Foreign-language Bibles donated to Aoraki Polytech

Foreign-language Bibles donated to Aoraki Polytechnic library

Aoraki Polytechnic efforts to enhance pastoral care of its students and more effectively link with the international community in South Canterbury have received a boost with the donation last week of Bibles written in five languages.

The donation to the polytechnic library follows an approach by Timaru Bible Society Action Group member Margaret Hughes who offered the Bibles after sourcing them from the society’s national office in Wellington.

Mrs Hughes said the New Testament written in Maori and in the Solomon Islands’ common language of Pidgin joined full Bible translations in Korean, Samoan and Chinese languages and were presented in beautifully bound versions.

“The group is delighted to be able to help Aoraki Polytechnic, especially with its development of English language programmes earlier this year to build on its training of students from other countries,” she said.

“We are also aware of the success of the polytechnic’s courses in Christian studies and we hope the Bibles will be of some help here too.”

Nine Timaru churches are represented on the Bible Society Action group, which meets every second month.

Mrs Hughes said the group spent $200 of its own funds to buy a consignment of international Bibles, four of which have also been donated to the Timaru Public Library.

Aoraki Polytechnic Library Manager Angela Spence and International Manager Felicity Macfarlane have welcomed the donation “and the thoughtfulness of a respected group in the community”.

Mrs Spence said the library would be making sure everyone was aware that the Bibles were available.

“We are just thrilled and we thank the group warmly for the donation.”

Ms Macfarlane said it was important to the polytechnic as an organisation in the international field to ensure that students had access to everything they required for success and pastoral care.

“Support for international students is a major focus for us right now as we build on our initiatives in catering for international students.

“The donation of the Bibles is a fantastic initiative that coincides with our emphasis in this area,” Ms Macfarlane said.

Becoming the first library borrower of a Bible last week was Papua New Guinea student Pukari Gerald.

Ms Gerald, at Aoraki Polytechnic to study business and human resource management, brings her strong Christian faith to Timaru, which she says “stops me from feeling homesick”.

Her grandfather is a Papua New Guinean chief, like her great grandfather before him, and her mother’s three sisters are missionaries.

“Our God of all nations is everywhere. These Bibles are so important to us,” Ms Gerald said.

Papua New Guinea was a country of many religions, predominantly an amalgamation of London Missionary Society and the Methodist Church, she said.

Other denominations in her home country included the Lutheran, Catholic, Anglican and Seventh Day Adventist churches.

“Religion is important to us. Christianity is something we must all believe in.”

ENDS