Kiha Bible Translation and Publishing

Project Summary

Scripture & Prayer

The Kiha Bible translation project had started in January 2004 and was expected to end in December; 2016. The completion date has been revised to 2024 due to reasons beyond our control including inadequate funding.

The New Testament was completed, Published and Launched in November 29,2020. The event was very colorful. Translation of the Old Testament is still in progress, with some of the books translated and checked by our Translation Consultant.

This is the first Bible translation for Kiha speakers.

Traditionally the Kiha community is marred by evil practices such as witchcraft, alcoholism, polygamy and idolatry. Kiha people have longed to have the Bible in their mother tongue for many years. This continuing translation is a blessing to this community.

It is expected that, availability of the Bible in Kiha language will have a positive effect on church growth and deepening of personal faith that will lead to changed behavior in the community-minimizing the bad practices.

Having the Bible in their language will not only enable them to understand the Bible better, but it will also help preserve their language and cultural heritage. It is targeted that a total of 1,958,000 people will benefit from this project.

Our partners in this project are Anglican, Roman Catholics and Pentecostal churches in the project area.

Key Verse

Matthew 28:19-20; “Go then to all people everywhere and make them my disciples, baptize them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”

Prayer points

Pray for availability of funds
Pray for translators as they continue with translation of the Old Testament.
Pray for the Translation consultant as he continue checking books online especially during this time with the COVID 19 Pandemic.

Installation

This project is in line with Philadelphia promise on Bible Translation (Focus on audiences) and Strengthening Church relations (Share ownership of our mission)and the Bible Society of Tanzania Strategic Plan (2018 – 2022).

Project Goal

To translate the Bible in Kiha language for mission work among Kiha speakers.

Project goal’s relationship to overall bible society strategy

To translate the Bible in Kiha language for mission work among Kiha speakers. This is in line with the Bible Society’s

Strategic objectives that emphasizes the Society’s responsibility of facilitating translation of the Bible into languages without Bible, publish, and print the same – making it available to the community as the Word of God helping them to grow both in faith and spiritually

How this project will help the beneficiaries

National Context

Kiha language is spoken by Ha tribe that is situated in the North-East part of Kigoma in western part of Tanzania, by around 1,958,000 people. This project is in progress and the language speakers are anxiously waiting for it. The Kiha speakers communicate mostly in their language, as many people do not speak Swahili. The project aims at translating the entire Bible, including the Deuteron-Canonical books into this language. Having the Scriptures in their language will not only enable them to understand the Bible better, but it will also serve to preserve their language and their cultural heritage

Need

The Ha community is fond of speaking their vernacular and are enthusiastic about having the Word of God in their heart language for better understanding, rather than other languages that they don’t understand properly.

How this project will help the beneficiaries

The Ha community likes speaking their vernacular and are enthusiastic about having the Word of God in their heart language for better understanding rather than other languages that they don’t understand properly.

The Bible Society has learnt that, Church involvement in the Bible, brings great success to Bible translation work. We received a joint request from these churches who needed the Bible in their language. According to UBS regulation on translation we found that they met all requirements.