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The Word of God gives meaning to life for the Shor people
Sergei Sychev, the exegetical checker for the Shor project, has visited Shor villages. People complained to him about the difficult economic situation and unemployment – they cannot even afford to buy clothes for the schoolchildren. But the more they talked, the clearer it became that the fundamental problem for them in their poverty was that they did not know what was most important in life, what was the purpose of living. In each and every conversation he noticed there was no aim in life. The people have no hope. The Shor national identity and culture suffered for many years from oppression. “Even if people are deprived of material well-being, economic security and even normal human relationships, this cannot take away hope. But if they cannot even think for themselves and cannot seek spiritual values, then they lose the meaning of life. They cease to believe that they were born for something important,” Sergei noted. xWe know that there is just one book, the Bible, which shows the way to the Creator and which gives us both hope for and meaning to life, as well as life itself. We are preparing an illustrated booklet of Biblical stories in Shor for publication. It is one of the nine books that have already been translated and yet lack funds for printing. With your gift to this month’s project you can help to give the Shor people and others the answer to the most important question – why do we live?
Project of the Month With your gift you can support the publication of Proverbs in Avar, Psalms in Kalmyk, Genesis and Ruth in Kalmyk, the Children’s Bible in Karakalpak, excerpts from Luke in Nganasan, Ruth, Esther and Jonah in Nogai, Biblical stories in Shor, the Children’s Bible in Chuvash, and the Pentateuch, Psalms and Proverbs in Tuvin. |
The Shor people live in southern Siberia. The majority, who still speak their own language, live in remote villages that are difficult to reach because of bad roads and few means of transport. The countryside is very beautiful: forests, rivers and blue mountains.