Long Phuri Naga Literacy

• Location: Myanmar
• Target Completion Date: TBD

The Long Phuri Naga people live in Layshi Township, which is located in the Sagaing region of northern Myanmar. They number between 1,000 and 2,500 people, with an additional 4,500 living in a neighboring country, and approximately 98% of the Long Phuri profess Christianity. The first Long Phuri believer, after accepting Christ as his Savior, attended a Christian seminary in Yangon and returned to his people in 1968 to spread the gospel. Thanks to the far-reaching impact of this man, around 30 churches exist today among the Long Phuri people.

After learning of Bibles International's work among their neighbors, the Goga, the Long Phuri believers contacted the Bibles International Myanmar Society in 2019, requesting textbooks, a dictionary, and a Bible. Previous translation efforts had resulted in portions of the Scriptures being written in an ancient Long Phuri language script. The Long Phuri are unable to read any of them today, however, as the modern language remains unwritten.

In early 2020, the BI literacy team met in Layshi with Long Phuri groups from the two countries. During this meeting, everyone worked well together and demonstrated a friendliness and passion for their common goal of developing the Long Phuri language, the only language that all of them could use to understand one another.

Since then, the Long Phuri have created a "first reader" to show their language's current orthography. In an excellent show of initiative and vision for future ministry, the Long Phuri believers have begun teaching this book in their churches among the adults, with plans to begin teaching the children to read the language during their summer camp programs. Although children speak it at home, they do not yet know how to read Long Phuri. So far, a reading primer and the first Old Testament Storybook have been published.

Despite the enormity of the task and their need for additional help, the Long Phuri believers desire God's Word in their language. They long for their children to know more about Christ, but their young people cannot understand other languages well enough to learn from the currently available resources. The two representative groups have begun writing songs in Long Phuri for their churches, supporting and encouraging one another as they pray and look forward to the day when their people, both young and old, can read God's Word in their language and understand every word.