At long last Solomon Islanders have their own Pijin language bible.
Clement Paligaru with more on the word of God in Pijin.

Reverend Sam Ata, is Dean of St Barnabus Provincial Cathedral in Honiara: Today is a very significant moment for us in the history of our country as we come to witness the launching of the Pijin bible.

Uniting Church moderator, Rev Philemon Riti: Jesus hemi save tumas long tok Pijin. [Translation: Jesus is fluent in the Pidgin language.]

Primary translator, Aloysius Jack: Tok tok blong mi hemi olsem rein wea hemi fol daon from skae. [Translation: My word is like the rain that falls from the sky.]

Clement Paligaru: Pijin was born of blackbirding, when labourers from across the Pacific were brought to Australia to work on Queensland’s cotton and sugar cane plantations in the late 1800s.

Uniting Church moderator, Rev Philemon Riti: When they get together to be one team in working they could not find any common language and so they formed themselves this Pijin which is part English and part something else.

Clement Paligaru: Pijin is now the unofficial national language of the Solomons. It's the one common tongue among the islands' 70 languages.

Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Melanesia, Sir Ellison Pogo: Solomon Islands is made up of different island groups and they have their own different languages and if I may exaggerate more languages than number of people so to speak and it's important to have one uniting dynamic force really.

Clement Paligaru: It's a statement of national identity, coinciding with the Solomons' celebration of 30 years of independence.

Dr Alpheaus Zobule is from the United Bible Societies: Hearts blong umi move ... hey move by the words, words olketa powerful. [Translation: Our hearts are moved. They are moved by the words, words are powerful.]

Catholic Archbishop Adrian Smith: If people don't understand what they're hearing, it's not going to touch them. But if they understand what they're hearing we can hope that it will touch them.

Bible translator, Hilda Steele: [reading from the bible in the village of Alki on the island of Malaita] Taetol hemi se lo blong God hemi givim laef long mi. [Translation: The title says God's law gives life to me.]

Clement Paligaru: But there's no point having a bible in your own language if you can't read…..

Rev Philemon Riti: Literacy is low and so we need to encourage the literacy program in different places so that they may read and write and also know how to read Pijin bible.

Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister Dr Derek Sikua: How much is for one? [Sixty dollars.]

Clement Paligaru: But the bible is also expensive when the average Solomon Islander's income is only around $60 a month.

Sir Ellison Pogo: But of course printing has to be done somewhere and it is outside our control really.

Clement Paligaru: The churches deny translating the bible is just a recruiting tool for Christianity that further erodes indigenous culture.

Archbishop Adrian Smith: For example in Melanesia there are beautiful cultural values about community. The gospel can now make those cultural values go beyond the wontok system so I don't agree that the Churches destroyed culture I think they challenge them and enrich them.