Information needed

[JimBob53]

i have been contacted by a Mission group here, in the USA, with an interest in setting up a printing plant in West Africa. Does anyone know about availability of equipment and approximate cost of setting up a Web press shop. It is their desire to print Bibles to be distributed in Africa. They contacted me because i have been in printing 40 years. But, I have not been outside the USA.
Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.
Blessings
JimBob

 

[pacart]

Sounds like a scam to me.

 

[JimBob53]

Sounds like a scam to me.

I believe they are people with their hearts in the right place, but have no idea about the cost or commitment needed. There are reasons this has not already been done.... I am just trying to get information to prove my point.

 

[hartmutdau]

Why shouldn't it be true?

Why shouldn't it be true?

Sounds like a scam to me.

Dear pacart,

I have been to Africa several times and noticed that Christianity has a very high priority in some West African countries. For example it is just normal when you hear christian music on the radio, or people read the bible. Weekend is dedicated to their God. All that helps the Africans to forget a while about their problems like poverty, or diseases. That has always impressed me much, even I am not very religious. I myself have worked in Cameroon in a printing plant. Most of their products where books and other documents related to religion.
I would just believe that somebody in Africa wants to erect a plant for Bibles.

Best regards

Hartmut Dau

 

[pacart]

Well good luck! We get requests from Africa to print religious materials all the time, it happens to be a very well know scam. This is a different twist, but it still sounds fishy to me.

 

[JimBob53]

Dear pacart,

I have been to Africa several times and noticed that Christianity has a very high priority in some West African countries. For example it is just normal when you hear christian music on the radio, or people read the bible. Weekend is dedicated to their God. All that helps the Africans to forget a while about their problems like poverty, or diseases. That has always impressed me much, even I am not very religious. I myself have worked in Cameroon in a printing plant. Most of their products where books and other documents related to religion.
I would just believe that somebody in Africa wants to erect a plant for Bibles.

Best regards

Hartmut Dau

Dear Hartmut,
I would be very interested in contact information for the printing company in Cameroon. This information would be very helpful!

 

[Dan Roll]

For a fraction of the cost it would take to set up a web printing facility and supply it with the various consumables (paper, ink, chemistry, electricity, a decent building, etc) you could buy an enormous volume of Bibles from any of the many companies who specialize in their high volume production. There is a phrase WAWA (West Africa Wins Again) used to describe the difficulties of doing just about anything, anywhere, in West Africa.

I share the concern about a scam at work here. I have heard the same thing about 'my cousin, the Minister of Economic Affairs, wants to forward you seventy million dollars in gold in order to set up a printing facility for his government to print lottery tickets (or porn, or the currency of some rival government) '.

 

[JimBob53]

Dan,
Thank you for your comment. I am going to get information together suggesting they purchase Bibles from a publisher in Africa. If they are not interested in this information. I will know they may be up to no good.

 

[Steenland]

JimBob,

If they do happen to be legit, this is the organization they will want to contact:

Bible League International
1 Bible League Plaza
Crete, IL 60417
Toll Free: (866) 825-4636
Email: [email protected]

Bible League partners with mission organizations all over the world to help print and distribute Bibles. Some years ago I served briefly as Director of Publications for the Philippines Branch of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and I worked directly with Bible League. They helped to provide the funds for local printing of newly translated scriptures for small, remote people groups throughout Southeast Asia.

Alternatively, they could contact SIL International via SIL.org. SIL operates locally in many countries around the world to train linguistic anthropologists and translators, in part to facilitate the translation and distribution of scripture. Chances are, SIL has an established organization in their country of interest, and may even have Bibles or scripture passages in their languages of interest, printed and ready to distribute.

I'll also note, just as a matter of interest, that in Manila I worked with several printers who operated large, sheetfed offset presses that had outlived their efficient usefulness in the States, but had gone on to service in the Philippines, where their intensive maintainance and upkeep was commercially viable due to the availability of cheap labor. Spare parts were either jury-rigged, fabricated locally, or frankensteined from other aging presses. So while it may be a scam, it's not unthinkable that someone may be searching for older equipment that could be useful in Africa.

-Steenland

 

[JimBob53]

JimBob,

If they do happen to be legit, this is the organization they will want to contact:

Bible League International
1 Bible League Plaza
Crete, IL 60417
Toll Free: (866) 825-4636
Email: [email protected]

Bible League partners with mission organizations all over the world to help print and distribute Bibles. Some years ago I served briefly as Director of Publications for the Philippines Branch of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and I worked directly with Bible League. They helped to provide the funds for local printing of newly translated scriptures for small, remote people groups throughout Southeast Asia.

Alternatively, they could contact SIL International via SIL.org. SIL operates locally in many countries around the world to train linguistic anthropologists and translators, in part to facilitate the translation and distribution of scripture. Chances are, SIL has an established organization in their country of interest, and may even have Bibles or scripture passages in their languages of interest, printed and ready to distribute.

I'll also note, just as a matter of interest, that in Manila I worked with several printers who operated large, sheetfed offset presses that had outlived their efficient usefulness in the States, but had gone on to service in the Philippines, where their intensive maintainance and upkeep was commercially viable due to the availability of cheap labor. Spare parts were either jury-rigged, fabricated locally, or frankensteined from other aging presses. So while it may be a scam, it's not unthinkable that someone may be searching for older equipment that could be useful in Africa.

-Steenland

THANK YOU! Steenland!!!! This is just what I was looking for!
Blessings!
JimBob