Ugandans are expected to participate in publishing a new hand-written bible; “each verse written by one person” at a time.
The new Bible project is masterminded by Bible Society of Uganda which is set to commemorate its 50th anniversary.
Speaking to journalists, the organisation said this project is a strategy aimed at popularizing the reading of the Word of God, and raising funds for a new Bible House. Each individual who wishes to take part in handwriting a verse of the bible will be required to pay some money.
“Each verse will be written at a fee of sh100,000. Anyone booking a verse in another book other than the one being written at the moment will contribute sh200,000. We expect to raise at least sh3.1b through the project,” Ms Catherine Nakamera, the Bible Society of Uganda’s Church relations officer told state-linked newspaper, New Vision.
She assured the source that ancient scribes, such as Ezra, who wrote the book of Chronicles, used to write by hand.
“In those days, if a family wanted to have the word of God in their houses, they would invite a scribe to write it for them,” she continued.
Joan Logose, the Bible Society of Uganda’s IT Officer said: “We have invited people to come to Bible House, on plot 38, Bombo road (Wandegeya) and book a verse that they will write. Many people are ready responding positively.”
“The verses, will be written by the individuals themselves, save for those who will request us to help them on account of challenges such as disability or inadequate literacy. The written verses will then be scanned and laid on PDF. We have opted to start with the book of Mark,” Logose added.
The handwritten bible project will be launched at Bible House in kampala on 24 November.
In 2009, the very first handwritten copy of the New International Version Bible in USA sold on Web-based sales site, eBay for $15,407.53.
According to Religion News Service, Bible publisher Zondervan went on a nine-month tour across the United States to give people a chance to write one verse of the Bible for the edition.
The other was intended to be donated to the Smithsonian, but Zondervan later sought reserving it in a museum.
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