Scripture Translations In Kenya

Abstract

The work of the translation of the Scriptures in Kenya was perhaps started with the arrival at Mombasa of Johann Ludwig Krapf, a German Lutheran in the employ of the Church Missionary Society. First sent to Abyssinia in 1837, J.L. Krapf had to leave Abyssinia and attempt his mission further south on the Eastern side of the African continent- He sailed from Aden on November 23rd, 1843 and reached Zansibar,(at that time the administrative headquarters for the Sultanate that had been established since 1832 by Zaid Said), on January 7th, 1844. After being received by the British Consul in Zanzibar, he was introduced to Sultan Said, who gave him a friendly welcome. When the time came to leave for the interior, Sultan Said gave Krapf a letter of introduction which said: "This comes from Said Sultan; to all our subjects, friends and Governors, greetings. This note is given in favour of Dr. Krapf, the German, a good man, who desires to convert the world to God. Behave ye well toward him, and render him service everywhere. This has been written by Ahmed, the Secretary and Servant, at the order of your Lord".1 Krapf and his wife landed at Mombasa on May 5th, 1844 to commence their missionary activities. Two months later, on July 9th, Mrs. Krapf died and the sick Krapf was in a desperate situation. He nevertheless recovered and embarked boldly on his mission. A linguist, Krapf started the study of the Swahili language, a Bantu language with substantial Arabic influence spoken - 7- along the East Coast of Africa* His prior knowledge of some colloquial Arabic and Amharic acquired in his Abyssinian mission, may have contributed to his speedy success in learning Swahili. Within the next two years, he completed the translation of several portions of the New Testament into Swahili and some years later, he 2 compiled Swahili dictionary. Not only did Krapf deal with the Swahili language, he also tried to make translations of Scriptures into Nyika, Pokomo and 3 Kamba. Although Krapf's ministry and that of the missionaries at Rabai (near Mombasa) was at first very slow, disastrous, and difficult, the seed had been sown on East African soil. The Scriptures had been translated for the first time into a language of Kenyan peoples. The Bible Societies will always look back with pride and admiration to that good beginning of J.L. Krapf and his team. More missionaries followed to carry on the work and, as they went further inland, there was alv/ays the desire to render the Scriptures into languages and the dialects of the people they encountered. We shall see in detail how the various tribes of Kenya continued to have Scriptures translated into their languages. We shall see how the problems involved in the task- of translation were overcome until the Scriptures were made available in most of the languages of the Kenya peoples. The work, like most pioneer activities, was not easy, but the power of God and the heroic determination of the translators made it possible