Waalii Bible Completed for Ghana

May 29, 2010, was a day that will long be remembered around the world! Some will remember it as Day 40 of the devastation caused by the Gulf oil spill. In Asia it will be remembered as a day of sadness because of numerous lives lost in a train wreck in India and in attacks on two mosques in Pakistan. In Ecuador and Guatemala it will be remembered as a day of terror as thousands fled from erupting volcanoes. But in Ghana, West Africa, May 29, 2010, will be remembered with joy and rejoicing as on that day Christians from three tribal groups assembled on the Baptist Mid-Missions compound in Wa to witness the long-anticipated dedication of the Waalii Bible.

The translation of the Word of God into the Waalii language is the result of God blending together hearts, lives, and God-given skills to accomplish the fulfillment of a burden that God placed in the heart and mind of a missionary nurse. In the mid 1960’s Iola Slack began to work with Samuel Seidu, a student in the Baptist Bible Institute, in an endeavor to prepare a translation that would communicate God’s Word to three tribal groups in northwestern Ghana. After Samuel Seidu completed four years of training in the Baptist Bible Institute, including studies in the Greek language, he became the pastor of the Busa Baptist Church. Although Pastor Samuel and Iola Slack had busy schedules with other ministries, they continued to work on the translation of the Waalii New Testament.

As the translation progressed in the 1970’s, Waalii literacy materials were prepared and classes were taught in villages in the Wa District by missionary personnel of Baptist Mid-Missions. Over a period of years potential literacy teachers were selected from the ranks of those who had progressed through the Waalii literacy primers and advanced reading materials. Eventually national literacy teachers trained in the BMM Waalii Literacy Center replaced the missionary personnel and helped extend the outreach of the literacy program into approximately 52 villages.

In January and February of 1981, Dr. Henry Osborn, a translation consultant with Baptist Mid-Missions, worked with the translators in Ghana doing a field check of the Waalii translation. In the week immediately following the finalization of the checking of the Waalii New Testament, Pastor Samuel Seidu went to be with the Lord he loved and served so faithfully.

In 1985, 20,000 copies of the Waalii New Testament were printed and sent to Ghana. The joyous result of the arrival of the Waalii New Testament was the wider spreading of the Word of God, in much the same way that tossing a pebble in a pond will cause ripples to spread wider and farther. Christians in the local churches were then able to use their ability to read the Waalii New Testament as they helped to share the message of God’s love in their homes, their villages, and in the surrounding area. Eventually a Waalii Bible School was organized to give Bible training to men literate only in the Waalii language.

Iola Slack Boyer returned to Ghana in 1992 and began working with Hamidu Insah, a relative of the late Samuel Seidu, on the translation of some portions of the Old Testament. In 1995, at the conclusion of a workshop conducted by Dr. Henry Osborn of Bibles International, Hamidu Insah (right) and Solomon Dansieh (below) were selected to work with Iola Boyer in continuing the translation of the Old Testament. Over the next eight years, Bibles International consultants skilled in the Hebrew language made periodic visits to Ghana to work with the translation team in checking the Waalii Old Testament translation.

The arrival in 2010 of the complete Word of God makes it possible for Ghanaian Christians to study the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. What a dynamic future can be envisioned from the impact of the Book that contains every written word that God has given and preserved for man, beautifully blended together to reveal the meaning of “God so loved the world . . . .” Perhaps only eternity will reveal the impact the entire Waalii Bible will have in the proclamation of the message of salvation in a region of Ghana that is predominately Moslem.