As we mentioned in a previous article, the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in August of 2021 caused the Afghan diaspora to increase exponentially. That increase led to a corresponding increase of another sort – the increased burden and commitment of Afghani believers in the West to reach their people for Jesus.

As a part of that response, in 2023, Shoaib Ebadi and his team at Afghan Next Gen pursued a partnership with Clear and Simple Media. First, they translated the book the Travel Guide to the Bible, into Dari and Pashto and began the e-distribution of the text. They followed that project by translating the entire A Simple Word website into Dari (www.asimpleworddari.org). The site went live in early 2024. In May, Shaoib hired an Afghan Christian living in India to create Facebook and Instagram posts for the website. As a result, the people managing the site and connected social media soon began to respond to questions they received from website users in various parts of the world. In June, Shaoib began identifying readers to record the audio for the thirty-two stories in the Simple Stories story set in Dari.

As Shoaib continued to study new ways to reach the Afghan people, he asked that we consider partnering with Aghan Next Gen on a new project—translating the A Simple Word website into Pashto (the language of the Taliban). As we discovered with the Dari project, that is no small task. Initial research suggests that the project to translate the entire site content and build a new site and complementary social media platforms to target a Pashto audience will cost approximately USD 15,000. That is quite reasonable.

After working through the logistics and praying about the need, we have decided to do all we can to help raise the needed funds for what we are calling the A Simple Word Pashto Translation Project. As of July 15, 2024, we have been able to set aside $5,000 for the project. That gave us enough to start the project. But we still did not have the funds we need to finish it.

We thought.

Because Afghan refugees enjoy listening to podcasts, Shaoib has already begun making plans to create a Dari podcast based on the Dari translation of the Travel Guide to the Bible. That led to increased interest in doing the same for Pashto, which led to the translators’ increased willingness to do the work “by faith.” The translators completed the Pashto translation, trusting that the funds would come “in God’s time.” Within days, the Pashto website had gone LIVE, and Shoaib’s team was receiving responses. 

We are so thankful for a partner like Shoaib who has the heart to see his people come to Jesus. 

If you would like to participate in the Pashto translation project, follow the Support link on this site.