Over the last nine years around 1,500 copies of the NT have been acquired by the 3,000 Pitjantjatjara people. It is used extensively in church services and other Christian gatherings, as well as by individual Christians at home and in Bible studies.
At one of these Bible studies in 2010 at Ernabella in the far North West of South Australia, two Christian leaders of the Pitjantjatjara people, Katrina and Makinti, stepped forward to begin translating the rest of the Old Testament. Makinti said, "The Old Testament contains lots of good stories that we can learn from." As the year progressed other Pitjantjatjara Christians voiced a similar desire. "We want to know what God is saying to us in the rest of the Bible. We want the whole Bible in our language."
Both Katrina and Makinti have important positions in the South Australian Education Department (DECS) and are very busy people.
But Katrina said, "We'll work on this project after school and on weekends." Around the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjara lands in the north-west corner of South Australia there are a number of Pitjantjatjara Christians—both men and women—eager to be involved in the project.
The most encouraging part of this initiative is that the volunteers are the "next generation", children of those who were involved in the translation of the New Testament. They are all very literate in their own language and competent readers of Tukurpa Palya. They are on the whole better bilinguals than the previous generation, and they feel very strongly about the translation work. Older Pitjantjatjara Christians, especially those who were involved in the New Testament translation, are excited. "We are so happy that our children want to do this. We will support, mentor and train them".
There are over 50 next generation people from eight communities who are likely to be involved in the project, and that's not including the experienced translators and checkers from the old translation team who are keen to support, train and mentor this next generation team. They will form into teams of between three and four people to do the work. An ongoing support structure will also be put in place to provide them with the training and mentoring required to complete a long-term project.
Pitjantjatjara is one of the largest, spoken, indigenous languages, with its speakers extending from Port Augusta in South Australia to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory and west into the Western Australian Desert. The Christian faith allegiance of the Pitjantjatjara people is of strategic, spiritual importance to the people of Australia, and having a complete Bible in this language will serve to build their faith and increase the potential witness and impact of the Pitjantjatjara people upon our nation.
God's hand has been evident in the initiation of this project, with many Christians coming together to support the translation work.
The Pitjantjatjara Area Ministry Council of the Uniting Church unanimously voted to support it, and will work with Bible Society Australia, the Coordinating Support for Indigenous Scriptures, the Australian Society of Indigenous Languages, Wycliffe Bible Translators, the Finke River Mission of the Lutheran Church of Australia, the Christian Family Centre and other organisations.
The Pitjantjatjara Old Testament translation project will be launched with a workshop in July 2011. Pray for the Pitjantjatjara Christians over the next 15 years, the time frame set to complete the translation into their heart language, that they will continue to rely on God.

 

God's timing confirmed – rebuilding in Ernabella

Karen Mudge
Paul Eckert of Bible Society believes the recent renovation of the Pukjatja Translation Office by a team of volunteers is one of many signs confirming God's timing for the momentous project to translate the Old Testament into Pitjantjatjara.
The Aboriginal community in Pukjatja (Ernabella), in the far north-west corner of South Australia, has recently finished rebuilding the heritage listed church, and the translation house and office where the Pitjantjatjara New Testament was translated and completed in 2002.
The Ernabella Mission Church was built in 1952 by the local community and the missionaries who established a mission there in 1937. This mission was so exceptional that the ABC Compass program featured it in a documentary that screened this year. Some years ago the church fell into disrepair and was declared unsafe. Since then the community has worshipped outside, adjacent to the church building. With the oversight of the Ernabella community, the help of a government grant and numerous volunteers, the church was successfully renovated.
As well as renovations to the church, groups visiting Pukatja from North Ringwood Uniting Church, Nhill (Victoria), and Adelaide have completely renovated and refurbished the original translator's house with its attached translation office. Under the leadership of Tom Slater and using their wide variety of building skills, the team cleaned, painted and plastered the interior of the house, laid carpet tiles, replaced the kitchen and retiled the bathroom. They also refurnished the building and did renovation outdoors. A large meeting table with chairs was provided. In two weeks the house interior was transformed and made very habitable which means there is a Bible House in Ernabella ready to begin the translation of the Old Testament into Pitjantjatjara!

(The ABC feature on Ernabella can be viewed at http://www.abc.net.au/compass ).