One of the goals in Bible translation is for national teams
to take ownership of translation projects. In 1974, the PNG Bible Translation
Association (BTA) was formed by PNG nationals. Our neighbors, who work for BTA,
tell us that to date, 16 New Testaments have been produced by BTA. For the past
two weekends, BTA has hosted fundraisers at Ukarumpa: a concert two weekends
ago and a craft fair last weekend.
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| Photo by Janeen Michie |
At the concert, we were regaled with songs from 10 different
languages. The members of BTA come from all over PNG, so each brought songs
from their own
tok ples (local
language). Our neighbor is a PNG national who met his wife, a Filipino, at a
Bible translation meeting in Australia (and they got engaged in Israel!), so
there was a song in a Filipino language as well. Along with singing, there was
also dancing and a skit about working together. Many of the songs and skits
were performed by BTA staff members, but there were also several numbers by a
local church.
 |
| Photo by Janeen Michie |
The craft fair was held in a roundhouse at the edge of our center
where the regional BTA office is housed. Local artisans set up tables piled
with
bilums (string bags), wood
carvings,
meri blouses (a type of
loose shirt worn by women in PNG), stationery, and jam. One of my students was
also selling cookies!
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