Return on Investment

It’s not often that you get to see the return on an investment made in a young African leader. However, during these past two weeks here in Guinea-Bissau, I’ve been able to do just that.

Miguel Idibe was someone I was introduced to three years ago by Bruce Smith, president of Wycliffe Associates. Bruce had met Miguel at a conference on Bible translation and recognized him as a young leader needing some special help by someone who could communicate in Portuguese . That introduction started a three year friendship and mentoring relationship in which I’ve had the privilege of helping Miguel establish a registered non-profit Bible translation organization, recruit a board of directors and find some funding to refurbish administrative facilities. Today, the Instituto de Tradução e Alfabetização (ITA) is the primary national entity in Guinea-Bissau initiating, coordinating and monitoring Bible translation.

Stepping out of my typical coach/mentor shoes, I decided to accept an invitation to be a facilitator at an ITA-sponsored Bible translation event. Coordinated by a Wycliffe Associate’s team of assistants from the US and Brazil, this event, called a MAST (Mobile Assistance Supporting Translation,) has gathered four different language translation teams to tackle a range of New Testament and Old Testament books. Since the MAST methodology is quite new (and not without a certain amount of controversy) I will dedicate another blog post just to that.

But, what was really special for me arriving here was seeing the sparkle in Miguel's eyes as he welcomed us and the forty-some national translators on our first evening and then proudly oriented us to his African bush “campus” refurbished from an old inherited WEC missionary compound. For me, it was a chance to see the dream he presented to me three years ago in a Dakar restaurant now transformed into a living reality. 

Like I said above, it’s not always that I get to see the fruit of consulting, emails and actual visits to Africa like I am getting to do this week. Without question, it’s one of those times when it’s clear that that investment has paid off. On top of that, Miguel and ITA are well on their way toward making significant impact in eradicating Bible illiteracy among the twenty-some languages in this tiny but strategic country in West Africa.