One of the challenges of teaching literacy in our context is the lack of good resources in the local languages. We have shell books, and whatever Scripture has been translated, but since the people live out in the bush, it can be difficult to get physical copies of these items into their hands.
Not only that, but in a tropical environment paper does not always last. Whether the weather, rats, bugs, or whatever, paper has a limited shelf life in the jungle. Enter Scripture App Builder.
Even in the jungle people take good care of their cell phones. While not everyone here has a cell phone, many do, and out of those some have smart phones. And with the ever decreasing cost of technology that number will only grow! Our friends over at SIL decided to take advantage of that fact by putting the Bible, and other resources, onto smart phones. But since they don't know every language in the world, they also released Scripture App Builder, a program to allow others to do the same.
I would love to say that I was the first one in my branch who did anything with this, but our IT guy beat me to the punch. Even so, I'm super excited by what I've seen so far. If you've been keeping up with us you will know that we are planning on taking a short village trip in August to the Akukem people group. While the main purpose of the trip is to test a change in the orthography, it just so happens that they already have the book of Mark both translated and recorded in their language. So, using Scripture App Builder I have made a Book of Mark app that will allow them to read it themselves, or will read to them while highlighting the words it is reading! Pretty fancy, and an awesome way to help people learn more about the Bible and about reading. I can't wait to see it in the hands of an Akukem National!
Not only that, but in a tropical environment paper does not always last. Whether the weather, rats, bugs, or whatever, paper has a limited shelf life in the jungle. Enter Scripture App Builder.
Even in the jungle people take good care of their cell phones. While not everyone here has a cell phone, many do, and out of those some have smart phones. And with the ever decreasing cost of technology that number will only grow! Our friends over at SIL decided to take advantage of that fact by putting the Bible, and other resources, onto smart phones. But since they don't know every language in the world, they also released Scripture App Builder, a program to allow others to do the same.
I would love to say that I was the first one in my branch who did anything with this, but our IT guy beat me to the punch. Even so, I'm super excited by what I've seen so far. If you've been keeping up with us you will know that we are planning on taking a short village trip in August to the Akukem people group. While the main purpose of the trip is to test a change in the orthography, it just so happens that they already have the book of Mark both translated and recorded in their language. So, using Scripture App Builder I have made a Book of Mark app that will allow them to read it themselves, or will read to them while highlighting the words it is reading! Pretty fancy, and an awesome way to help people learn more about the Bible and about reading. I can't wait to see it in the hands of an Akukem National!
