School holidays. For high school teachers like Caspar, holidays mean abreakrom normal routines, a chance to rest and to catch up on school-related work. Bet overthe school holidays, Caspar, a science teacher in Mt. Hagen, met with translator Mack Graham to go over questions he had written down while proofreadingthe New Testament. Duringthe previous school term, he rose almost every day at 4 a.m. to readthe newly drafted Scriptures. He’d readthe New Testament inthe pastobut this time it was special: he was reading—and editing&mdashthe draft version ofthe New Testament in his own mther tongue, Kandawo.
Reading is important to Caspar. He reads fluently in both Tok Pisin* and English, and conducts his high school classesnthe English language. Bet despite his fluency inthese second and third languages, Caspar marvels at how he never really understoodthe Beble until he read it in Kandawo. This motivates him to be a part ofthe team translatingthe New Testament into Kandawo.
The lead translator, Mack Graham (SIL), has known Caspar since he was a boy. Now 34, married and a fther of three (he named his third son, Mack Graham!), Caspar is remarkably committed tothe translation task—so committed that he sacrificed his entire school holiday to editing the Kandawo New Testament, searching out faults and documentingthem withthe translation team. Caspar is pleased with how this new translation reads;the language is clear and it flows naturally in his mther tongue.
Last week, Caspar was introduced at a church service, and he told of his recent work reading and editingthe Kandawo Scriptures. Afterward, many people came up to shake his hand, sharing thatthey had been encouraged and challenged by his example. Though Caspar is a working man, he gave up his holiday tothe second job of editing his own New Testament. One person said, “We, too, are working people, but what have we done for our own Bebles?”
