MicroSD Cards for Christmas – Arnhem Land, 2013
Story by: Peter Higham (MAF Technology Services Arnhem Land)
As I was walking through the community of Yirrkala, I had a conviction in my heart that another Christmas could not go by without people having more opportunities to hear the good news of Jesus Christ! Sadly so many around the world choose to not have anything to do with Jesus at Christmas.
I wondered what I could do? What skills or gifts do I have to help spread the incredible truth of Christmas? Surprisingly MAF’s area of work with ‘Technology Services’ came to mind! Nearly all people in Arnhem Land have mobile phones so why not use this device to share the Christmas message?
Throughout the year the Technology Services team in Arnhem Land has been working with local translators to put Bible stories into media forms. One of the projects has been creating the Christmas story in one of the local languages. These stories are a collection of images and audio put together in a format that can be viewed via mobile phone.
With this Christmas content in mind, it was decided to purchase 20 MicroSD cards and pre-load them with these Christmas videos and make them available for distribution to the major Aboriginal homelands.
It was no surprise though that within a short space of time and after people had got wind of the project it had grown in size and scope!
With the increase in scope, there was the need for more Christian digital resources. Many hours were spent searching online for suitable English Christmas videos, music and images and obtaining copyright for all the material that was used. The demand for the MicroSD cards increased and so a further 120 cards were purchased with express shipping. A special Christmas card with Yolngu scripture on it was made and printed so that the MicroSD card could be attached to the back.
The project received an added boost when the ‘Jesus Film series’ and an ‘Audio Bible’ were made available for distribution with the MicroSD card2. After a nervous wait for the physical MicroSD cards to arrive in the mail, they were loaded one by one with material, put into plastic cases and glued to the back of the Christmas Cards. This process took its time and many long nights to complete!
With a sigh of relief, the first card was given out to the homeland of Gurrumurru three weeks before Christmas.
The three main MAF bases of Lake Evella, Elcho Island and Milingimbi joined in with the project and acted as distributors for the MicroSD cards. In their respective communities, the MicroSD cards proved to be very popular.
In Milingimbi the demand for the MicroSD cards was very great and so a second lot needed to be sent out but more importantly the cards inspired the local ladies to get involved with recording more local language Bible stories! Already in the planning is an Easter Edition MicroSD card and so Easter Story planning is currently underway.
In Lake Evella MAF pilot Matt Roediger recalls the night he saw someone who had purchased a MicroSD card setting up the projector in the basketball court to show the videos: “Its like a movie night Yolngu style. This was their own idea and initiative! The only thing that I provided was an extension lead. Sooo encouraging!”
In all 140 cards were distributed across 13 communities/homelands. Many were distributed with the Christmas Outreach initiative. As each MicroSD card was sold or handed out a word of encouragement was given to share the material with others via bluetooth.
Therefore the actual number of people receiving the material could be much higher!
One particular person from Biranybirany said, “We will share this material, thank you so much for putting it together for us”.
This project required much energy and time but MAF Arnhem Land believes it was time well spent and prays that the material will continue to bring about lasting transformation to those able to watch and listen to the gospel truth.
It has brought me great joy and satisfaction to work on this project and I truly believe that MAF will continue to see evidence of the impact of this project as time goes on!
These MicroSD cards contained the following resources: Audio Bible, Christmas Audio messages (Yol!u Matha and English), Christmas Videos (Yolngu Matha and English), Jesus Film, Christmas images, Christmas music and a video message from a MAF staff member encouraging people to remember Jesus at Christmas and sharing how to give ones life to Jesus”