Kaleb* longed to know more about God. But if you placed a Bible in his hands, it would not have helped him.

“I am illiterate,” the Ethiopian father of 10 explains. “Our church is far away and we walk for so many hours to get there. Since there is no one to properly read the Bible for us, we really missed out on the Word of God.”

Kaleb is not alone. Statistics show that about 40 percent of the population of Ethiopia is illiterate, including most of the churchgoers. They cannot read Scripture on their own. And people living in rural areas like Kaleb cannot easily get to church. The people there are desperate to have access to God’s Word on their own. That is why support of audio Bibles is so critical.

“We were hungry for the Word of God, and it was our dream to have the Word of God daily,” Kaleb says. Kaleb’s dream came true when audio Bibles arrived in his community!

Thanks to the support of friends like you, the Bible Society has established about 10,000 audio Bible listening groups in Ethiopia with nearly 1 million people like Kaleb participating.

Kaleb and his family received their very own audio Bible. Now, they can learn more about God anytime they want in the safety of their own home without having to travel far.

“This [audio Bible outreach] program has saved our community and brought God to our land,” he says. “Our personal lives have been totally transformed. We are able to listen to the Word of God regularly and our lives are now based on what we hear. We are now very close to Jesus Christ. Our lives are rooted in the Word, and it is a guide and a lamp for our paths.”

We are so thankful to our partners for making a way to share God’s Word with people in Ethiopia through audio Bibles.

*Name has been changed to protect privacy