AMECEA: French translation of ‘Small Christian Community Training’ Handbook Nears Completion
The AMECEA Small Christian Community Training handbook has caught the attention of many both in AMECEA Region and in Africa at large, and also outside the continent; this according to Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Chimombo, AMECEA Pastoral Coordinator prompted the need to translate the handbook to French language to make it accessible to many.
“As we promote the ecclesiology of Small Christian Community in Africa and beyond and encourage use of the training handbook, we have had consultative meetings with both the Anglophone and Francophone countries under the umbrella of Network Small Christian Communities. However, the challenge has been language,” Fr. Chimombo explained, adding that AMECEA has a good number of books and other resource material but due to language barrier, some of these resources cannot be utilized by the brothers and sisters in the French-speaking African countries.
During the last joint meeting of the Network Small Christian Community held in Nairobi in September, 2018 when the Second Revised Edition of the handbook was launched, it was agreed that the handbook be translated to French.
“Since the handbook is greatly appreciated by many, both here and abroad, we resolved to continue making it accessible to as many people as possible and this means translating it into other languages to accommodate the none-English-speaking people. One of the common languages we thought of is French,” explained Fr. Chimombo who added that the translation work has been completed and the handbook is currently being proofread.
He further indicated that as time goes there may be possibilities of translating it to other languages including some of the local languages in AMECEA Region such as Kiswahili.
“In Malawi, Karonga Diocese made a summary of the handbook to fit in a brochure and translated it to Tumbuka language, which is spoken in the Northern part of Malawi and the brochure is available for use throughout the Diocese,” Fr. Chimombo revealed. Karonga Diocese made that decision because it had declared the Year 2018 the Year of Small Christian Communities.
“Because they needed a tool for training on how to conduct Small Christian Community (SCC) meetings, the handbook proved instrumental. They had to translate it to make it effective useful at the grassroots level, among people who do not understands the English language.”
Fr. Chimombo added that because of time constraint, Karonga Diocese could not translate the entire book and therefore opted for summarizing it, with permission from AMECEA Secretariat.
“We anticipate that the French translated handbook will be ready by May 2019. The release of the book can only be done after the AMECEA Executive Board board has seen and approved it. Once the Board meets and gives an okay, it will be made available.”
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By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News
