Nébié Badiou, who represents Clear and Simple Media (CSM) in Burkina Faso, has finished his negotiations with the printers in Ouagadougou and the Gourmantché translation of Simple Truths will go to print next week (April 17). Gourmantché is spoken by about 1 million people in Burkina Faso, northern Togo, Benin, and Niger and is the language of the Gurma people.

Because of extensive work by SIM, CMA, SIL, IMB and other agencies in the past, as many as 8% of the Gurma population is evangelical. But, as one worker there put it, “The church needs teaching.” Many of the leaders have had little training. In some cases, traditional ethnic religion and some beliefs from ‘folk Islam’ have gotten mixed in with Christian beliefs and practices. “A book like this will help.”

CSM introduced the book to West Africa in 2016. First printed in French for believers in Burkina Faso, Simple Truths was translated into the Jula(Dyula) language by workers in Banfora. Later, the Mooré and Dagara languages were completed and 15,000 more books distributed. The Gurma workers who have read the African French version of the book have found it “very helpful,” but a version in their “heart language” will be even better.

Five thousand (5,000) books will be produced in the first print run. CSM is planning a trip to Fada N’gourma in eastern Burkina Faso in May to distribute the books among the churches there.