Durban - The Bible is to be translated into sign language to make the text accessible to the deaf – the first time such an attempt has been made in South Africa.
It is being done by Hands With Words, a Cape Town religious organisation that works with deaf people.
Hands With Words executive Lisa Craye was a sign language teacher before she founded the project with friend Agnes Kunene.
“In one of my missionary trips to Namibia, I discovered a school for the blind and deaf and I came back and told Agnes about it. The following year, she and her husband Richard (both are deaf) joined me on the trip,” she said.
Craye had just enrolled at a local Bible college and wanted to do something for deaf South Africans, so the three made a pact to do something big when they returned home. A conversation with a Malaysian woman in 2010 inspired them to translate the English Bible into South African sign language.
“Deaf people, who don’t know how to read the printed Bible, have been unreached for a long time, so we wanted to make it accessible to them as well in the language that they understand,” she said.
They started working on it in 2013 with the Kunenes joining the team of translators.
The Bible will not be available soon, but they are finalising 32 evangelical tracts which they hope to distribute on September 23, which is World Deaf Day.
The Bible extracts include the story of the Creation, Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis, Exodus and books from the New Testament.
“In total we need to translate 110 texts, but we are lucky that the Deaf Opportunity Outreach (in Kenya) has done the translation, so we are using their work as an example,” said Craye.
“We need about R1 million a year, but we’ve had some organisations and individuals making donations. Some have committed to cycle for us during the Cape Argus Cycle Tour in March this year and we would appreciate it if more individuals or teams could also join our cycling group.”
Craye said they were looking for a born-deaf translator, a deaf editor and a deaf consultant.
“We have hearing experts on the team, but it’s important that we get specialists in the sign language to help with fluency of the translated text,” said Craye.
The Bible Society of South Africa is also working on the English Bible for the Deaf which will be translated from the biblical languages, including Greek and Hebrew.
“We’ve done one in Afrikaans and it was received well. The English one will not be in sign language but simple English language which some deaf people understand,” said the society’s Mims Turley.
For more information e-mail Craye at lisa@handswithwords .org.za or call 082 547 6329.
The Mercury