The New Testament is Translated into Dinka Rek

Recently the Rt Rev Moses Deng, Diocesan Bishop of the ECS Diocese of Wau, in partnership with Logos Ministries International(LMI), an inter-denominational Christian Ministry based in Northern Ireland, distributed  700 copies of the New Testament printed in the Dinka Rek “ Lak Yam”. The first phase was in 2008 when LMI  made it possible to acquire  2,000 copies of Dinka Rek New Testament to the Dinka Rek people. This was the first time that Dinka Rek people were able to read  part of the Bible(New Testament) in their own Language, a thing which they have longed for. The Old Testament is not yet Translated to Dinka Rek language.  Rek is one of the largest sub tribes in the Dinka tribe, it occupies the whole area of Warrap and Aweil States. More copies of Dinka Rek New Testament are needed as majority of Dinka Rek Christians are still without a Bible.

                   Bikes and New Testaments delivered to Wau Diocese                    Dinka Rek New Testaments and new bicycles delivered at Wau Diocese

It might seem strange to translate the New Testament into Dinka Rek when it is already translated into Dinka Bor. This is however, a good reason. Despite having many things in common, these two Dinka sub tribes do not share a common language. The translation of Dinka Rek came at time after which the LEK JOT DE YECU KRITHO written in Dinka Bor dialect had been read with critical examination by Dinka Rek scholars. It was found that it was very difficult for Dinka Rek people to understand. It was this critical studies that resulted in translating the New Testament into the Dinka Rek language. Linguistically these sub tribes are very different to each other, although they use similar words, when communicating to each other, there are some words which cannot be pronounced the same or have the same meaning. This presented an obvious barrier to the Dinka Rek in accepting and learning the New Testament. Dinka sub tribes are stratified communities who are rich in their own unique, diverse cultures and languages in southern Sudan. Probably this variation among the Dinka communities has been caused by geographical separation and intermarriage. Language itself is dynamic, every now and then you are likely to hear a new term crop up. Local languages have started to emerge out of the dusty corners of common language into mainstream programming on the Internet. In this scenario the Dinka Rek language is without exception.

Reported Andrew A. Macham

© The ECS Diocese of Wau 2011