Impact of Chanting
From SPARK
Brief Summary
Chanting helps the people memorize important passages.
The Wolaitta Christians in southern Ethiopia are learning to memorize Scripture in their own language even though they cannot read yet. Using good musical chanting that is familiar to them, and using Scripture for the text, the Christians are hiding God’s Word in their hearts. This may also be a good preparation for them to learn to read God’s Word when it becomes available in their own language. Information regarding the BASF recorders used and concerns regarding the people losing interest in tape players is also included.
Introduction
She's an old lady. She can't read. But she grinned at me and said, “I know some parts of the Bible better than my pastor does! He reads the Amharic Bible, but he isn't very good at Amharic. Me, I listen to the chanted tapes and memorize the words in our own language.”
This old woman is typical of the 26,600 Wolaitta Christians in southern Ethiopia, who are burying treasures from the Word of God deep in their hearts and loving it!
What was done
We use the BASF 9210 or 9220 cassette tape recorder for our original recording and making up our masters. It makes beautiful recordings if used with a separate (not built-in) good cardioid electret microphone that matches the impedance of the BASF. The BASF uses five flashlight batteries also and can be used in the rural areas with excellent quality. If you could use such a fine tape recorder, one can be imported from Germany direct through the British SIM office. The first tape players for Wolaitta went into use December 28, 1977. Those first players have now been in use 20 years and 2 months (as of February 1998 when this was written). The machines are still playing and the people are still listening to oral Scriptures. This testifies to the persistence of the repairmen that have modified and maintained this product in use. It also testifies to the tremendous cooperation of Gospel Recordings, Australia, who corrected weaknesses in the tape player and promptly made new parts available to us. We use the Sony cassettes, C-60. Using a good quality tape is important because these will be heavily used.
One question that concerned me in the early days of this program was this, “Will the novelty of the tape player wear off and in a few months the interest in oral Scriptures decline?”
The answer is “No”. Some of the Wolaitta churches have now been using the oral Scriptures for a full year, but the heavy wear on many of the tape players is clear evidence that they are in constant use. The pleas from other churches waiting their turn to purchase the Scripture cassettes convince me that it is not a passing novelty.
Results
Recently the young people of a church put on a play in the morning service. Two scenes in the play portrayed the difference between an unbelieving home and the home of believers. In the first scene the drunken father came staggering home, beat the children when he came into the house, cursed, and lashed his wife during a noisy meal. The second scene showed the believing father arriving home with a friend. The household was pleasantly busy about the evening tasks – one baking bread, another carrying water, another leading a sheep up the church aisle. As the father sat down, the neighbors began to arrive. The father then called out to his wife, “Mother of Joseph, bring the tape player.” She brought it, and he turned the handle of the player as the people listened to God's Word.
Is the player a passing fad? “No!” The play shows that in believer's homes the Scripture cassette player is now considered a part of their own Wolaitta culture.
Just a novelty? Never. It is the enduring Word of God that reaches people as they study the oral Scriptures in their own language for the first time. This is before they can even read.
Bridge to Reading
The Scripture cassette is an incentive to learn to read, which is why we insisted on literacy materials being part of the program. The Wolaitta people have no books in their own language and so do not know what “reading” is all about. Anyone who “reads” to them, reads from a book written in Amharic and gives a disjointed translation. The tapes demonstrate what Wolaitta “reading” is and gives them a desire to read for themselves. For years the Wolaitta people have accepted the wrong idea that their language is somehow inferior. Listening to a “book” on tape is changing their minds. We believe that these tapes are paving the way for an eager reception of the New Testament when it is released.
POSTSCRIPT
If you wish to use this method of recording translations on cassette tape, I would suggest that you first observe how people sing. Take note of how they are occupied in activities that are “natural”, that is, not associated with direct demon worship, or associated with lewd practices. There must be music forms that are used for weddings, work, and other “neutral” activities, even though they sing about the spirits and weave non-Christian ideas into their lyrics. See if they can tell stories by song. If so, just put in the words of Bible passages, straight from the Scripture. This will give them a Bible now in their own language, long before they can read, and read with proficiency.
- By Bruce Adams
