Good progress with Bible translation work in Vanuatu

From left to right: Nelson Tosul, John Harris, Edward Watas and Arthur Olul translating Mark’s Gospel into Sa. Pentecost Island, Vanuatu, South Pacific. Photo: BS in Australia Inc / John W Harris (SPA02DJ-6.JPG)

PENTECOST ISLAND, Vanuatu, South Pacific — Two translation projects are set to provide God’s Word in Hano and Sa, languages spoken by some of the 12,000 residents of Pentecost Island, one of approximately 80 islands that make up the Vanuatu group.

Earthquake

A dramatic event provided the impetus for three men to begin the laborious task of writing a translation of Mark’s Gospel by hand for the 2,000 or so Sa speakers who live around the village of Wanurr, in the southern tip of Pentecost. On November 26, 1999 a violent undersea earthquake occurred, prompting a tsunami, or giant wave, which hit the south of the island. In total, five people were killed and around 100 injured.

Wanurr was relatively unscathed, and its people felt that they had been saved by God for a purpose. They erected two stone monuments symbolising God’s care for their ancestors in the past and their hope for the future, in particular the hope that their children would have the Bible in their own language. (Further information about the origins of this project can be found in World Report 360/30.)

The three translators, Nelson Tosul, Arthur Olul and Edward Watas then embarked on the task. Working only in their spare time, as they still have families to support, they have nonetheless succeeded in translating the whole of Mark’s Gospel in less than two years. No United Bible Societies (UBS) funding was available initially, but they now receive a UBS grant of US$500 a year via the Bible Society of the South Pacific. The money largely enables them to go to two translation workshops a year.

Hano

Meanwhile in the north of Pentecost Island, more than half of the New Testament and part of the Old Testament have now been translated into Hano, a language spoken by 7,000 people. The work has been led for many years by Mark Gaviga who, like his counterparts in the south, has only been able to give part of his time to the project.

He has been assisted by a number of people, including his daughter, a friend of hers, and a retired minister. He says that the team will “work hard until the end of 2004, and whatever is finished then, we will ask the Bible Society to publish it in 2005.”

With contributions from the Rev Dr John Harris, Director, Translation and Text Division, Bible Society in Australia, and from Good News for the Pacific, August 2002. (WR 372/29 - 11.02)