Issue 22 • 2014 Biblica.com
For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. (Psalm 86:10, NIV)
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InDepthTransforming lives through God’s Word
How YOU are bringing the BibleTO PEOPLE IN AFRICA
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Doug Lockhart CEO, BiblicaScott Bolinder Executive Vice President
Bob Dinolfo Global CFOLyndel Pettibone Global Technology Officer
Somporn Sirikolkarn Area Executive Director Asia PacificMunengi Mulandi Area Executive Director Africa
Stephen Cave Area Executive Director EuropeEsteban Fernandez Area Executive Director Latin America
Middle East kept confidential for security purposes
MISSIONTransforming lives through God’s Word
CORE MINISTRY STRATEGIES
BIBLE TRANSLATION & PUBLISHINGMajor Language Translations
Print, Audio & Digital Publishing
BIBLE ENGAGEMENTChildren & Youth Ministry
Community Bible ExperienceEquipping LeadersScripture Outreach
MINISTRY AREASAfrica
Asia PacificEurope
Latin America Middle East/North Africa
North AmericaSouth Asia
Biblica1820 Jet Stream Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80921-3696719.488.9200
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The world’s leading contemporary English translation. The New International Version® Bible is easier
to understand, engaging you with the rich meaning of the original text. Most read. Most trusted.
BRINGING THE BIBLE TO PEOPLE SINCE 1809
CELEBRATING
200YEARS200CELEBRATING
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Celebrating more than 200 years in ministry, Biblica provides God’s Word to people through Bible translation and publishing, and Bible engagement so lives are transformed through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
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IN THIS ISSUE
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We are a 200-year-old Bible Ministry and we do two things:
We translate and publish the full Bible in major spoken languages of the world.
We develop tools, resources, and programs to encourage people to open their Bible and engage with it, so their lives are transformed through God’s Word.
BIBLCA AFRICA: How Your Gifts are Blessing a Continent
Through Your Gifts, He Has Overcome the Odds
Thank You for Coming Alongside Pastors in Africa
Your Gifts Create Relevance, Benevolence, & Speed
How You’re Making Their Day of Joy Possible
Reaching the Children of Zimbabwe
A Partnership and a Blessing
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Your Gifts at Work in Prisons
Community Bible Experience Around the World
19 Translations Around the World
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Dear friend,
God is definitely at work in Africa!
According to mission handbook Operation World, Christianity in Africa exploded from 7.5 million people in 1900 to 504 million today.
However, the African Church’s incredible growth presents some challenges.
For instance, few pastors have Bible training. Many lack knowledge of God’s Word. That means they’re not well prepared to lead, guide, and teach Scripture—they’re vulnerable to adopting and passing on false teaching.
Since most church leaders live in rural areas and can’t afford education, your financial support of the Equipping Leaders program will provide the Bible training and resources they need.
Another challenge is language. One estimate puts the number of African languages at 2,000. There are 90 in Ethiopia alone!
Many of these languages lack a clear, accurate, contemporary Bible translation. That’s why many of our translation projects are in Africa. Today, your support is enabling work on 12 new Bible translations. You’ll provide more than 166 million people with God’s Word in their language for the first time!
Finally, HIV/AIDS is a huge challenge—and opportunity—for the African Church. To rescue a generation from suffering and death, Biblica launched Reach4Life (R4L), a Bible-based program that calls teens to sexual purity and spiritual transformation. Your gifts have made it possible.
God is doing awesome things in Africa. And we are honored to stand with you as partners in His work.
As you look over InDepth, please pray for Africa. And please join us with your gift today to reach people all across this region with the transforming power of God’s Word.
Sincerely in Christ,
Doug LockhartCEO, Biblica
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BIBLICA AFRICA: How Your Gifts are Blessing a Continent
What did you do before you began working with Biblica?
I have been a pastor most of my career life. I also have worked in micro-finance, academia, with disaster and relief agencies, and as a church administrator.
Why did you decide to join Biblica?
I heard about the possibility of working with the NIV and the grand opportunity to place Bibles in people’s hands.
What is your passion?
Transformation and discipleship! I have a deep passion to see people transformed. I have
been part of that process through socio-economic interventions and academic and professional capacity building, but I realize how futile these are if not based on the Word of God. It is our only tool for true, sustainable transformation.
Have you ever felt like giving up? If so, why didn’t you?
Only twice a week! Things do not always work according to
Munengi Mulandi
Munengi Mulandi, Biblica Area Executive Director for Africa, recently shared his vision for ministry in sub-Saharan Africa.
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plan or my desired timing. God has been gracious to constantly remind me of His calling in my life. He also has blessed me with a very supportive wife and a caring faith community.
What do you hope for Biblica, and for Africa?
God can use Biblica Africa to bless the continent. We are well-positioned to provide three strategic things:
1. The NIV, which has a translation philosophy that enables us to get people reading God’s Word. We are working on 12 NIV-style translations. God allowing, we will complete four this year!
2. Biblica is also positioned to help bring unity and fellowship among the faith community throughout Africa.
3. With technological advances (especially Internet and smart phones), we will soon be able to increase Bible outreach.
What do you like most about being Area Executive Director?
I like encouraging leaders who have immediate, on-the-ground impact all over sub-Saharan Africa.
What is the greatest challenge facing Biblica ministry in Africa?
Inter-faith conflict makes security a challenge. The economy also makes programs like Community Bible Experience a challenge for many churches.
What are the greatest advances you are seeing in ministry?
The greatest successes are in pastoral training, translation, Reach4Life, and team unity.
What do you want Biblica donors to know about the work in this region?
I want donors to know they are deeply appreciated. May the Lord reward them in excess of their sacrifices. They are truly transforming our continent, especially through our young people and Equipping Leaders programs.
What prayer requests do you have?
Please pray for peace and stability for Africa—especially for Mali, Ghana, Somalia, and Central African Republic. Pray for the health and well-being of our staff, and God’s wisdom and favor for our ministry.
Join Biblica’s Munengi Mulandi in training church leaders, rescuing teens from HIV/AIDS, and sharing God’s Word with children and adults. Send your gift to carry the gospel to people in Africa today.
A young Kenyan girl discovers the love of Jesus Christ through the Children for Christ program.
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The odds were against Denis. Growing up in Nairobi, Kenya, he and his peers faced not only deep poverty and violence, but a society ravaged by one of the world’s worst HIV/AIDS epidemics.
According to UNAIDS, an estimated 1.6 million people in Kenya are HIV positive. More than 1 million children have been orphaned by AIDS, and almost 62,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2011.
Denis could have become another statistic in the AIDS pandemic. Instead, someone invited him to participate in Reach4Life (R4L) program.
R4L enabled Denis to overcome his loneliness and gave him the courage to share his sexual struggles with his prayer group. Together, they were strengthened to overcome temptations.
Denis began sharing R4L principles with his friends—along with the R4L New Testament. He gave away his own copy and requested another. This happened over and over again until, after completing high school, he joined the Reach4Life team.
Now Denis trains others to launch this life-transforming program in schools. He also continues to share his faith with friends and family.
Denis says Reach4Life elevated his faith and changed his life forever. And through him and your faithful
partnership, God is changing the lives of Kenyan youth.
Your gift today will bring young people in Kenya hope for a better life.
Through Your Gifts, He Has Overcome the Odds
R4L New Testaments contain teen-oriented graphics and materials.
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Through Your Gifts, He Has Overcome the Odds
Ground Zero Reach4Life was launched in 2004 in South Africa, ground zero for the AIDS pandemic. Today, your gifts continue to change lives:
My name is Norman. I am from Kgatelopele High School in Braamfischerville, Soweto. I am 15 years old. Growing up in the township is not easy; my parents are unemployed and we live off my 78-year-old granny’s pension.
My friends have been telling me there are many ways of making money, like being a gangster or selling my body. I was starting to consider these options. Then Prevention Time [a Biblica partner] came to my school and gave us the Reach4Life New Testament.
That was the beginning of hope and new life for me. I made a decision to make Jesus my Lord and Savior. I don’t worry about my future anymore, for I know my life is in safe hands. I am now sharing the good news with my friends whenever I get a chance.”
“My life is in safe hands.”
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pastors and equipping them for the ministry.”
Equipping Leaders takes critical biblical training to the people and places where it is most needed.
This year with your generous partnership, Biblica Africa will train 850 pastors and church leaders not just in Burundi, but in Uganda, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ethiopia.
Thousands of men and women are waiting to be trained. They’re waiting to learn how to study and teach the Bible.
They’re waiting for you!
African pastors learn new skills at an Equipping Leaders workshop.
Thank You for Coming Alongside Pastors in AfricaBurundi is one of the poorest countries in Africa—and in all the world. More than a decade of civil war led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children.
Nearly 7 out of 10 people there struggle to survive in shocking poverty.
Despite these challenges, the Church in Burundi is growing. The problem now is a lack of trained leadership.
Pastors and church leaders in Burundi cannot afford the training they need. Most can’t get to cities for a theological education. Some do not even own a Bible.
Without adequate training, church leaders often preach what they hear others preaching. This can lead to errors, false doctrines, and the mixing of false religions with Christianity.
“The Church is growing rapidly,” explains Munengi Mulandi, Area Executive Director of Africa. “There has not been time to get the pastors ready to lead their churches. They are not very well grounded in God’s Word. So one of our challenges is coming alongside these
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Each $12 you send today will provide a pastor or church leader with training and their own study Bible.
When each pastor or leader has completed the one to three days of intensive training, they will return to their churches to train hundreds more. The members of their congregation, in turn, will be equipped to share the truth of God’s Word with their families and friends. The multiplying impact will stretch your giving!
The need for leadership training in Africa is great. But God is doing something remarkable through Equipping Leaders. And you can be part of it with your gift today.
A pastor receives an NIV Study Bible.
Africa’s vast rural areas are home to many impoverished people groups. You make it possible for pastors to get badly needed Bible training and a study Bible.
Thank You for Coming Alongside Pastors in Africa
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Relevance, benevolence, and speed.
That motto has helped David Laleye, National Director of Biblica Nigeria, provide 250,000 Bibles to Nigerians in the past year.
“We recognize that ownership of the Bible resides with the Church,” says Laleye. “The Church uses the Bible for discipleship, evangelism, baptism, marriage…. To be relevant therefore, we need to be able to meet the current needs of these users and also anticipate their future needs.
“That’s why we use the NIV translation. It’s relevant to today’s
Your Gifts CREATERelevance, Benevolence, & Speed
reader. And new converts find it both stimulating and easy to understand.”
But the NIV isn’t just relevant. It also enables Biblica to be benevolent. According to Laleye, 7 of 10 people in Negeria struggle to live on just $2 a day.
“Benevolence is about recognizing the limited means of those who need God’s Word most,” Laleye says.
By ordering large quantities, Laleye is able to offer Bibles for less than $2 each.
His goal for next year: to provide half a million Bibles to those who don’t have a Bible.
“Speed,” he says, “is our ability to deliver God’s Word at the right time and in the right places as many times as possible within a year. Punctuality helps shore up our credibility and reliability. It guarantees the widest Bible distribution possible.”
“Our reward is huge hunger for God’s Word. And we cannot seem to satisfy it no matter how many Bibles we print.”
Young African leaders are given NIV Study Bibles.
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Getting Bibles into the hands of the people of Nigeria will transform lives, Laleye says. And relevance, benevolence, and speed are the keys to making that happen.
You can be part of what God is doing in this region. Please pray for the people of Nigeria and send your gift to help provide Bibles for them today.
UPDATE: The War on Christians
According to Open Doors, Nigeria was the most dangerous country for Christians in 2012. Between November 2011 and October 2012, Open Doors reports, 1,201 Christians were murdered worldwide. And 791 of them were killed in Nigeria.
About 70 million of Nigeria’s 160 million people are Christians. They’re the target of deadly attacks from militant Islamic groups, such as Boko Haram. Please pray for their safety and for Biblica staff in this nation as they share God’s Word.
African church leaders listen intently in an Equipping Leaders workshop.
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“I am most passionate about people holding Bibles in their hands that are easy to understand and that bring the history and the culture of the original languages to the present-day reader,” Boafo says. “That is my biggest passion.”
Boafo has been Biblica Director of Translation in Africa since 2004. He currently oversees 13 translation
How You’re MAKING Their Day of Joy Possible
projects in seven countries that will serve nearly 100 million people.
Thanks to friends like you, four new translations were recently completed: Luganda (Uganda), Asante (Ghana), Luo (Kenya), and Yoruba (Nigeria). They will soon be printed for the 50 million combined speakers of those languages.
“Now we will hand these projects over to the publishing department,” Boafo says. “When they are finished, there will be a launch day. We invite people from all over and we dedicate their Bible.”
Launch day is a celebration, Boafo says. “People call it ‘the day of our joy’ because they are eager to receive the new Bible. Our Bibles are easy to read. When people read them, they are so excited. The feedback is what makes us realize that our work has not been in vain. And I know that our friends who support this work will join us in celebrating the fruit of their generosity.”
The biggest challenge in translation work in this region, Boafo notes, is personnel. “It’s not easy. Most of the time we engage part-timers. Not many people want to do
Ebenezer Boafo is passionate — about God, his family, and his role with Biblica.
African children treasure their Bibles.
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a part-time job which has a five- or six-year lifespan. People prefer stable jobs.
“The challenge is also the training aspect—giving them adequate training. We work with other translation ministries and also do internal training. It takes quite a while for people to become familiar with Bible translation.”
Despite these and other challenges, translation work in Africa is progressing.
“This year,” says Boafo, “we hope to be done with Igbo (Nigeria). Next year, we intend to do Rundi (the language of Burundi).”
“What I like most about being Director of Bible Translation in Africa is seeing that Bibles are finished, printed, and published. To see the end of it and see how people respond is very fulfilling. It makes all of us happy—the translators and all of us.
“We want partners to know that their support is yielding good results. We thank God for what is happening in Africa and for all those who support us and make possible our translation work here.”
Join Biblica’s Ebenezer Boafo in providing God’s Word in major spoken languages. Please send your gift today.
Ebenezer Boafo shares the need for translations.
Need: $644,614 Reach: 119,700,000 people
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It is no surprise that most people in Zimbabwe cannot afford a Bible. More than two thirds of the people struggle in poverty.
“There is a need for Christian materials in Zimbabwe,” reports Lordwell Manyika, the Biblica project coordinator for Children for Christ. “Many people cannot afford to buy them for themselves. There is high unemployment. And where people are employed, the wages are very low.”
Children for Christ is meeting this need.
REACHING the Children of Zimbabwe
“We have conducted Children for Christ for the past few years,” Manyika says, “and it has been very helpful. We would like to continue with this project so that many more children may benefit.”
This year, Manyika plans to print Bible materials for 1,000 children between the ages of 6 and 13, as well as materials for teachers.
To accomplish this goal, Biblica will partner with the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, and other organizations with ministries to orphaned children.
Local churches are another important partner. “We help
train Sunday school teachers and provide Bibles so children learn God’s Word,” Manyika explains.
“There is a need for children to have the right materials.
Interest in God’s work is high. And we need to continue reinforcing it.”
Which brings us to our last, but most critical partner in this program: you!
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A young girl learns about Jesus while attending a Children for Christ program.
“The project is established,” Manika says. “We know it will work when funds are available.”
The Children for Christ program in Zimbabwe will minister to 1,000 children and their families—for a total project cost of just $9,788. That includes training teachers, providing materials, and sharing God’s love with these children.
That means for every $9.79 you send now, you can share the gospel with one child and their family.
We’re counting on you to join our Africa team in this effort.
A group of young children attend the Children for Christ program.
Be part of what God is doing in one of the poorest nations in the world. Send your gift today to reach the children of Zimbabwe with the Word of God.
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Things were going great for Kyle Brown. He had become the senior pastor of Berkley Hills Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the age of just 28. The church, nearly 80 years old and in decline, began thriving under his leadership.
But it wasn’t enough.
“We started seeing some growth,” Brown says. “Giving was good. But I just wasn’t comfortable measuring with those typical standards.”
So Brown decided to survey the congregation. What he found shocked him. “I was heartbroken by the lack of Bible engagement within our own community.
“What we began hearing is that people just don’t understand the Bible. And they don’t know where to start.”
When he heard Biblica CEO Doug Lockhart, a member at Berkley Hills, talking about a new program to encourage Bible engagement, Brown volunteered the church to be a test group.
“I said, ‘We would love to get in on the ground floor.’ It developed into a partnership and ended up being a blessing.
“We’ve done the Community Bible Experience twice now,” Brown notes, “and it has impacted our church body significantly. We had phenomenal participation.
“It was such a positive experience, it was so good, so uniting…
“It was also a catalyst to start more small groups. For us, one of the significant impacts was not just getting people in God’s Word, but getting them into community.”
Now that people are engaging with the Bible, Brown wants to keep it that way. That’s why he plans to launch Covenant History (an Old Testament portion of Community Bible Experience) this fall.
For more information about how you can bring Community Bible Experience to your church or group, contact Paul Caminiti at 719.867.7656.
A PARTNERSHIPand a Blessing
“We really believe in what Biblica is doing,” Brown says, “because we have seen the impact within our own community.”
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They’ve been labeled “death-traps,” where overcrowding, disease, and lack of food are common. Zimbabwe prisons are known for their horrible conditions.
Hurungwe Prison, northwest of the capital city of Harare, is no different.
No one would choose to visit Hurungwe. Yet Biblica Zimbabwe’s Lordwell Manyika does just that. Accompanied by Prison Fellowship and Salvation Army partners, Manyika and his Biblica team journey to Hurungwe to share God’s love with prisoners.
“Problems at the prison include no availability of beds,” says Manyika. “There is a need for blankets and mats. There is also a need for buckets to carry the water.”
But the need is greater. Inmates often lack hope or a reason to live.
Manyika visits the prison because of his desire for inmates to encounter Christ. And your financial support makes Manyika’s visits possible.
“Like in any country, Zimbabwe has prisoners. We are privileged to be able to visit them.”
Manyika also recently visited inmates in three other prisons: Chivhu, Murehwa, and Bindura. He provided them with Tairiro Yavasungwa (Hope for Prisoners) booklets and shared the gospel.
“The visit to Murehwa was particularly outstanding in that the prison officer in charge specifically asked us to pray for the needs of the prisoners. We also spoke to them about the power of the gospel and how God can meet their needs even while they are in prison.”
Would you like to share the gospel with inmates in Zimbabwe? You don’t need a passport or a plane ticket. Join Lordwell Manyika and the rest of the Biblica team by praying for this ministry and supporting it with your gift today.
Together, we can help prisoners in Zimbabwe find hope and life in Jesus Christ.
Your Gifts at Work in PrisonsLordwell Manyika, far right, presents Bibles to Hurungwe Prison, Zimbabwe, Africa.
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Community Bible Experience
Around the WorldYour Gifts Renewing Hunger for GOD’S WORDOne sure sign of revival is a renewed interest in God’s Word. You can see it in the tremendous response to Community Bible Experience (CBE). Your partnership with Biblica means that hundreds of churches in North and South America are able to participate in CBE, reading the Bible together and growing in their faith.
At CROSSROADSShelley Richards, Biblica Senior Director, Resource Development, says her church just completed Community Bible Experience—and it was an overwhelming success.
More than 1,000 adults and youth at Crossroads Church in Loveland, Colorado, read through the New Testament together.
“We had more than 1,000 people, including 430 new people, doing Community Bible Experience and reading the New Testament. People are taking it and making it their own.” Richards says.
House on the ROCKCommunity Bible Experience was recently launched at Casa Sobre La Roca (House on the Rock), a 25,000 member church in Bogota, Columbia. Biblica Area Executive Director Esteban Fernandez and Dr. L. Jaramillo were present for the event to distribute 5,000 copies of The Books of the Bible.
‘LOS 27’The largest church in Latin America, Mega Frater Church of Guatemala, recently began Community Bible Experience (CBE). More than 12,000 people divided into 511 small groups to read through the New Testament. They dubbed their discussions “Los 27” because there are 27 books in the New Testament. “I didn’t like reading the Bible,” one participant said, “but with The Books of the Bible, I just can’t stop reading.”
One church leader said a special hash tag had been created—#Los27—to allow people to tweet their observations and comments. “We are happy to see the impact CBE is having.”
Esteban Fernandez speaks to a full house of Hispanic church leaders at House on the Rock.
More than 1,000 people participated in CBE at Crossroads Church.
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New Bible for 30 Million Nigerians“It’s been a very long journey,” says Ebenezer Boafo, Director of Translation for Africa. “It has been tough and difficult, but the Lord has been our strength and our helper.” He is describing the 29-year process of translating the long-awaited Yoruba Bible.
Prior to its completion in March 2013, the 20 to 30 million Yoruba speakers living in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo had only a Bible from 1868 that was incomprehensible to most people.
“We thank God for this good news,” says Rose Birenge, Director of Publishing and Outreach in Africa. “It is like the birth of a baby, a long awaited one at that.” The next step will be publication, then the translation will be launched.
A Crucial Role in Europe“It’s important for Biblica to be working in Europe,” says Stephen Cave, Area Executive Director for Europe, “because so many people still don’t have access to a quality Bible in their language—not a Bible in language that was spoken 100 or 200 years ago, but a Bible that speaks their language today.
There are so many countries in Europe that are not well covered with Bible translation. So many ministries are looking for good Bibles and Bible materials.
Biblica has a unique place as a global Bible agency with a passion for full Bible translation and for providing Bibles in people’s heart languages. We play a crucial role in the spiritual growth of Europe.”
South AsiaMathew and Sarah Varghese began translation work in 1977 in a tribal region of Maharashtra, India. Now Mathew is the Area Translation Director for South Asia, which includes India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. He oversees six translation projects that will provide God’s Word for nearly 800 million people. Among them is Mathew’s Malayalam language.
The Bible version available now is so old (100+ years), Mathew must look in an English Bible to discover what a verse says. A Hindu friend who is a professor of Malayalam said he would love to read the Bible, but the language is too much of an obstacle.
“We want to give people a Bible that will communicate to them clearly, in the most appealing diction and style,” Varghese says. The Malayalam Bible is scheduled to be completed in 2016. Please pray for this project and for Mathew and Sarah.
Sarah and Mathew Varghese met with Biblica’s CEO, Doug Lockhart, to talk about translations in South Asia.
Translations
Around the World
