Miracles Through Sound: How Audio Bibles Are Transforming Faith
CHEPARERIA, Kenya — Karesa Losekwang believes in miracles. The long-serving member of the Full Gospel Churches of Kenya said that getting an audio Bible in her native language is one of the biggest miracles she has ever witnessed in her Christian faith.
“There is nothing as good as hearing the Word of God in your mother tongue,” said the 58-year-old mother of four. “The Bible becomes very alive, and you hear, and you get to understand it very clearly.”
She said that since they started listening to the solar-powered audio Bibles, her faith has increased. Losekwang shares her Bible with other neighbors in this village, some 270 miles northwest of the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
“The best part of having this audio Bible is that I can listen to the word of God and do my daily chores simultaneously,” she added. “That saves me crucial time to finish my tasks for the day. I can also listen to any verse or chapter I want, and I do not have to wait until the sermon next Sunday to hear the word of God.”
John Karumbi, who used to live in Nairobi, was overcome with mental illness, which he and his wife attributed to the demanding nature of the menial jobs he took on to put food on the table. It later became worse and he lost his sight.
His family started shopping around for a place where Karumbi could go for rehabilitation to help him cope with his new life, and found the Kenya Institute for the Blind in Nairobi.
There, he met Cosmas Otwori, who is also visually impaired and was already going through rehabilitation there.
Otwori said he took Karumbi under his wing.
“Here we were being taken through a course in activities of daily living, and this has basic elements like using the toilet,” he recalled. “John was very low in spirit when he joined us, and it was my duty to help in changing his mindset to accept the situation and adapt for his own good.”
Otwori lost his sight after a car accident and went through a period of depression after the calamity. So he could easily identify with Karumbi’s struggles. However, Karumbi could not proceed to the advanced computer classes nor learn Braille because his limbs were weak after suffering a stroke.
So he went back home after the basic training, but Otwori kept in touch, even traveling the long distance occasionally to check on Karumbi and his family. Meanwhile, the two friends kept praying and trusting God to help them get one thing they wanted the most in their lives: An audio Bible.
Enter Koki Ann, who works with the Montana-based “Your Network of Praise” as a Nairobi correspondent. One day, Ann was in a public commuter vehicle where he met Otwori, and they got talking. Cosmas told her about a group of visually impaired people he knew who were thirsting for a Braille or audio Bible.
“Your Network of Praise” had just started a new initiative of giving away audio Bibles to people who live in marginalized areas in parts of Kenya.
“When Cosmas told me the challenges facing his friend John, and especially in accessing the word of God, I felt moved to do something,” Ann said. “At this time, we were concentrating on sending the audio Bibles to the pastoralists living in northern Kenya — places where people are not able to have access to physical Bibles or Christian content, and also those who cannot read due to illiteracy.”
She added: “Getting to reach people who are visually impaired was such a great breakthrough and pure providence, which we are so grateful for because we are able to reach this category of people who are often forgotten.”
Roger Lonnquist, President and General Manager at Your Network of Praise, said the audio Bible ministry, which uses solar-powered MP3 players, was created to provide the Bible and other Christian teachings to people like John and Cosmas who would not be able to access the religious teachings any other way.
The project is ongoing. As Lonnquist and his team hear of locations where people would like to have audio Bibles, they produce and distribute players to them.
“Of course, manpower and funds limit how many we can send out at any given time,” he said. “But we will continue to produce and distribute the Ambassador Audio Bibles as long as we continue to receive requests for them.”
Tom Osanjo is a Nairobi-based correspondent for ReligionUnplugged.com. He is a former parliamentary reporter and has covered sports, politics and more for Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper.