“This is How We Speak!”
Sango New Testament Launched Amid Unrest --- BANGUI, Central African Republic
Undeterred by a mutiny by the army here last April, the Bible
Society of the Central African Republic (BSCAR) proceeded with its
plans to launch the New Testament in modern Sango. Such was the commitment
of the translation team that even during the height of the unrest, the
Old Testament reviewers’ workshop was completed. Then, after a two-week
delay, the New Testament launch and dedication was finally celebrated on
May 12, just six days before another period of insurrection.
Enthusiasm
Although the celebration was a smaller event than originally envisaged,
with several of the invited dignitaries unable to come because of the strife
in the country, nothing could dampen the enthusiasm of those who, that
sunny Sunday afternoon, heard the New Testament read in public for the
very first time in their heart language. "Ah, this is our language, this
is how we speak!" many were overheard to say, and no sooner had copies
gone on sale than the crowds eagerly snapped up the entire stock of the
first edition.
Towards the end of the ceremony, there was a brief rain shower, followed
by a bright rainbow, and many who saw it contemplated God’s promises and
took it as a sign of hope.
Such hope was not misplaced: just six days after the dedication, a second
army mutiny occurred, only this time it was far more serious, resulting
in the evacuation of all expatriates from the country. This included the
Sango translation project coordinator and exegete, the Rev Christoph Mueller,
his wife, and their children, who were temporarily relocated to Yaoundé,
the capital of Cameroon.
Strife
Swiss-born Christoph, 41, of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL),
was forced to leave behind the rest of the Sango translation team to continue
working on the Old Testament, and trusting God for the rainbow after the
storm. Then in November, a third mutiny occurred, with further reports
of spreading fighting, strife, and ethnic mistrust.
Most recently, in January 1997, the entire Sango translation team joined
Mr Mueller in Yaoundé for a three-month workshop in discourse analysis
to help them grasp the types of problems faced with a developing language
such as Sango in a more systematic way.
The Bible in Modern Sango
One of the official languages of the Central African Republic, Sango
is spoken by an estimated 4.9 million people in the Central African Republic
and in parts of neighbouring Cameroon, Tchad, and Zaïre. It was first
a trade language, used mainly along the Oubangui River, and initially had
a very limited number of words – mostly taken from the Ngbandi language
and other related tongues, but then it started to spread, and became the
language of the first territorial army, and was used by many missionaries.
Soon Sango was being used as the prime language for communicating
between some 100 or so different language groups in the heart of Africa,
and as it developed, it even incorporated words from English, Arabic, Portuguese,
and many words from French and neighbouring Lingala languages. (WR 318/11
- 3.97)
This page was last updated on Thursday, 17th April
1997.