Boaz and Julius from the PRM International Scripture Recording Center in Nairobi, Kenya, went to the camps. They took with them 73 albums of New Testament Scripture cassettes in their language (Kinyarwanda), 73 hand-cranked players and 73 solar panels to power the players when the sun shines. They were warmly welcomed! A number of groups had come with urgently needed food and medical help (see Dr. Donald Paauw’s articles entitled: “A Rwandan Experience” in The Outlook of November 1994), but Boaz and Julius from PRM International were among the first to come with spiritual help. Dr. Paauw wrote, “Rwanda needs massive international aid, but what the country needs most is a spiritual revival that overcomes the tribal hatred between the Tutsis and the Hutus. The prescription for Rwanda’s ills is the love of Christ in the hearts of men.” Boaz and Julius reported, “In the first camp, within no time, people were running to listen. The refugees were very bitter the first time we went in looking for another tribe to kill. After listening, you can see the change coming into their lives.”
Recently PRMI sent 140 sets of the Kinyarwanda New Testament, 10 sets of the Kirundi New Testament 177 Tape Talk players, 177 solar panes, 240 rechargeable batteries, 900 supplementary tapes and 225 picture books for children, to Ngara refugee camps. We praise God for enabling us to establish 250 listening centers in the refugee camps where over a million people will be able to listen to the Word of God in their own language. Boaz and Julius will be working in the camps training and establishing the listening centers. They will be assisted by the Bible Society of Tanzania staff.
The goal of the staff of PRMI in Nairobi is to set up 600 listening centers in the camps in Tanzania and Zaire. Each center consists of albums of Scriptures on cassettes, a player, a solar panel and a battery which is recharged by the solar panel and costs about $120. Each center is an electronic evangelist giving hope to the hopeless.
Africa is just one of PRMI’s ministry fields, but during the last ten years, the staff in Nairobi has given out 3,500 tape players and 285,000 Scripture tapes in 61 languages of Africa in 22 countries. Illiteracy is a problem in most of those languages. That is why Scripture cassettes are so valuable!
PRMI in Holland, Michigan, is currently praying for a volunteer partner in each congregation to help in this great work of enabling the millions of nonreaders in the world to hear Scripture in their own language.
Rev. Lloyd Wolters is a retired minister in the CRC, working now for PRMI. The Christian Reformed Synod 1994 adopted PRMI as a recommended cause for support.