Kwadima II Plays a Vital Role
Papua New Guineans aboard the MV Kwadima II are excited to return home after a one-month Bible translation workshop in Alotau.
The flies buzzed furiously around my plate. I swatted at them, but only absentmindedly.
It had been a week since the workshop started, and there was still no sign of the Maiadomu translation team. My hopes were flagging, despite fervent prayers that the team would arrive in time. Then someone called out, "Who’s that?" I stood and turned to see three familiar faces in the distance—Henry, Sosi and Helli. The Maiadomu team.
I rushed to greet them. Henry told me, "We walked for two days to get to Salamo [a government station on Fergusson Island]. Then we had to wait three more days for a boat and sit for 14 hours on the deck in the rain to get to Alotau [the capital of Milne Bay Province].
"We’ve been traveling for a week to get here."
That was in February 2005, at the start of VITAL*, the Vernacular Initiative for Translation and Literacy. The multi-language translation project holds three workshops a year—in February, June and October—at St. Paul’s Pastoral Center near Alotau.
Unfortunately, several other language groups had similar stories during the first year. Those of us organizing VITAL decided it was best for teams not to continue relying on local transportation.
So we asked JAARS to help.
For years, language teams in Milne Bay had relied on a small boat, the MV Mark, to travel between islands—and it just wasn’t big enough to meet VITAL’s needs. But JAARS and language teams from SIL Papua New Guinea had already been putting on paper our dreams for a larger, safer boat. VITAL just provided more impetus to make those dreams a reality—dreams that soon translated into the MV Kwadima II.
Meaning “star” in the Dobu language of Milne Bay, the "K2," as it is affectionately called, has become the luminary of the region. Since its arrival in Milne Bay in August 2007, K2 has provided us with safe, reliable and dry transport for 27 VITAL translators to three workshops a year.
Henry, among others, is happy he no longer has to wait for days in hopes of catching a boat to Alotau. Happy he doesn’t have to sit on the deck of an overloaded vessel, huddling with other passengers for hours in the rain.
"We love our new boat," he says.
And I agree. Thanks to the K2, I no longer have to wonder when translators will arrive for a course. They all arrive together and on time, which makes my job much easier. We now simply transport them from the wharf to the pastoral center.
Today, my biggest headache is wondering how many wharf-to-center trips it will take to transport more than 4,000 pounds of produce—yams, sweet potatoes and pumpkins—which the translators now bring on K2 to contribute to the workshops’ meals.
But that’s a good problem! Far better than wondering if a translation team is stuck somewhere or risking travel on an unsafe vessel to get to the course. I’m deeply thankful that God has provided MV Kwadima II to serve the local translators of Milne Bay.
* VITAL supports language groups in Milne Bay Province as they translate the New Testament and many Old Testament portions, using a workshop setting to maximize limited resources. VITAL provides translation expertise and equipment, while local translators provide expertise in their languages. Together, they are bringing God’s Word to thousands of Papua New Guineans.
—Karla Sligh currently coordinates the VITAL project, working with 12 language groups in Alotau. She has served as a language surveyor and translator with SIL Papua New Guinea since 1999.
