[ACNS, by Gavin Drake] After a 12-year translation project, the New Testament is finally available in chiLambya, one of the languages of northern Malawi; and the Old Testament is expected to be completed in 2018. ChiLambya is one of 13 languages spoken in Chitipa region; and is also used by the Ndali, Banyika, BaMambwe, BaNamwanga and BaBandya across northern Malawi, south Tanzania and western Zambia.
“Now each tribe has a Bible in their own language,” the Bishop of Northern Malawi, the Rt Revd Fanuel Emmanuel Magangani, in the Church of the Province of Central Africa, told ACNS. “We praise God for the work the Bible Society is doing in Malawi to enable people hear God speaking to them in their own language.
“It's like the day of Pentecost that we now hear the word of God in every language of the people in Malawi.”
Bishop Fanuel said that the new translation “will help to reach out to as many people as possible” by “making the word of God available to all people in the most coherent language of the people.”
The Diocese of Northern Malawi has one parish serving the Lambiya speaking people in Chitipa. “We praise God for this wonderful gift to the people of this area,” he said.
Work on the chiLambya translation – the Ulufingo Ulupya – began in 2004 under the auspices of the Bible Society of Malawi and the Word for the World International. Clapperton Mayuni, the Bible Society’s executive director said that the release of the chiLambya Bible meant that “each person has an opportunity to hear God's Word in their own language. God is speaking chiLambya today.”