Scripture for Shnsh

One of the highlights of our trip to the Gmz region actually occurred in a city mainly inhabited by the “Shnsh“ people. After settling into our rather decent motel (20 birr a night, that’s about $1.80), Andrea, myself and the man from our agency who was leading this trip all felt like skipping dinner (our lunch experience was the Sedo mentioned in the previous blog…let’s just say, our stomachs were still trying to figure out what was going on.) So instead of dinner, we went on a walk in hopes of finding a particular local man our co-worker knew. In small towns like this, everybody knows everybody so it didn’t take us asking more than one person before we were escorted right to Ato M’s front gate. We were welcomed by several young ladies and escorted into a very dark living room (the only light coming in was from the nearly-set sun on the opposite horizon). After a short discussion in Amharic, we were told to leave because Ato M was actually just leaving his office. His son then escorted us down the street another “block” where our co-worker spotted his old friend. After some customary hand shakes and shoulder-to-shoulder bumps, we were introduced to Ato M in English, “This is the man I was telling you about, the Bible translator into the Shnsh language.” We had heard parts of his story and so we were excited to meet him in person. Before leaving, he showed us his translation office. It was a mud-walled building with a nice metal door (as can be seen a bit in the picture). Inside was a 12’ by 12’ room with a few chairs and a desk with an old computer monitor and printer on top. After the quick tour in the mostly darkened room, we began our slow walk home. Ato M was very excited about our desire to work among the Gmz and had a Gmz friend he wanted us to meet, but it was late in the evening and knew that his friend was in evening devotions with his family. Our meeting would have to wait until our next trip.

Nevertheless, we had opportunity to talk with Ato M about his own project. From what we understand, it was just three years ago that he got started on Bible translation into his mother tongue, Shnsh. Before that, he was a teacher at the public school, and an excellent teacher at that! However, it was his teachers heart that caused him concern when he saw his own people attending church and getting little out of it. Because Amharic Scriptures were read and the sermon delivered in Amharic, the congregation was not learning or growing. He knew that the best learning would have to take place in the mother tongue. It was this conviction that led him into Bible translation. Because our agency does not have an adequate training program, he was connected with an organization called Word for the World. He is in the third year of the four year program which is designed to train educated mother tongue speakers in linguistics and translation. While taking this training, he has been working very hard on his translation. In fact, he has 100% of the New Testament drafted and 30% of it fully consultant checked and ready to print. Now, while waiting for the checking of the rest, he has started drafting the Old Testament – all that accomplished in only three years! Hearing him share of his progress (with profound humility) confirmed the incredible giftedness and dedication of this Shnsh man. It is a privilege to have him nearby the Gmz people where we might learn from him, make connections and hopefully find a Gmz man comparatively gifted and dedicated for the task ahead of us. Although our time with Ato M was short, it turned out to be the highlight of the trip for us, for obvious reasons. Now, we only look forward to spending more time with him in the future.