Ikoma

Translating is hard work!  (Click here to see more pictures,
and click here to see pictures of the recent Luke Dedication!)

A very unique church building in Ikoma-land!
The Book of Luke was finished and dedicated in their language on Oct 3, 2011!  Now they are finishing Ruth and working on: Acts

Please Pray:
  • People say that the Ikoma will only stop worshiping elephant tusks when they know God's Word in their own language.  Pray that the Book of Luke would change their hearts, and that they would choose Jesus as their savior!
  • Pray as people make a songbook for Ikoma songs so people can worship God in their own language!

Population: About 36,000 Ikoma, Nata, and Isenye
Translators are concentrating on translating the Bible into Ikoma.  But the Nata and Isenye languages are very similar, and the groups get along.  So hopefully all three groups will be able to use the same Bible to understand God's Word!

Religions: People who practice traditional religion and a few Christians.
In the traditional Ikoma religion, the people worship a pair of elephant tusks.  It is almost unheard of to follow Jesus or believe in God in this culture.

The Ikoma live on the edge of a National park, and sometimes an elephant or giraffe can be seen wandering past their homes!

Here is a story about the Ikoma people and translation work.  




Meet the TRANSLATORS!

This is Muya and Mussa.  They are the two translators for the Ikoma language.  They get along with each other well and are quiet, hard-working men.

Muya is a pastor with the church, and his wife lives in the Ikoma area farming their land and taking care of their cattle.  Muya travels out to visit her on weekends.  (Traveling to their land means first taking a bus, then riding on the back of a motorcycle, then fording a river on foot, and lastly walking for quite a while!)

Mussa is a leader and an elder with the Mennonite Church of Tanzania.  Mussa's wife lives with in town (Musoma) with their three children. Mussa's parents live nearby as well.  His father is very old, but he was one of the first men in the Ikoma language to believe in Jesus Christ when everyone else still followed the old religion.  He became a pastor and planted churches in several Ikoma villages.  He has worked for many years to reach his people with the gospel and to start local churches.
Mussa's father at the recent
Luke Dedication
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