Our Programs

Literacy for Women in Africa

BSK has an adult literacy program dubbed literacy for women in Africa. This program mainly targets a group of women of child-bearing age (15 years and above) who have not had the opportunity to learn to read and write.

BSK has an adult literacy program dubbed literacy for women in Africa. This program mainly targets a group of women of child-bearing age (15 years and above) who have not had the opportunity to learn to read and write.
Other persons targeted by the programme include men, young girls, and elderly women. This could also include women who have already had the opportunity to learn to read ‘second chance.’

Turkana County has low literacy levels of 20% considering that it has a population of 926,976 speakers of the language. Non-literates account for 741,580.

The Literacy for Women in Africa programme is currently being implemented in the County with 20 active adult literacy classes spread across Loima, Turkana Central, Turkana North, and Turkana South sub-counties. The program has grown tremendously since 2018 when it began with 10 pilot classes. So far, 1920 learners have been trained with 65% of them being women.

The reason why the program majorly focuses on women is that in the marginalized communities women or girls are denied a chance to go to school, as priority is given to men. Women are seen as people who carry out house chores, bear children, go through practices e.g. female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriages thus denying them a chance to access education or any form of schooling.

The uniqueness of this program is that it is a non-formal mother tongue-based education meant to impact adult learners with basic reading and writing skills. The main goal of the program is to enable the marginalized communities to read the Word of God in their heart language and be transformed by it.

BSK partners with the Church to implement this programme. The Churches provide venues that are used as classes, they identify passionate people who are trained as teachers, and they assist in monitoring. The Directorate of Adult and Continuing Education office has also come in handy in helping learners to transition to formal schooling to learn other subjects.

other Programs & projects

Open the Book & Programme For Pastoral Instruction PPI

Braille Bible Distribution to the VIP’s Programme

Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH)

Mwimbi Bible Translation

Young Samaritans Programme

Literacy for Women in Africa

Bibles Eagles Club

African Biblical Leadership Initiative (abli)

Marginalized Children

 

Gikuyu Study Bible Project

Banyala Bible Translation Project

Teso Bible translation project

 

Jesus Film in Lunyala Language Launched

Written by BSK

November 15, 2023

On Thursday, November 9th, 2023, a team from the Bible Society of Kenya arrived in the Banyala community, carrying with them a treasure more precious than gold or diamonds: the Jesus Film, translated into their native language, Lunyala.

About Banyala Community

Lunyala is one of the dialects within the greater Luhya community, spoken by the Banyala of Kakamega, with a population of about 300,000; sometimes referred to as Avanyala va Ndombi. They live in Navakholo Sub-County within Kakamega County, Western Kenya.

Bible Translation

The Banyala have not had the Bible in their language. They have been using Bibles from other dialects including Maragoli, Wanga, Luhya Central, Bukusu, Lunyole, Marama, Lusamia and Oluluyia that have their Scriptures translated. The Book of Luke was one of the first books to be translated by the Bible Society of Kenya and launched in the year 2020.

Printing the book of Luke helped a lot with making decisions regarding how Lunyala is written because this was the first time the community interacted with the Scripture in their language. This process necessitated the need to have the Jesus film recorded in the Lunyala language which stems from the Gospel of Luke. 

The Launch

The Jesus film in Lunyala was attended by Clergy from various Churches and members of the community who gathered to witness the event. The gathering was taken through the translation process of the book of Luke into text and then visual format, a conversation that started in 2013.

The Clergy thanked the Bible Society of Kenya for bringing the film to reality and dedicated it to God in prayer as a sign of the official launch. Pst. Modley Sifuna, the Speaker of the day (who acts as Jesus in the film) referred to Matthew 5:13, that challenges believers to be the salt of the earth. He emphasized that Christians need to remain relevant and add flavour to the places where God has placed them.

The community had an opportunity to watch the film where they witnessed the birth of Jesus, his miracles, his teachings, and his ultimate sacrifice. They watched in awe as they spoke of love, compassion, and forgiveness, values that resonated deeply with their culture.

With open hearts and eager minds, the Banyala embraced the teachings of Jesus. They found solace in his message of hope, strength in his promise of redemption, and inspiration to live a life filled with love and compassion. The Jesus Film is not merely a translated story; it brings forth the message of salvation, a bridge between their world and the divine.

The Banyala community’s embrace of the Jesus Film marked a turning point in their community as they will continue to gather to watch and discuss the film and use it for evangelism and enhance awareness of the availability of the book of Luke. The Society plans to launch the New Testament in Lunyala in 2024. 

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