This is John 1:1 (Yuh 1:1) in the Hdi Language, viewed on Bible.com

Some of you may remember hearing about the training I went to in Kenya in August. I went with 3 Cameroonian colleagues, and we learned how to upload completed Scripture Translations into the Digital Bible Library (DBL).

The Digital Bible Library is the brainchild of Every Tribe Every Nation (http://www.everytribeeverynation.org/), and was created to help achieve their vision of ‘Eradicating Bible Poverty’. It is basically a digital repository of Scripture and Scripture portions that partners (like Wycliffe Bible Translators) have verified and uploaded so that they are available to internet sites and programs like YouVersion, the free Bible software that runs on smartphones (Windows, Android, and IPhone). There are more than 7 billion people on earth, and it is estimated that by the end of this year there will be 1.75 billion smart phone users – it is often the one piece of technology that a family owns. Phone makers are also working on cheaper smart phones for the developing world, which will likely contribute to further growth.

In Kenya, we learned how to prepare and upload Scripture in Cameroonian languages into the DBL – and during training, the four of us were able to upload complete New Testaments (translated by Wycliffe and partners in Cameroon) in 5 Cameroon languages. (There are more than 270 languages here in Cameroon.)

One of the languages that I prepared and uploaded was the Hdi language of Northern Cameroon. And guess what? YouVersion this month celebrated the 1,000th version made available digitally, and it was the Hdi language! Translators from Wycliffe started working with Cameroonians in 1987, and the Hdi New Testament was published in 2013. Now 45,000 Hdi speakers can read and study the Bible in their language, for free, on any smart phone!

For more information see http://www.wycliffe.net/stories/news/tabid/116/Default.aspx?id=5216 . And if you are interested in trying out YouVersion in Hdi (or any of the other 700 languages currently available) go to https://www.bible.com/.

-Kevin

*The first digital translation of the New Testament into the Hdi language of Cameroon