The Gospel of Mark in Bakwe

Those of us who attended the Voice of the Martyrs talk at Greater Union Baptist Church last year saw a video clip of believers in a foreign country receiving suitcases filled with Bibles. They jumped up and down excitedly while the suitcases were being opened, they laughed, and they cried with happiness. That image comes to my mind when I read about the gospel of Mark being read in Bawke for the first time in the Ivory Coast. Bakwe is one of the local languages spoken in Ivory Coast, and at this time, the language had never existed in written form. The Leidenfrosts moved there to put together a team to translate the entire Bible into Bakwe, and you can read about their experiences in the book At the Edge of the Village. This book is a window into a culture I would otherwise never glimpse, and it is a favorite of mine for its humor and depth. I also admit to being a sucker for anecdotes involving cobras and mongooses. There is much that goes into translating into a language that has never been written down. As one of the family's Bakwe translators said, "This translation business really makes you think till it hurts."

When the translation team had completed the first rough draft of Mark they read it before the village, and the description of its reception is moving: "As he read, the audience awoke as if from a dream and started to interact with him in customary Bakwe fashion, the fashion of all people who are truly listening. Interjections came from all corners of the room; first a grunt from the front, which is the equivalent of a hearty, 'Amen,' then an 'Awee!' from the back, a true Bakwe lament. As Alexis read on and on from God's Word, the crowd gave a continuous low murmur of approval, of shock, and of delight. They were all engaged with the reading, becoming a part of each scene as they added their comments or exclamations. When Alexis finished, all was silent again except for one sentence spoken somewhere from the heart: 'Man, God's Word is so sweet!'

As Alexis walked off his self-appointed stage, old men, young men, and children all surrounded him, each asking for a copy of Mark. They had to have a copy of that book. Alexis apologized, 'It's not finished yet- you must wait.' 'No, we don't want to wait. Give us that book!' Alexis tried to explain that it was only a rough draft of stapled papers and it would be better for them to wait. Give us a little more time and it would be published. But the old men were not to be denied since Alexis was comparatively young, and in the end he had to give in. Slowly one rough draft went into the weathered hands of the chief, and then another draft went to one elder, and another, until all our copies were gone. Alexis smiled as he got back in the car with Csaba and said, 'Well, we'll just have to print some more.'

They know what we forget, and they express what we are sometimes silent about: God's Word is so sweet.