WHY WE TRANSLATE THE DEAF BIBLE

Education for Deaf people in Rwanda is very inadequate. There are only eight Deaf schools in the whole country and these do not have qualified teachers. These teachers do not know Rwandan Sign Language as well as deaf cultures and beliefs . Thus the teachers and the schools are not equipped to teach Deaf children effectively. In addition there are no secondary schools for Deaf children in the whole country. When Deaf children finish primary level many of them have not reached the same intellectual development as hearing children of the same age hence contributing a number of deaf illiterate in the country to master the written English commands and kinyarwanda.
Deaf people for a long time have not known God’s teaching word as a living words hence proposing the following thesis:
- Translation of a Deaf Bible in the local sign language gives Deaf people an opportunity to know God and His Word in a language they can understand best.
- Translation of a Deaf Bible helps Deaf people to know that all people have sinned against God, and that the only way their sins can be forgiven is by believing in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and asking for his forgiveness of sin and through this understanding to be able to commit their lives to Jesus Christ.
- Translation of a Deaf Bible gives Deaf people an opportunity to become leaders in their own churches and in their communities.