We arrived in Chitipa in Northern Malawi to assist with the development of the Chi Lambya Bible-content litercy primers (a 2 book series comprised of 72 lessons).Before we work with a group to help them develop literacy materials, first there must be some Bible in print. The Chi Lambya Bible translation team (pictured left) affiliated withWord for the World has made great progress in translating the Bible into the Chi Lambya language.
We worked on the campus of the Presbyterian Church in Chitipa. Their facilities worked well for our team of 12 people. We had 6 team members who speak Lambya, plus 4 LEI consultants to assist them in with writing their literacy books.
To write the books, the LEI consultants guide the Lambya speaking team members in putting together the lessons. Each lesson the team chooses letters to be introduced, two picture words using those letters, and a story for the lesson. It is definitely a team effort.
We spent 8 days working with the team. We had representatives from 5 different churches in Chitipa. Each team member worked diligently during the 8 days, essentially volunteering their time to see this work come to fruition.
As the Lambya speakers
worked on writing the lessons, our consultants assisted as required. We also put the lessons on the computer. The first book is ready for proofing, and book 2 is almost ready. Please pray that the checking phase of the Lambya literacy primer construction will proceed smoothly and we will catch any mistakes.Emmanuel Kasisi (right),
one of the Lambya team members will be training with Maxwell Mpitanyanga (left) as the literacy coordinator for the Lambya literacy program. Our hope and prayer is that the churches will continue to cooperate together to develop a thriving literacy minisitry in the area.
