Standing on a concrete bridge between two nations, the yearning for home is strong.

Rising up behind the bridge is a paved road leading to Uganda. In front is a winding dirt road sloping upward into South Sudan, the home of the Keliko people. Here, Keliko translation team members and church leadership — accompanied by Ugandans and guests — have gathered to take a rare look at the place where so many South Sudanese crossed over from their homeland.

The sorrow and loss are palpable as some Keliko walk to the edge of the bridge, unable to set even a toe in the rich red clay of home. For a while, there is silence.

Together, the group prays for peace in South Sudan and the opportunity for the Keliko to return home and spread the Good News through their newly translated New Testament. As the sweet incense of prayer rises to the Lord from a place of despair, hope and resolve rise too.

The Keliko accomplished so much in the 33 years of their New Testament translation project. But they’re not about to stop now. Displaced and scattered to refugee settlements in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Keliko are actively using their New Testament with Old Testament portions and talking about when they can complete their Bible.

“We have received the New Testament. … And we have understood some of the things [in it],” said Mary Maka Seme, wife of translator and bishop, Seme Nigo Abiuda. “And we will feel happy when the Old Testament is also translated so we will know [all of what] God is speaking.”

“It was a real joy to see that [the Keliko] wanted [hymns] in their own language to speak meaningfully to the people, and they wanted their own music. They’re proud of their culture and it’s very good to see."
— John Anderson, Wycliffe translation consultant

This is the first item on a long agenda of translation and Scripture engagement projects that the Keliko are determined to complete. They have hymn books but now want prayer books for services. They have basic grammar books but want a dictionary and other curriculum. Literacy workshops are thriving but they want to expand to an even more robust program.

Again and again the Keliko talk about Daniel’s accomplishments in exile. They also talk about how God brought the Israelites back to their land after trials in Egypt and the wilderness. The Keliko have made a plan based on the examples of Daniel and the Israelites — to use their time in the settlements for the furtherance of the gospel.

The Keliko church is rising up, equipping ministers, Christian educators, lay leaders and more to impact their neighbors and surrounding communities.

Robust literacy workshops, under the leadership of Elisa Anyani, are held for students at all levels of ability. People like Neema A’dilo, who never went to school but learned to read in a literacy workshop, are now teaching others. The goal is to not only read for education, but to fully engage with the Keliko New Testament.

In an advanced literacy class, literacy specialist Elisa Anyani (back left) has students read the Keliko New Testament which sparks meaningful discussions.

Neema A’dilo leads a literacy workshop in the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement.

The youth, who in the past had little interest in services before the Keliko Scriptures were available, are now taking center stage leading worship in Keliko using traditional instruments and tunes.

“When a preacher is going to preach, the youth will ask for the theme,” said Pastor Enos. “They say, ‘Give us the theme, we want to compose a song!’”

Those committed to faith in Christ are also being discipled. They gather to read and study the Word together. Young men without jobs are reading Scripture to the children. Women are ministering to each other and serving in church.

Young people are actively reading the Keliko New Testament and writing Scripture-based songs for church. Women are now serving in the church in roles such as lay readers.

Keliko believers are living with Daniel in mind; instead of thinking of their lives as merely “on hold” until they return home, they’re using this “exile” to prepare themselves to grow God’s Kingdom where they’re planted and, hopefully, back in South Sudan.

The Keliko have discovered that their purpose — wherever they are — is to abide in God’s Word and share the gospel of peace with others.

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