The need for Braille Bibles
The vast majority of the world’s 285 million visually impaired people live in the developing world, with few opportunities for education or work. Bible Societies are reaching out to them, giving them the opportunity to learn Braille and providing them with the Bible. But making Braille Bibles available is a difficult task. Here’s why:
It’s not one book but is made up of at least 40 encyclopaedia–sized volumes, making them very difficult (and expensive) to transport! Weighing about 40kg it stands about 2 metres high when stacked. A Braille Bible costs at least £375 to print but people with visual impairments are among the poorest in the world! Through the generosity of donors, Bible Societies and their partners are able to provide Braille Bibles free, but many more are needed. Although the full printed Bible is now available in just over 500 languages, only 40 of those have been transcribed into Braille. There are many reasons for this: Blind people’s needs are often overlooked; many languages have not yet developed a Braille code; Blind people’s desire to be able to read, rather than listen to audio Scriptures is not widely understood.
The Bible Society encourages you to pray for the important work of printing, promoting and distributing Braille Scriptures.
Pray that the importance of Braille will be realised and the work of transcribing the Bible will be able to commence in more languages.
May God’s Word be made available in this format to each person who needs it.
Pictured above, Peter Ntale, 12, with one of the Braille Scriptures provided to his school by the Bible Society of Uganda.
Source: BSNI