Monday, November 17, 2008
New BSB website
The Bible Society of Botswana has a new website. For questions or comments on the format or content of this site, please contact the webmaster.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
UBS Day of Prayer
UNITED BIBLE SOCIETIES’ DAY OF PRAYER — “We had a wonderful time of prayer and thanksgiving.” These words from Eddie Rantshilo, Executive Secretary of the Bible Society in Botswana, are typical of the experiences of those who participated in the United Bible Societies’ (UBS) Day of Prayer on May 9. From country to country around the Fellowship, Bible Societies joined with Church leaders and congregations of many different backgrounds for a special time of prayer for Bible work. The following reports give a flavour of how the Day of Prayer, an annual event for the last 25 years, was celebrated.
UGANDA
Bible Society staff and Board members joined more than 100 Church leaders, civil servants and politicians for a special Day of Prayer breakfast led by the Most Rev Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop of the Province of the Church of Uganda. Prayers were said for the UBS fellowship and for the particular projects in which the Bible Society is involved. An appeal for funds made by UBS Africa Area Secretary David Hammond, with special emphasis on Children’s Bibles, raised more than US$ 2,000 in cash and pledges.
CAMEROON
‘Working together for the Word’. This is the slogan under which the Day of Prayer was celebrated in Yaoundé and six other places in Cameroon. In each location there was “an innovative approach to the preparations and the day went very successfully,” according to Thomas Ndindjock, head of the Bible Society’s Communications and Development Department. In Yaoundé itself, a special service included contributions by various choirs (including the Society’s own staff choir), sketches, an exhibition and the distribution of Scriptures. And during the week leading up to the Day of Prayer, three radio stations ran Bible-based quizzes, with the winners receiving Bibles from the Bible Society on May 9.
BOTSWANA
The Day of Prayer offered the Bible Society an opportunity to minister to people who have recently fled political unrest and economic hardship in Zimbabwe. Gathering under the leadership of a minister from the Dutch Reformed Church of Botswana, Bible Society staff and supporters prayed about sharing God’s gifts. In a practical application of their prayers, Scriptures were then distributed to refugees from Zimbabwe and a meal was shared.
“It was a happy day for these people,” says Mr Rantshilo. “We thank God that the Bible Society managed to provide them with God’s Word, food for their souls.”
SIERRA LEONE
Members of the country’s visually impaired community played a particularly significant role in Day of Prayer celebrations, which took place within the broader context of a workshop run by the Bible Society on the Where is the Good Samaritan Today? HIV/AIDS awareness program.
“It was a wonderful experience,” said one visually impaired participant, Jonathan Conteh. “I was touched when we prayed for the troubled countries of the world. Interceding for others shows compassion for humanity.”
CONGO (Republic)
Here, too, visually impaired people made a significant contribution to the Day of Prayer. Yonnelle Moukouamou, the Bible Society representative in Pointe-Noire, the country’s economic centre, reports that, despite fuel shortages, a large number of people came together to pray and to hear songs from a local choir of visually impaired people.
In Brazzaville, too, it was a choir of mainly visually impaired people that provided a special backdrop for the prayers of around 60 Church leaders and Bible Society supporters. Hearing a blind man read a Scripture passage in Braille was particularly moving for many of those present. “I didn’t even know that Bibles for blind people existed,” said one man. “God is great!” Prayers were said for Bible work locally and internationally and in particular for incoming General Secretary Enzonga Mangoyo Landry.
BENIN
Here, May 9 marked the beginning of a month-long campaign to encourage prayer and financial support for the work of the Bible Society. Special services were held at two churches in Cotonou to inform people about the history of the Bible Society movement and encourage them to support its work today. Elsewhere in the country, local Bible Society committees, Church leaders and congregations also celebrated the Day of Prayer and collected donations to Bible Society work.
“We have mobilised many people in all four corners of Benin to ensure that the campaign to promote our work will run for the whole of May,” said General Secretary the Rev Daniel Hounzandji.
TOGO
“We could see on many participants’ faces their joy at participating in a global event from their village where they have neither running water nor electricity and parents can only afford to send their sons to school.” This was the impact that celebrating the Day of Prayer had on those who gathered at the Methodist church in Aklakou, some 70kms from Lomé. General Secretary the Rev Wolanyo Amegah and other members of the Bible Society team travelled to this village after attending a midday prayer session at Bible House at which Area Service Center staff, Bible Society Board members and supporters and some other regular visitors to Bible House were also present. Marking the Day of Prayer was the culmination of a series of events organised over several days by the Bible Society in Aklakou, including the showing of the HIV/AIDS awareness film Who is Responsible?, in an attempt to raise its profile through specific initiatives.
Resources designed to assist Bible Societies in encouraging prayer for Bible work are available to download from Communications section of the UBS intranet.
UGANDA
Bible Society staff and Board members joined more than 100 Church leaders, civil servants and politicians for a special Day of Prayer breakfast led by the Most Rev Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop of the Province of the Church of Uganda. Prayers were said for the UBS fellowship and for the particular projects in which the Bible Society is involved. An appeal for funds made by UBS Africa Area Secretary David Hammond, with special emphasis on Children’s Bibles, raised more than US$ 2,000 in cash and pledges.
CAMEROON
‘Working together for the Word’. This is the slogan under which the Day of Prayer was celebrated in Yaoundé and six other places in Cameroon. In each location there was “an innovative approach to the preparations and the day went very successfully,” according to Thomas Ndindjock, head of the Bible Society’s Communications and Development Department. In Yaoundé itself, a special service included contributions by various choirs (including the Society’s own staff choir), sketches, an exhibition and the distribution of Scriptures. And during the week leading up to the Day of Prayer, three radio stations ran Bible-based quizzes, with the winners receiving Bibles from the Bible Society on May 9.
BOTSWANA
The Day of Prayer offered the Bible Society an opportunity to minister to people who have recently fled political unrest and economic hardship in Zimbabwe. Gathering under the leadership of a minister from the Dutch Reformed Church of Botswana, Bible Society staff and supporters prayed about sharing God’s gifts. In a practical application of their prayers, Scriptures were then distributed to refugees from Zimbabwe and a meal was shared.
“It was a happy day for these people,” says Mr Rantshilo. “We thank God that the Bible Society managed to provide them with God’s Word, food for their souls.”
SIERRA LEONE
Members of the country’s visually impaired community played a particularly significant role in Day of Prayer celebrations, which took place within the broader context of a workshop run by the Bible Society on the Where is the Good Samaritan Today? HIV/AIDS awareness program.
“It was a wonderful experience,” said one visually impaired participant, Jonathan Conteh. “I was touched when we prayed for the troubled countries of the world. Interceding for others shows compassion for humanity.”
CONGO (Republic)
Here, too, visually impaired people made a significant contribution to the Day of Prayer. Yonnelle Moukouamou, the Bible Society representative in Pointe-Noire, the country’s economic centre, reports that, despite fuel shortages, a large number of people came together to pray and to hear songs from a local choir of visually impaired people.
In Brazzaville, too, it was a choir of mainly visually impaired people that provided a special backdrop for the prayers of around 60 Church leaders and Bible Society supporters. Hearing a blind man read a Scripture passage in Braille was particularly moving for many of those present. “I didn’t even know that Bibles for blind people existed,” said one man. “God is great!” Prayers were said for Bible work locally and internationally and in particular for incoming General Secretary Enzonga Mangoyo Landry.
BENIN
Here, May 9 marked the beginning of a month-long campaign to encourage prayer and financial support for the work of the Bible Society. Special services were held at two churches in Cotonou to inform people about the history of the Bible Society movement and encourage them to support its work today. Elsewhere in the country, local Bible Society committees, Church leaders and congregations also celebrated the Day of Prayer and collected donations to Bible Society work.
“We have mobilised many people in all four corners of Benin to ensure that the campaign to promote our work will run for the whole of May,” said General Secretary the Rev Daniel Hounzandji.
TOGO
“We could see on many participants’ faces their joy at participating in a global event from their village where they have neither running water nor electricity and parents can only afford to send their sons to school.” This was the impact that celebrating the Day of Prayer had on those who gathered at the Methodist church in Aklakou, some 70kms from Lomé. General Secretary the Rev Wolanyo Amegah and other members of the Bible Society team travelled to this village after attending a midday prayer session at Bible House at which Area Service Center staff, Bible Society Board members and supporters and some other regular visitors to Bible House were also present. Marking the Day of Prayer was the culmination of a series of events organised over several days by the Bible Society in Aklakou, including the showing of the HIV/AIDS awareness film Who is Responsible?, in an attempt to raise its profile through specific initiatives.
Resources designed to assist Bible Societies in encouraging prayer for Bible work are available to download from Communications section of the UBS intranet.
Saturday, April 5, 2003
Society ministers to foot-and-mouth farmers
GABORONE, Botswana — The Bible Society in Botswana has been ministering to farmers devastated by the loss of their cattle in an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
An outbreak in February last year, in an area east of Francistown, close to the border with Zimbabwe, led to the closure of Botswana’s two main abattoirs and the culling of some 12,000 head of cattle.
At an earlier stage, farmers and agriculture officials had slaughtered twelve hundred cattle in the region and vaccinated others in an effort to contain the disease.
Cattle-rearing is the main industry in rural Botswana and, after diamond-mining and tourism, the third most important industry in the country as a whole. An estimated 90 per cent of households have cattle as their main source of income.
Farmers and officials
The Bible Society in Botswana visited the affected area at the time of the cull, in March last year, distributing Bibles and three Scripture Portions not only to the suffering farmers but also to officials involved in the mass slaughter who included vets, policemen and army officers.
M A Kareng, Executive Secretary of the Society, was among those who took part in the distribution. He described the plight of one woman he met at a cattle kraal.
“It is heavy for me and my family to lose all our cattle,” she told him. “My husband just retired from his work at the end of last year [2001] and we used all his benefits to buy most of our cattle, hoping that it would be our source of income. Now here they are, waiting to be killed.”
She said she was happy that the Bible Society of Botswana has given her God’s Word, and many more people were pleased to receive some piece of Scripture which gave them comfort that God was with them as they faced their challenges.
The Bible Society’s work was also welcomed and commended by the Assistant Minister of Agriculture and senior officials.
Mr Kareng said that although it is the government’s policy to restock 30 per cent of the livestock lost and to offer financial compensation for the other 70 per cent, the policy nevertheless leaves farmers worse off “because compensation for cattle is at the same amount regardless of their size”.
In the early 1990s, an outbreak of Cattle Lung Disease in Botswana caused widespread economic suffering and a new outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease hit the region in February.
A farmer receiving a Bible from M A Kareng, Executive Secretary of the Bible Society in Botswana. The Society has been ministering to farmers who have lost cattle to foot-and-mouth disease. Matsiloje, Botswana.
An outbreak in February last year, in an area east of Francistown, close to the border with Zimbabwe, led to the closure of Botswana’s two main abattoirs and the culling of some 12,000 head of cattle.
At an earlier stage, farmers and agriculture officials had slaughtered twelve hundred cattle in the region and vaccinated others in an effort to contain the disease.
Cattle-rearing is the main industry in rural Botswana and, after diamond-mining and tourism, the third most important industry in the country as a whole. An estimated 90 per cent of households have cattle as their main source of income.
Farmers and officials
The Bible Society in Botswana visited the affected area at the time of the cull, in March last year, distributing Bibles and three Scripture Portions not only to the suffering farmers but also to officials involved in the mass slaughter who included vets, policemen and army officers.
M A Kareng, Executive Secretary of the Society, was among those who took part in the distribution. He described the plight of one woman he met at a cattle kraal.
“It is heavy for me and my family to lose all our cattle,” she told him. “My husband just retired from his work at the end of last year [2001] and we used all his benefits to buy most of our cattle, hoping that it would be our source of income. Now here they are, waiting to be killed.”
She said she was happy that the Bible Society of Botswana has given her God’s Word, and many more people were pleased to receive some piece of Scripture which gave them comfort that God was with them as they faced their challenges.
The Bible Society’s work was also welcomed and commended by the Assistant Minister of Agriculture and senior officials.
Mr Kareng said that although it is the government’s policy to restock 30 per cent of the livestock lost and to offer financial compensation for the other 70 per cent, the policy nevertheless leaves farmers worse off “because compensation for cattle is at the same amount regardless of their size”.
In the early 1990s, an outbreak of Cattle Lung Disease in Botswana caused widespread economic suffering and a new outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease hit the region in February.
A farmer receiving a Bible from M A Kareng, Executive Secretary of the Bible Society in Botswana. The Society has been ministering to farmers who have lost cattle to foot-and-mouth disease. Matsiloje, Botswana.
Saturday, June 1, 2002
Bible Society in Botswana targets young people
By Thabiso Segatlhe, Marketing & Public Relations Officer,
Bible Society in Botswana
GABORONE, Botswana — The Bible Society in Botswana is aiming Opportunity 21 (O-21) projects at young people, bringing hope to those who feel excluded from the education system and the labour market. Bible Portions are being used to present the Word of God and give disillusioned young people strength to face their current situation and look to the future.
The Bible Society is distributing Portions entitled Be The Best You Can Be, designed to provide support and motivation and encourage young people to turn to God, and Peace, emphasising God’s peace. Both Portions are currently available in English, and it is hoped to distribute 8,000 copies of the first and 5,000 copies of the second. Peace has already been translated into Setswana, and a translation of Be The Best You Can Be is being produced.
The second O-21 project involves offering Living in Hope, a Portion emphasising the hope offered by the Word of God, to those affected by HIV/AIDS. This Portion, which is being distributed in collaboration with international agencies, churches and the government, is also available in Tswana.
Challenges
Work is still in progress on the third project, which involves bringing the Word of God to the unemployed, especially young people. It is hoped that 5,000 Portions will be produced in both English and Tswana, showing the unemployed how to deal with the challenges of life and giving them hope for the future.
It was possible to distribute 2,130 copies of Be The Best You Can Be, Peace and the Tswana version of Living in Hope at a celebration in Gabarone in September 2001, even though the event did not attract as many participants as had been expected. Some 3,900 copies of the various Millennium Portions were handed out at a celebration in Francistown in October 2001 attended by more than 3,000 people.
As part of Opportunity 21 the Bible Society in Botswana distributed Portions to young people, bringing hope to those who feel excluded by the education system and the labour market. Gabarone, Botswana.
Bible Society in Botswana
GABORONE, Botswana — The Bible Society in Botswana is aiming Opportunity 21 (O-21) projects at young people, bringing hope to those who feel excluded from the education system and the labour market. Bible Portions are being used to present the Word of God and give disillusioned young people strength to face their current situation and look to the future.
The Bible Society is distributing Portions entitled Be The Best You Can Be, designed to provide support and motivation and encourage young people to turn to God, and Peace, emphasising God’s peace. Both Portions are currently available in English, and it is hoped to distribute 8,000 copies of the first and 5,000 copies of the second. Peace has already been translated into Setswana, and a translation of Be The Best You Can Be is being produced.
The second O-21 project involves offering Living in Hope, a Portion emphasising the hope offered by the Word of God, to those affected by HIV/AIDS. This Portion, which is being distributed in collaboration with international agencies, churches and the government, is also available in Tswana.
Challenges
Work is still in progress on the third project, which involves bringing the Word of God to the unemployed, especially young people. It is hoped that 5,000 Portions will be produced in both English and Tswana, showing the unemployed how to deal with the challenges of life and giving them hope for the future.
It was possible to distribute 2,130 copies of Be The Best You Can Be, Peace and the Tswana version of Living in Hope at a celebration in Gabarone in September 2001, even though the event did not attract as many participants as had been expected. Some 3,900 copies of the various Millennium Portions were handed out at a celebration in Francistown in October 2001 attended by more than 3,000 people.
As part of Opportunity 21 the Bible Society in Botswana distributed Portions to young people, bringing hope to those who feel excluded by the education system and the labour market. Gabarone, Botswana.
Friday, September 1, 2000
Scriptures bring hope to people with AIDS in Botswana
KEMPTON PARK, South Africa — Special Scripture Portions are helping the Bible Society of Botswana to give hope to many young people living with AIDS, according to a progress report on Opportunity 21 (O-21) projects in Southern Africa.
Some 4,700 copies of the English version, entitled Living in Hope, had been distributed by the end of July. The report, submitted by the Rev Evariste Munyabarame, the O-21 Southern Africa Regional Manager, says:
“When you go into hospitals, those once bright, fresh faces are like those of old men and women yet they belong to young people who have been caught in the web of AIDS. This program is helping us to build hope in the lives of so many young people suffering from AIDS in the hospitals.”
Home-based
According to a recent report, one-fifth of Botswana’s entire population are infected with HIV. The Society also reports “positive responses” from its distribution to HIV/AIDS hospices and home-based care groups of infected people and their families. Prisoners, too, it says, have welcomed the booklet “with open hearts”, requesting copies daily, and many copies have been distributed to schools.
The booklet is available in Setswana as well as English, and young people from churches and other Christian organisations are helping to distribute it.
Radio
The Society has put radio to good use in publicising the Portion. “This has worked so well that great numbers of young people come to the Bible Society asking for ‘the AIDS booklet’,” says the report.
Botswana’s plans for its O-21 project include distribution of several other Portions. One, entitled Be the Best You Can Be, aims to encourage young people to see the best in themselves in the presence of God. The other, called simply Peace!, is designed to let young people know they are instruments of God’s peace.
“There are so many incidents of young people who are alcoholics or have other things that make their lives unpleasant just because they lack peace,” says the report.
Some 4,700 copies of the English version, entitled Living in Hope, had been distributed by the end of July. The report, submitted by the Rev Evariste Munyabarame, the O-21 Southern Africa Regional Manager, says:
“When you go into hospitals, those once bright, fresh faces are like those of old men and women yet they belong to young people who have been caught in the web of AIDS. This program is helping us to build hope in the lives of so many young people suffering from AIDS in the hospitals.”
Home-based
According to a recent report, one-fifth of Botswana’s entire population are infected with HIV. The Society also reports “positive responses” from its distribution to HIV/AIDS hospices and home-based care groups of infected people and their families. Prisoners, too, it says, have welcomed the booklet “with open hearts”, requesting copies daily, and many copies have been distributed to schools.
The booklet is available in Setswana as well as English, and young people from churches and other Christian organisations are helping to distribute it.
Radio
The Society has put radio to good use in publicising the Portion. “This has worked so well that great numbers of young people come to the Bible Society asking for ‘the AIDS booklet’,” says the report.
Botswana’s plans for its O-21 project include distribution of several other Portions. One, entitled Be the Best You Can Be, aims to encourage young people to see the best in themselves in the presence of God. The other, called simply Peace!, is designed to let young people know they are instruments of God’s peace.
“There are so many incidents of young people who are alcoholics or have other things that make their lives unpleasant just because they lack peace,” says the report.
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