Introduction
Oku is located in Bui Division. It has a population of over 80,000 people spread out over thirty-three villages.
Movement in this place is very difficult during the rainy season due to the poor condition of the roads. Agriculture is their main source of income. They produce corn, Irish potatoes, beans, plantains, and cash crops like coffee and cola nuts. They also rear animals like pigs, goats, and fowl. Oku is ruled by a Fon who is assisted by village heads.
General Information
The largest denominations here are Baptist, Presbyterian, and Catholic. The majority of the people are churchgoers. A good number practice traditional religion as well.
Since 1985, there has been an Oku Bible and Literacy Association (OBLA), with the aim of preserving the mother tongue, cultural values, pro-moting literacy, and Bible translation. An SIL team came in 1987 to assist the develop-ment of the Oku alphabet. OBLA later became the Oku Language Society (OLAS), with the same objectives and more emphasis on literacy and Bible translation. CABTAL became involved in the project in 2001, with Pastor Ngum Peter as the project leader at the local level.
The Oku community has an Inter Church Committee (ICC) which has trained four village-based church workers to concentrate on mother tongue Scripture use in their congre-gations. An extensive literacy programme has been going on for a good number of years, especially in schools. The community is responding very positively to literacy initiatives.
The available material in the Oku language include: “The Heart of Man”, diaries, and the Christmas and Easter stories. One hundred percent of the New Testament has been drafted. Many of the pastors preach in the Oku language except for those in the cosmopolitan area, who preach in Pidgin English and arrange for interpretation into Oku. Five churches regularly use translated portions of Scrip-tures for Bible studies and worship.
Expected Results
In the short run, the New Testament will be produced and the people will express satisfaction and their faith will be strengthened.
It is expected that by 2009, four hundred and fifty children will be registered for literacy certificate examination. The community also antici-pates organising literacy cour-ses in ten primary schools and two secondary schools. It is expected that the Oku Cultural and Development Association will help in the promotion of literacy activities.
Prayer point
Pray that many will be led to believe and surrender
to Jesus and be set free from the bondage of fear
of the unknown. Read Romans 8:14-15
Translation
There are two men translating the Scriptures into Oku, Christopher Fornkwa and Mbuh Samuel. They use the exegesis of Rev. Ngum on a given text to make the first draft. This draft is keyed and printed out for a team check with Rev. Ngum, after which the text is corrected and printed for testing in the community. When testing is done, the team again revises the text and gets it ready for checking with Ginnie Bradley, the consultant. After checking, necessary corrections are made to get the text ready for publication check.
There is also a Translation Review Committee made up of 15 elite from the different denominations of Oku, who meet once a month to review the translated texts. Many love the Word of God in the language so much that some priests and pastors request scripts to be printed out for reading in their congregations. Twenty-five percent of the New Testament already done predicts the completion of the project by the year 2008.
Scripture Use
Thirty church leaders received training to carry out Bible reading and study activities among the Oku people. They practiced how to help individuals cope with their problems by using mother tongue Scriptures as study material for reading and writing classes. The project is praying for a full-time Scripture use pastor to lead the Oku people out of ignorance to the light of God?s Word.
Last modified: 2009-01-22
