Sometime in 1989, church leaders in Burkina Faso gathered to talk about a Bible translation project in one of the country’s indigenous languages. Six years later, part of the Bible was published for the first time in Cerma, the mother tongue of many of the tribes living in Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast.

But, on April 14, Wycliffe Bible Translators and the local believers gathered to dedicate and celebrate the whole Bible in Cerma, finally fully translated, printed, and available. According to the Joshua Project, many Ciramba know Jula – the local trade language – quite well, but they still cling tightly to Cerma, their mother tongue, with over 60,000 speakers. The crowd celebrated the new release since the process has been a long time in coming. Portions were typeset last March and then shipped from South Korea in time for the ceremony. Only a fifth of the population is literate, however, so the people are also very receptive to literacy efforts in both Jula and Cerma.

Most of the Ciramba tribe follows the local traditional religion, and there are approximately 6,000 Ciramba Muslims. The new Bible will be a great tool to support the strong, although small, self-propagating church among the Ciramba.

Source: Christian Telegraph; Mission Network News

BIBLE STUDY: Psalm 119:129-135

PRAISE: God that the Ciramba finally have His Word in their language. Pray that it will accomplish all He intends among the Cerma speaking people.