Swahili, (also known as Kiswahili), is a Bantu language, originally spoken primarily in Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique and along the East African coast. Today, Swahili speakers are spread out across more than 14 countries, mainly in East Africa. Significant numbers of Swahili speakers can be found in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Comoros, Oman, and Yemen in the Middle East.

English, Arabic, and French are the most spoken languages in Africa. Linguists and historians debate whether or not Arabic can be considered an indigenous language (native to Africa). But of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages, Arabic, Swahili, and Hausa are the largest by numbers of first and second language speakers. Estimates say that Swahili is spoken as a first or second language by nearly 200,000,000 people throughout the world, including large populations in Toronto, Los Angeles, and London. 

We have mentioned our friend Dieudonné Somé in many of our news articles. He is one of our “Champions” in Africa. Dieudonné has been responsible for the translation, publishing, and distribution of our books across seven countries in West Africa and initiated nine translation projects. Many of those in minority languages among least-reached people groups. In at least one case, the book Simple Truths for the New Believer is the only religious book in print in that language. 

Dieudonné is a church-planter and evangelist and often travels outside of West Africa in his work. For some time now, he has asked that we consider putting the “little book” into Swahili. While we have listened, we have never found partners that have met with our filtering criteria. But in early February, that changed. 

Dieudonné was in a conference in Central Africa and met, among other people, a Swahili pastor. As they spoke, Dieudonné mentioned his desire to find a Swahili translator.  The pastor knew several Swahili translators, but he specifically recommended one. His name is Marwa Mwikwabe. He lives in Kenya and he has been their primary Swahili translator with one of the most significant church-planting movements in Africa for several years. After we were able to connect (WhatsApp is an amazing tool!), it became clear that this individual cannot only translate, but had connections who could design, and produce the Swahili version of Simple Truths for the New Believer for publication. And Marwa is part of a network that will be able to distribute the books to a very wide audience which will use them to disciple new believers.

The translation project began February 20.

Please pray for the Swahili translation project:

Please pray for Marwa as he works on the translation.

Pray that we can form strong relationships with the movement that will become our distribution network. 

Pray for the people that we do not yet know who will be exposed to the gospel, in some cases for the first time, when someone places one of the “little books” into their hands.