Baatonu Literacy Project - Impact 1,500,000 people

 

Baatonu Literacy Project

Benin, West Africa

Baatonu is the language spoken by the Bariba people of West Africa:

1,040,000 speakers in Benin

   396,000 speakers in Nigeria

     30,000 in Burkina Faso

     28,000 in Togo

The Bariba are 65% Muslim, 18% animist, and 16% Christians. Portions of the Bible in Baatonu have existed since 1953, and the entire Bible has been fully translated since 1996; it is currently being revised. However, the literacy rate among the Bariba varies from 1% to 30%.

Latent illiteracy, especially among women in the remote rural areas, is a factor aggravating the precarious situation in which these communities find themselves. Good hygiene and health practices would have more impact if only a tiny proportion of the population knew how to read and write.

Literacy Benin proposes to develop Bible-content literacy materials and teacher-training workshops in the Baatonu language.  Plans are to begin development in 2023 and be ready to print books and train teachers in 2024.

Costs of the Baatonu Literacy Project:

$  8,000  for development of a 90-lesson, 2 book primer series.  (8 workers for 21 days)

    4,000  for printing 1,000 copies each of the 2-book series

    2,000  for subsequent promotion and teacher-training workshops.

$14,000  Total