The Land and Its People
Papua New Guinea (PNG), located north of Australia, is a land of tropical jungles and high mountains that occupies half of the big island of New Guinea and includes many other small islands off its coast. The central mountain range rises to almost 15,000 feet. Along the north coast, lesser mountain ranges are separated from the central ranges by the low river valleys. In the southwest, the central mountains fall steeply into foothills and then swampy lowlands. There are few paved roads, so about 80 percent of Bible translators in Papua New Guinea must travel by air to and from the villages where they work. Active volcanoes are found on the main island and on some of the smaller islands.
The indigenous population of PNG is one of the most diverse in the world. There are several thousand communities, most with only a few hundred people, which differ in language, customs, and traditions. The isolation created by the mountainous terrain is so great that some groups, until recently, were unaware of the existence of neighboring groups only a few miles away. Although English is the official language, few people speak it. Tok Pisin is the most common language, followed by Motu in the southern regions.
The people of PNG are generous, hospitable, friendly, easy-going, and forgiving of cultural blunders. Polite behavior is essential in interpersonal relations, and success (health, wealth, and good relationships) is to be shared with those around you. Relationships in PNG revolve around exchange and informality. Gift exchange initiates a relationship, and is the means to further and deepen that relationship. Rural Papua New Guinean social life is clan-based and/or village-based. The women are in charge of the everyday care and harvest of crops. Men, on the other hand, hunt, fish, and take care of the heavier work of preparing the garden plots and felling trees. Urban areas are a mix of traditional and western values.
Bible Translation Needs
Papua New Guinea is home to approximately 12 percent of the known living languages on the entire planet! Currently, about 200 translation projects are in process and over 175 have already been completed. Yet there are hundreds of language groups that still do not have one verse of Scripture. In fact, there are so many Bible translation projects in PNG that infrastructure and support services are essential to keep them going. At any given moment, about 1,000 adult volunteers, translators, support personnel, and children are in PNG.
National believers are also deeply involved in all aspects of Bible translation. At the PNG-National Training Center in Ukarumpa, 50 nationals are trained at a time and then sent out to their target language groups for literacy and translation work. Although Ukarumpa is centrally located, it is still a great distance from many language groups. Therefore, seven smaller regional centers provide additional logistical and translation support to missionaries and national translators.
Wycliffe Associates plays a vital role in making these translation projects possible by recruiting people like you to pray, give, and volunteer through a mission vacation. Your support provides desperately needed essentials (such as computers, equipment, housing, offices, vehicles, airstrips, aircraft, education, water, and electricity) so translators are able to continue bringing God’s Word to those who are still waiting.
See more details about volunteering in Papua New Guinea
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