Lausanne World Pulse – Partnering in Peru to Serve the Quechuas (Perupi qheswa runakunata servinapaqmi aynipi llank'ashanku)
By Irma Inugay Phelps
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Through the Scripture Advance Project countless Cusco |
In the town of Lamas in the Andes Mountains, Rumalda stood in the church doorway, listening to the singing which was coming from within. Her face showed her conflicting emotions. She could not muster enough courage to follow the pull she was feeling in her heart to go in. She was so afraid to be rejected, to be looked down on or laughed at. As she turned to leave, I invited her in. Pointing to her Quechua dress, she simply said, “They would not like me in there dressed like this, and I do not know how to speak Spanish!”
Even though many regard Spanish as superior to Quechua (a native language in this area), attitudes are changing throughout the Andean region of South America. As pastor Lorenzo Ccama recently said to a group of literacy teachers, “We don’t have to be ashamed of being who we are, of using our own clothing or of using our language to pray, sing and teach. God speaks our language. We can understand him when he speaks to us through the Bible. It is so important that people learn how to read so they can study their Bibles, grow and mature as believers and be witnesses of God’s grace.” It is a great joy to hear Lorenzo teaching deep truths from his Quechua Bible.
SIL, Wycliffe Bible Translators’ main partner working in the South Peru Scripture Advance Project, is poised to reach about a million and a half Cusco Quechua speakers. The ten-year project started in 2000 and aims to work alongside Quechuas while supporting local initiatives. For this the SIL team (composed of four Canadians, six Americans and one Peruvian) is partnering with two Quechua NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), ATEK1 and AIDIA2. These two organizations have their own plans, programs and objectives, parallel to the goals of the SIL team. Our work consists mainly in training trainers in different areas of expertise, such as literacy, non-print media, scripture use, leadership and management.
An Inca Heritage and a Modern Reality
A look back in history sheds light on the importance of supporting the use of Quechua scriptures. The Inca Empire flourished from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries in the central Andean Mountains of South America, with its capital, Cusco, in what is now Peru. Today the descendants of the Incas still live in Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, the northern part of Chile and Argentina and are known as Quechua or Quichua. The Quechua language family, according to some linguists, has over thirty-five varieties, some of which are closely related and mutually intelligible, while others differ greatly.
The Quechua and Spanish languages have coexisted since the Spanish arrived more than four hundred years ago. Over this time some Quechuas have fully assimilated into the Spanish speaking world; others have acquired different degrees of bilingualism while living in small towns and on the periphery of larger cities. Yet the majority have remained close to the land and are still monolinguals. These hard working people are farmers, herders and expert weavers.
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Irma Inugay Phelps has Peruvian and Japanese roots. She was trained as a grade school teacher. Since joining Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1971 she has been involved in Bible translation and literacy work with Quechuas in different areas of Peru. |