The Bible Society of Rwanda says the price of the holy book has increased by 200 per cent after the number of sponsors stopped their donations.
The number of donors has fallen by 80 per cent, the society said, which put in limbo the publication of the Christian holy book.
The society has launched a campaign to encourage Rwandans in the country and abroad to help it with donations in order to print more Kinyarwanda Bibles.
If the donations do not increase, some believers may end up missing out on the Holy Scriptures, according to Cardinal Antoine Kambanda, who heads the Bible Society of Rwanda.
It is said some of the sponsors wanted to influence what is included in the Bible, which the Rwandan society denied, hence the termination of their contributions.
“We relied heavily on donations from foreigners in order to translate and print the Bible, and those donations have decreased over time,” Cardinal Kambanda told reporters on Monday at the launch of the campaign.
“It is high time Rwandans begin to contribute to that work of publishing the Scriptures, so that even as the donations decrease Rwandans can still afford the Bible, especially those with limited means,” he said.
“There is a big number of people who need to own and read the Bible but can’t afford to buy it, for example, prisoners in our correctional facilities. The Bible can facilitate the correctional service very much, so that by the time these people return to the community they have changed.”
The Cardinal said contributions from Rwandans to the Bible Society would make a big difference if they do it willingly.
To print one book, the Bible Society spends up to Rwf100,000 and about 85 per cent of that amount was traditionally covered by donations.
Without contributions, the Bible could go for Rwf70,000 in Rwanda. With donations, believers today get the Bible at a price of Rwf7,000-Rwf9,000. Before the donations were slashed, the holy book was selling at Rwf4000.
“But we want that price to fall further, so that even the poor can be able to get the Bible,” Cardinal Kambanda said.
The Bible Society of Rwanda prints about 200,000 books every year.
As of 2022, above 92 per cent of Rwanda’s population of 13 million were Christians.
Members of the Bible Society of Rwanda include the 9 dioceses of the Catholic Church, 10 dioceses of the Anglican Church of Rwanda and the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Pentecostal Church of Rwanda (ADEPR), among 10 other churches.