AWR to begin Shortwave Broadcasts in Tibetan

By Shelley Nolan Freesland
AWR Communication Director

After a two‐ year search for a producer, AWR will begin broadcasting programs in the Tibetan language this summer through shortwave radio and online. "We are thrilled to have located this young man," says AWR president Dowell Chow. "Although we would normally wait until the start of our next semiannual broadcast season (in October) to launch a new broadcast, we want to begin reaching listeners as soon as possible."

Tibet, a mountainous province in China, does not have an established Seventh‐ day Adventist Church presence. When AWR began spreading the word that it was looking for a Tibetan radio producer, a few leads came through contacts at other supporting ministries. Eventually AWR connected, through e‐ mail, with a man named Nurpu Lama.

Last fall, Chow was scheduled to attend a listeners' reunion in Kathmandu, Nepal – a country which borders Tibet – so Lama traveled there to meet with him. The trip required considerable perseverance: a long walk from Lama's hillside home to a larger town, a bus ride, a full‐ day walk to the Nepali border, and a day‐ long bus ride to Kathmandu.

Since Lama speaks Nepali, he was able to receive training from AWR's long‐ time Nepali producers and technician, learning the equipment and voice announcing skills. The Nepali team provided him with a supply of their scripts, which he began translating by hand and contextualizing for the Tibetan people. Since then, Lama has twice more made the exhausting trip back to Kathmandu to do more recordings in the AWR studio.

Lama's life is not easy. Although his home does have electricity and he is able to use the laptop computer provided by AWR, to access e‐ mail he must hike down the mountainside to a lower village to visit an Internet café. His days are very full, as he raises some animals and food for his family, and also works as a Gospel Outreach pioneer.

"Please join us in prayer as this new producer takes on these additional responsibilities," says Chow. "His voice will be heard across Tibet, through one of the best shortwave signals that AWR has on its entire schedule, sharing the advent message of our soon‐ coming Savior."

Adventist World Radio is the mission radio arm of the Seventh‐day Adventist Church. It broadcasts the Adventist hope in Christ to the hardest‐to‐reach people groups of the world in their own languages, through shortwave, AM/FM radio, podcasts, and on‐demand at awr.org

(Source : Adventist World Radio)