrikaans, French, Swahili, Bemba and Greek Bibles. By the end of February they had completed this Gospel, and are testing the translation among the Taabua speakers for intelligibility and acceptability. This is surely the "stuff that dreams are made on"' 

Training 

The weekly training sessions are also attended by a LBS team resident in Mbala and who is working on the Mambwe-Lungo translation of the Gospel of Mark. In addition the Assemblies of Cod pastor also attends as he wants to translate certain theological material in Bemba. 

In looking back, Nel has this to say" I love Africa I love its people! I love the team to bits! Thus far it has been worth every inch of the battle. The team is a miracle from God. No top personnel manager could have put together a team like this - and they have caught the vision. "On the home front they know how to buy and prepare delicious lake fish. There are mushrooms here the size of a two-man tent AND edible. After the rains the wild flowers literally burst forth from the round and the countryside is an unbelievable green. Africa. I cannot thank the Lord enough that I may work here."

Contact information for Nel Classen:  claassen@zamnet.zm 

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Last modified: February 01, 2002