Donali

New Testament

Country

South Asia

Language(s)

Donali

Speakers

90,000

Hope is scarce when scratching out a living on the fringe. Love arrived in the form of an urgently needed water well, then came winter care kits, hygiene awareness campaigns, and help with children’s homework.

Thank you! This project has been fully funded for the year!

Funds to meet this year's goals

the Need

The Donali people sit at the bottom of their country’s social and economic system. For centuries, the Donali people earned a living collecting and selling forest plants and products as the original inhabitants of their country’s interior forests. Life in the Donali community is difficult. Rampant alcohol addiction and child marriages deeply impact family life. With no written language, less than 10 percent of Donali people can read or write and most local children don’t attend school past grade five. Limited access to adequate healthcare facilities means many people—particularly women—die of preventable illnesses. The project is committed to working with the Donali believers to translate the Word of God into their own language and meeting the needs voiced by the community.

The Project

Project team members trained by our national partner in South Asia have made a commitment to:

Lead health awareness campaigns in Donali villages.
Translate the New Testament and make it available in print.
Help Donali believers craft Bible stories.
Hold mother-tongue learning centres in different villages to help children in school and teach them other vital topics such as first aid.

Translation Progress

Drafted

Community-Checked

Quality-Checked

New! (2024-2025)

Happy Community

Darsh sat at the month-long drafting workshop alone. He looked around, nervous and uncertain. He missed his colleague; the young man had recently quit amidst intense pressure and threats from family and friends. They had always worked through the tasks as a team of two—he didn’t know what to expect this time. The seminar got underway, and Darsh’s worries soon melted away. He found himself easily engaging in conversation with people from language communities throughout the region. There were so many new ideas to consider. “Our conversations were occasionally so extensive that they would continue into the dining hall and even our rooms,” explains Darsh. “All the language groups that attended the workshop were friendly with each other and we all cared for each other. . . . Even though the workshop lasted for one month, we didn't find it difficult because we all enjoyed each other's company.” Praise God for this community of Bible translators that God has brought together.

New Experiences

Basanthi had never read the Bible. She had never left her home region either; as a young woman in the Donali community, she was not encouraged to travel. All of this changed when she was invited to help the Donali project team quality-check the books of 1 & 2 Thessalonians and the Gospel of Mark. She left her home community for the first time as she travelled with the project facilitators to a city where the quality-checking would take place. At one point during her adventure, the team was trying to translate the words “lake” and “sea,” but Basanthi was having a hard time understanding these words; she had never been near the sea or even a lake. The team decided to take her on a boat ride so she could see and feel what it was like to be on the water. She was overjoyed to have this precious experience. Perhaps best of all, she heard God’s Word for the first time in her own language, surrounded by people reflecting the love of Christ. “I will never forget these days of my life, ever. I am so glad you were able to take care of me,” she told the project facilitators.

A Love for Learning

Anju thought she knew what to expect out of life, but her opinion changed after attending the project team’s presentation. It was about the risk of child trafficking, the laws protecting young girls from early marriage, and the importance of education. Anju shyly approached Darsh, the project leader, and confessed that she wanted to go to school and study. Darsh invited her to start by attending the village literacy class. From that day, Anju became very active in her village literacy class. She loved learning and proved to be a bright pupil.

“I was praising my God because Jesus taught these parables to a small group in the Aramaic language. . . . Even after so many years and so many cultural differences, these parables can get translated into a minority language and people who have not received an education can understand the parables.”

Project Facilitator

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