By: Hortensius F. Mandaru*

On 20 July 2026, Rev. Ara of the Panenggo Ede congregation in the village of Kodi Balaghar invited me, along with several members of the Kodi PB team, to travel to the village of Kori in North Kodi to meet the family of Mr Rambaho Ndelo. His wife is the daughter of the late Rev. Ndoda. The late Rev. Ndoda bequeathed a priceless treasure to the people of Kodi: a complete manuscript of the Old Testament. Really, a manuscript in this day and age? Yes, it is called a ‘manuscript’ because it is all handwritten, in keeping with the literal meaning of the word. He translated the entire Old Testament into the Kodi language in beautiful handwriting, much like that of teachers of old. His entire translation is preserved in 21 ‘codices’, that is to say, in 21 notebooks: 2 large ones and 19 small ones. This is an extremely rare phenomenon: the entire Old Testament translated by a single person, and all of it handwritten!

This remarkable work is said to have been produced as he approached retirement in the early 1980s. His sons and daughters still recall how their late father worked with such dedication and devotion for around seven years. Every day he would set aside a ‘quiet time’ for translation. If there were any disturbances or noise, he would choose to do something else. For Bible translation, he needed tranquillity, naturally for the sake of clarity and depth.

Following Rev. Ndoda’s death, his eldest son (Mr John Ndoda) ‘secured’ these 21 codices in Kupang, where he served as a lecturer. It is said that Mr John once intended to contact the LAI regarding his father’s magnum opus, but he never got round to doing so. Eventually, these works were taken back to the village of Kori, until they were ‘discovered’ on the evening of 20 July 2026.

Rev. Ndoda’s family had no objections; indeed, they were delighted that their father’s labour-intensive and valuable work could be used as a draft of the Old Testament, should the LAI plan to translate the Old Testament into the Kodi language. For them and for us, that evening’s meeting was not a chance encounter, but a meeting full of blessings. That encounter had been planned by the Lord to fulfil the longing of His people in Kodi to hear His word in their mother tongue.

Note:

The author is a Translation Advisor at LAI who supports the New Testament Translation Team working on the Kodi language of Sumba.