One of the things that we are thankful for (and that never ceases to amaze us) is how God raises up men and women to help put our books in places we never imagined they would go. We call them CHAMPIONS. And God has given us such champions who are Afghani, Mooré, Dyula, Chin, Swahili, Hausa, Farsi, and English. Marwa Mwikwabe is one of the latest. Since Marwa discovered our books, he has been responsible for translations of several volumes in Swahili and Hausa. Not only has he served as a translator, translation coordinator, print project manager, but has also been responsible for the distribution of thousands of books in Nigeria, Mali, and Niger.

As we have mentioned in previous posts, Marwa’s primary work is with The Timothy Initiative as a Swahili translator. In that role, he also helps coordinate the work of TTI in Nigeria and other countries in East Africa.

Marwa contacted us last month and informed us of a TTI project that will soon focus on the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob, and Konami people.  Tigray is bordered by Eritrea to the north and Sudan to the west. The official language is Tigrinya (Togringa), also spoken in many parts of Eritrea. The Tigray region had an estimated pre-war population of 7,070,260.

He asked us if we would be willing to sponsor the translation of two of our books into Tigrinya (Tigringa) in support of that initiative. Since both books are proving helpful to evangelistic and church-planting efforts among the Swahili and Hausa, he believes that they would be useful in this new initiative. They have decided that The Jesus Story and Simple Truths for the New Believer are the best tools for the task. Marwa had already found a competent and motivated Tigrinya translator who will follow our translation protocols. And he will do the work for a fraction of what such a translation normally costs. Simple Truths (50 pages * 8$) $400 (USD). The Jesus Story (40 pages * 8$) $320 (USD). We estimate that to complete the project, we will need to gather approximately $3,500. This will complete the translation and put the first printing of 2,000 books in circulation.

As you read this, both are in process.

It should be noted that this printing and distribution are in support of an initiative launched by the Timothy Initiative (TTI) to reach the Tigray region in Ethiopia. While Clear & Simple Media has no official association with TTI, we have long admired the work they do and try to do all we can to put wind in their sails.

Please pray for the translators, evangelists, and church-planters who will be headed into the Tigray Region. The Joshua Project lists the Tigray people as Superficially Reached with only 0%-0.01% Evangelical. Today the majority of Tigray people are Coptic or Ethiopian Orthodox with a minority Sufi or Sunni Muslims. International News labels it an extremely high risk region in an already unstable country.