Pioneer Bible Translators news of Ebola Related Violence in Region of West Africa

Dear friends of the Bible translation efforts in West Africa,

PBT WAB OFFICIAL MESSAGE ON EBOLA RELATED VIOLENCE IN FOREST REGION OF GUINEA

The West Africa Branch of Pioneer Bible Translators would like to express our sadness at the loss of a loved colleague.  Below is the press release from his denomination, The Christian and Missionary Alliance.  Moise Mamy, was the man who requested a translation of the Bible for his people group each year for over 10 years before we were able to send a translator.  The Mano translation project is ongoing.  We ask for your prayers for his family and friends, for our PBT translator to the Mano who is currently out of the region, for his church in Guinea, for our Alliance colleagues, and for the Mano community in this time of loss and mourning.

Alliance Church Leader among Ebola Team Members Killed in Guinea

Colorado Springs, Colo. — Rev. Moise Mamy and seven others in an Ebola education delegation were killed by villagers in southern Guinea on September 16 or 17, 2014. Government officials and news reporters were among those who died. Mamy was a member of the Eau de Vie (Water of Life) Ebola awareness team, a ministry of Compassion and Mercy Associates (CAMA), the relief and development arm of The Christian and Missionary Alliance  (The Alliance).

Mamy was a fervent evangelist and district superintendent of the Alliance church among the Mano, the people group of his ethnic origin. He was also the executive secretary of Eau de Vie and cofounder of Hope Clinic, a CAMA-initiated medical and surgical facility that provides treatment for villagers in southern Guinea who otherwise would have no access to medical care.

“Many places accepted [the awareness team’s] teaching,” wrote Jon Erickson, an Alliance international worker and close friend of Mamy, with whom he cofounded Hope Clinic, ” but some villagers had heard a rumor that the [bleach they were distributing], which kills the Ebola virus, was actually the virus itself.” In the ensuing chaos, the team members were attacked and killed. The BBC reports that the bodies were recovered from a septic tank at the local primary school.

Mamy is survived by his wife, Nowei, and five grown children.   In 2008, Moise wrote his life story for Alliance Life Magazine. Read his powerful testimony of God’s redeeming grace.

The missionaries of Pioneer Bible Translators are using our unique gifts and abilities to partner in the battle against this disease in various ways:

1.  Our linguists have translated Ebola teaching materials into a major trade language in Guinea.  These teaching materials are being used by government officials and other missions to raise awareness about Ebola. 

2.  Our regional colleagues converted Ebola teaching materials into Arabic script so that they will have an even larger audience and higher impact.

3.  Our printshop has printed and distributed thousands of Ebola teaching materials in three different languages to those who are raising public awareness about the disease.

PBT missionaries continue to be safe and continue to work.  Thank you for your continued prayers for us and the peoples of Guinea!