Partners
Prayer Partners:
11 Current
0 Needed
Total Opportunity:
$208,759 Funded
$0 Needed
Demographics
- Location:
- Philippines
- Speakers:
- 10,200
- Start Year:
- 2009
- End Year:
- 2014
Reports to Investors
Ayta NT Cluster
Video Updates
-
Ayta Mag-Indi- Tell us about your people's belief in a god. (2:47) -
Ayta Ambala - How is the translation committee formation coming?. (1:02) -
Ayta Mag-Indi- Tell us how the translation got started. (1:51) -
Ayta Mag-Indi - How do your people survive? What do they believe in? (1:00)
Languages participating in this cluster:
Ayta families make their bamboo and thatch homes in the Philippine hill country around Mt. Pinatubo. They cut garden areas out of the jungles to cultivate root crops and other vegetables as staple foods. They also plant wild rice on the hillsides, moving their crops and their families to new locations periodically. Charcoal, made from local trees, fuels their cooking fires and offers warmth on chilly nights. The shared forest belongs to everyone; no one owns land.
In recent years, the Aytas’ lifestyle has come into conflict with mainstream Filipino culture. New highways have made it easy for land-hungry outsiders to acquire Ayta homelands. Officials are planning to change the resettled Aytas’ livelihood from their semi-nomadic forest lifestyle to a sedentary existence of raising fish in ponds. Ayta families express opposition and fear about their future, but they feel helpless as they watch the modern world encroach on their way of life.
When outsiders arrive with gifts, medical services or entertainment, a large crowd gathers, creating the illusion that many Ayta are Christians. In their homes, however, most of them still call on spirit mediums when family members are ill. They rely on appeasing the forest spirits before planting gardens or building their homes. Local churches don’t have the tools they need to reach Ayta hearts.
Mother-tongue Scripture can offer them real hope – the One who never changes – in the midst of fear and uncertainty. The Ayta people need to understand God’s love for them in the face of ridicule and discrimination.
News from the Field
- Jul08
3 Ayta languages of the Philippines
In recent decades Protestant groups have concentrated their efforts on evangelizing the 10,200 people of three related languages: Ayta Mag-Indi, Ayta Abelllen and Ayta Ambala. In the meantime, SIL Philippines also started linguistic work among the people, resulting in translated Scripture portions for the Ayta Mag-Indi, among other materials. Moreover, in 2006 the Ayta Abellen Translation Committee published the book of Mark. The Ayta Ambala people still await a single translated verse. - Feb18
Ayta of the Philippines
Officials are planning to change the Aytas’ livelihood from their semi-nomadic forest lifestyle to a sedentary existence. Ayta families express opposition and fear about their future, but they feel helpless as they watch the modern world encroach on their way of life. The Ayta sense discrimination from the wider Filipino culture—their skin is darker than that of most Malay peoples and their hair is curly. Education has not generally been highly valued; thus, literacy levels are extremely low.