In reflecting upon the Conference on the State of Bible Translation and the Grand Finale Celebration of GILLBT@50, I am reminded of a speech by Pope Benedict XVI given on March 7, 2009 to the Roman Curia. It began as follows: “To say ‘thank you’ is one of the Pope’s most beautiful duties.”
Photo of dignitaries who attended the GILLBT@50 Grand Finale Celebration including in the centre Honorable Amoanor Kwao who represented the Vice President.
The first time I read the speech, I was surprised by the juxtaposition of the two words “Beautiful” and “Duty”. But the more time I have spent as the Director of GILLBT, and the more generosity I see and experience, I understand the basis upon which the Pope could combine these two words. Generally saying “thank You” is a routine task of for leaders, indeed a ‘duty” connoting a sense of obligation. However it becomes a “beautiful” duty when it is expressed in response to overwhelming and undeserved acts of generosity to an organization.
During and following the conference and celebration, I have had time to reflect on the events. The words that have repeatedly come to mind are “Thank You”. Indeed while there has been a mixture of feeling and emotions, including equal doses of excitement and exhaustion, the dominant feeling, nonetheless, has been a profound feeling of gratitude.
To be sure, this gratitude is first to God whose faithfulness and favour has sustained GILLBT for these fifty years. And the celebrations sought to acknowledge this fact, as former Director Justin Frempong, in a post-celebration reflection, argues:
“My impression is that God was glorified in all that was done and said during the four days of celebration..”
But as I indicated in my “State of GILLBT@50 report” at the grand finale celebrations on September 22, 2012, this gratitude also extends to human instruments stretching from the start of GILLBT’s work. Naturally this begins, posthumously, with the late John Agamah, who first invited SIL and Wycliffe to Ghana and Dr John Bendor-Samuel (JBS) our founding Director who came to Ghana to establish the relations with the University of Ghana, and who had planned to be part of the golden anniversary but was unexpectedly, and tragically, taken from us in January 2011. Beyond them, the list includes numerous individuals, expatriate and Ghanaian, who have given years of their lives to GILLBT. As a Ghanaian who believes the development of our languages and the translation of the Bible into these languages is our responsibility as a people, I am particularly grateful for the dedication of the non-Ghanaians who commit decades of their productive years to study our languages, and translate the Bible into them under conditions and in areas which most middle class educated Ghanaians would not be willing to serve.
The appreciation also extends to the current leadership of both the Wycliffe Global Alliance and SIL International who came to Ghana to physically celebrate with us. It also includes the Wycliffe family of organizations: Wycliffe UK; Wycliffe USA; Wycliffe Canada; Wycliffe Switzerland; Wycliffe Netherlands; Wycliffe Africa Area; OneBook Canada; Seed Company; JAARS; Wycliffe Associates–and most recently Wycliffe Russia; Wycliffe Romania; Wycliffe Slovakia who have provided, and still continue to provide support to our work. It also includes non-Wycliffe Organisations like EZE; Tear Fund; Oikonomos Foundation; Stuart Hine Trust etc.
At the national level, GILLBT has also been privileged to enjoy the support of leading Ghanaian institutions throughout the fifty years. The first is the University of Ghana which has, over the past fifty years, and through the Institute of African Studies, extended its friendship and support in various ways for our work. In addition to the Institute of African Studies, this friendship of the University has been concretely expressed through the Linguistics Department; the Language Centre, and the Institute of Adult Education–now the Institute of Continuing and Distance Education (ICDE). Individuals include, but are not limited to, Ghanaian Christians like the late John Agamah, William Ofori Atta, Gottfried Osei Mensah, Commodore Quaye; Gilbert Ansre; Isaac Ababio, TB Dankwa; ES Aidoo; EVO Dankwa and numerous others, whose support provided the legitimacy for GILLBT’s work in the country. Ghanaian Christian institutions include the Accra Chapel, now the Korle Bu community chapel, which has been our longest church partner in Ghana; the Ridge Church; Presbyterian Church of Ghana; Legon Interdenominational Church (LIC); Church of Pentecost; Assemblies of God; International Central Gospel Church; (ICGC); Word Miracle Church International, etc. The making of GILLBT also includes past and present leaders, members, friends and staff of GILLBT whose faithfulness and commitment sustains my belief in the future of GILLBT. Not to be forgotten are the communities in which we work! For the anniversary itself, the role of the staff in Tamale, and particularly in Accra, is gratifying as they worked around the clock to make the celebrations possible.
Our gratitude also extends to all those who supported the celebrations, financially and in kind. Indeed one of the surprises, for me, was the financial support we received for the celebrations from individuals and organizations from within Ghana, including the office of the Vice President of Ghana, who had not previously supported GILLBT.
In the coming weeks we will be posting several articles about the conference and celebration. But, it is most fitting to start with the “beautiful duty” of saying
“Thank You” to you ALL for fifty years of GILLBT!
Paul Opoku-Mensah
GILLBT Director
For photos of the September celebration events, see:
https://www.gillbt.org/2012/10/conference-and-celebration-photos/.