June 22

Table of Contents

June 22, 2001

Water—Will There Be Enough?

Nothing is taken for granted more often than water—until, that is, the water runs out. Learn why this is already happening in some parts of the world and what can be done about it.

3 Is the World Running Out of Water?

6 Where Has All the Water Gone?

10 In Search of the Water of Life

14 The Dalmatin Bible—Rare but Not Forgotten

20 Abandoned by Parents—Loved by God

24 The Love Song of the Cricket

28 Watching the World

30 From Our Readers

31 Passwords​—A Key to Security

32 It Strengthened Her Faith

A Unique Floral Region 16

The Fynbos region of South Africa is home to thousands of plant species found nowhere else in the world.

Will God Hear My Prayers? 25

How can you gain the assurance that God will hear your prayers? How can you feel closer to God?

[Picture Credit Lines on page 2]

UN PHOTO 156663/John Isaac

Nigel Dennis

Is the World Running Out of Water?

“Access to a secure, safe and sufficient source of fresh water is a fundamental requirement for the survival, well-being and socio-economic development of all humanity. Yet, we continue to act as if fresh water were a perpetually abundant resource. It is not.”—KOFI ANNAN, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL.

AT MIDDAY every Thursday for the past thousand years, a unique tribunal has sat in the Spanish city of Valencia. Its job is to resolve disputes over water.

Local farmers in the fertile Valencian plain depend on irrigation, and irrigation requires lots of water—which has always been in short supply in this part of Spain. The farmers can appeal to the water tribunal whenever they feel that they are not getting their fair share. Disputes over water are nothing new, but they are rarely resolved so equitably as in Valencia.

Nearly 4,000 years ago, a violent dispute erupted among shepherds about access to a well near Beer-sheba in Israel. (Genesis 21:25) And water problems in the Middle East have become much worse since then. At least two prominent leaders in the region have said that water is the one issue that could lead them to declare war on a neighboring State.

In the semiarid countries of the world, water has always aroused strong feelings. The reason is simple: Water is vital to life. As Kofi Annan pointed out, “fresh water is precious: we cannot live without it. It is irreplaceable: there are no substitutes for it. And it is sensitive: human activity has a profound impact on the quantity and quality of fresh water available.”

Today as never before, both the quantity and quality of our planet’s fresh water are under threat. We should not be misled by the apparently abundant supply in some fortunate parts of the world.

The Shrinking Reservoir

“One of the great contradictions in human nature is that we value things only when they are scarce,” points out UN Under-Secretary-General Elizabeth Dowdeswell. “We only appreciate the water once the well runs dry. And the wells are running dry not just in drought-prone areas but also in areas not traditionally associated with water scarcity.”

Those who face water scarcity every day understand the problem only too well. Asokan, an office worker in Madras, India, has to get up two hours before dawn every morning. Carrying five buckets, he goes to the public water tap, which is a five-minute walk away. Since there is water only between 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., he needs to get in line early. The water he takes home in his buckets will have to last all day. Many fellow Indians—and one billion other people on the planet—are not so fortunate. They have no tap, river, or well near their home.

Abdullah, a boy who lives in the Sahel region of Africa, is one of those. The road sign announcing his small village describes it as an oasis; but the water has long since disappeared, and there is hardly a tree in sight. Abdullah has the job of fetching the family’s water from a well over half a mile [1 km] away.

In some parts of the world, the demand for fresh, clean water has already begun to outstrip the supply. The reason is simple: A large portion of mankind live in arid or semiarid areas, where water has long been scarce. (See the map on page 3.) According to the Stockholm Environment Institute, a third of the world’s population already live in areas that suffer moderate to severe water shortage. And demand for water has risen at more than twice the rate of the population increase.

The water supply, on the other hand, is basically fixed. Deeper wells and new reservoirs may bring temporary relief, but the amount of rain that falls on the earth and the amount of water stored under the ground essentially remain the same. Therefore, meteorologists calculate that within 25 years, the quantity of water available to each person on earth may be cut in half.

Effect Upon Health and Food

How does water scarcity affect people? First of all, it harms their health. It is not that they will die of thirst; rather, the poor quality of the water available for cooking and drinking may make them ill. Elizabeth Dowdeswell points out that “about 80 per cent of all diseases and more than one-third of all deaths in developing countries are caused by contaminated water.” In the semiarid countries of the developing world, water supplies are frequently polluted by human or animal wastes, pesticides, fertilizers, or industrial chemicals. An impoverished family may have little option but to use such tainted water.

Just as our bodies require water to dispose of waste products, abundant water is required for proper sanitation—water that for much of mankind is simply not available. The number of people without adequate sanitation rose from 2.6 billion in 1990 to 2.9 billion in 1997. This is nearly half the people on the planet. And sanitation is literally a matter of life and death. In a joint statement, United Nations officials Carol Bellamy and Nitin Desai warned: “When children lack water that is fit for drinking and sanitation, virtually every aspect of their health and development is at risk.”

Food production is dependent on water. Many crops, of course, are watered by rain, but in recent times irrigation has become the key to feeding the world’s burgeoning population. Today 36 percent of the world’s harvest depends on irrigation. But the world’s total area of irrigated cropland reached a peak about 20 years ago, and it has been falling steadily since then.

If plentiful water gushes out of every tap in our home and if we have a hygienic toilet that conveniently flushes away waste, it may be hard to believe that the world is running out of an adequate supply of water. We should remember, however, that only 20 percent of mankind enjoy such luxuries. In Africa many women spend as much as six hours a day fetching water—and frequently it is polluted. These women comprehend much more clearly the harsh reality: Clean, safe water is scarce, and it is getting scarcer.

Can technology solve the problem? Can water resources be exploited more economically? Where has all the water gone? The following articles will seek to answer these questions.

[Box/Diagram on page 4]

WHERE THE FRESH WATER IS

About 97 percent of the water on earth is in the oceans and is too salty to be used for drinking, farming, and manufacturing.

Only about 3 percent of earth’s water is fresh. Yet, the majority of this is not easily accessible, as the accompanying illustration shows.

[Diagram]

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Permanent ice and snow 68.7%

Groundwater 30.1%

Permafrost, underground ice 0.9%

Lakes, rivers, and swamps 0.3%

[Box on page 5]

THE WATER CRISIS

◼ CONTAMINATION In Poland only 5 percent of the river water is fit for drinking, and 75 percent of it is too polluted even for industrial use.

◼ URBAN SUPPLIES In Mexico City, the world’s second-largest metropolis, the water table, which supplies 80 percent of the city’s water, is sinking inexorably. Pumping exceeds the natural replenishment by more than 50 percent. Beijing, the capital of China, suffers from a similar problem. Its aquifer has dropped more than three feet [1 m] a year, and one third of its wells have dried up.

◼ IRRIGATION The huge Ogallala aquifer in the United States has become so depleted that irrigated land in northwest Texas has shrunk by a third for lack of water. Both China and India, the second- and third-largest producers of food, are facing a comparable crisis. In the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, irrigation has caused the water table to sink more than 75 feet [23 m] in ten years.

◼ DISAPPEARING RIVERS During the dry season, the mighty Ganges no longer reaches the sea, as all its water is diverted before that. The same is true of the Colorado River in North America.

[Map on page 3]

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WHERE WATER IS IN SHORT SUPPLY

Areas of water shortage

Where Has All the Water Gone?

Cherrapunji, India, is one of the wettest places on earth. During the monsoon season, 350 inches [9,000 mm] of rain drench its hills, which lie at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains. Incredible as it may seem, however, Cherrapunji also suffers from water shortage.

SINCE there is little vegetation left to hold the water, it rushes away almost as quickly as it falls from the sky. Two months after the monsoon rains have gone, water becomes scarce. Robin Clarke, in his book Water: The International Crisis, years ago described Cherrapunji as “the wettest desert on earth.”a

Not far downstream from Cherrapunji lies Bangladesh, a densely populated, low-lying country that bears the brunt of the monsoon waters that cascade down the denuded hillsides of India and Nepal. Some years, two thirds of Bangladesh gets flooded. But once the floodwaters subside, the Ganges River slows to a trickle, and the land becomes parched. Over 100 million people in Bangladesh face this cruel, yearly cycle of floods and drought. To make matters worse, well water there has become contaminated with arsenic, which may have already poisoned millions of people.

In Nukus, Uzbekistan, not far from the Aral Sea, salt rather than arsenic is the problem. White, crusty deposits are enveloping the cotton plants and stunting their growth. The salt rises to the surface from waterlogged subsoil. This problem, called salinization, is not a new one. Mesopotamian agriculture went into decline four thousand years ago for exactly the same reason. Too much irrigation along with poor drainage causes salts in the soil to accumulate at the surface. To get a decent harvest, more and more fresh water must be used. However, eventually the soil becomes useless—for generations to come.

Where Does All the Water Go?

Unfortunately, much of the rain occurs in the form of torrential downpours. These not only cause flooding but also result in water running quickly off the land and into the sea. And some places get a lot of rain, while others get little. Cherrapunji has been known to record more than 1,000 inches [26,000 mm] of rain in one 12-month period, whereas the Atacama Desert in northern Chile may experience several years without any significant rainfall at all.

Furthermore, most of the people on our planet live where water is not plentiful. Relatively few people, for example, live in the tropical areas of Africa and South America where rainfall is abundant. The mighty Amazon River disgorges into the Atlantic Ocean 15 percent of the annual global runoff, yet because the population in that area is sparse, very little water is needed for human consumption. On the other hand, some 60 million people live in Egypt, where rainfall is minimal, and practically all their water needs must be met by the depleted Nile River.

Years ago such disparities in water supplies did not cause serious problems. According to one survey, in 1950 no region on earth suffered from a very low or extremely low water supply. But those times of plentiful water have changed. In arid regions of North Africa and Central Asia, the amount of water available per person has dropped to a tenth of what it was in 1950.

Apart from the population increase and the low rainfall in many densely populated areas, demand for water has risen for other reasons. In the world today, progress and prosperity go hand in hand with a reliable water supply.

The Rising Demand for Water

If you live in an industrialized country, you have no doubt noticed that factories cluster around important rivers. The reason is simple. Industry needs water to produce practically everything, from computers to paper clips. Food processing also uses a surprising amount of water. Power stations have an insatiable appetite for water and are located alongside lakes or rivers.

The need for water in agriculture is even greater. In many places rainfall is either too little or too unreliable to guarantee a good harvest, so irrigation seemed to be the ideal solution for feeding a hungry planet. As a result of dependence on irrigated crops, agriculture takes a major part of the planet’s supply of fresh water.

In addition, domestic water consumption has grown. During the 1990’s, a staggering 900 million new city dwellers needed decent sanitation and access to safe water. The traditional sources of water, such as rivers and wells, are no longer sufficient for large cities. Mexico City, for example, now has to pipe in water from more than 70 miles [125 km] away and pump it over a range of mountains that rise 4,000 feet [1,200 meters] above the city’s elevation. The situation, says Dieter Kraemer in his report Water: The Life-Giving Source, is “kind of like an octopus; arms going out of the city to try to get water.”

Thus, industry, agriculture, and urban areas have all been clamoring for more water. And many of their demands have been met, for the time being, by drawing on the planet’s reserves—groundwater. Aquifers are one of the earth’s main deposits of fresh water. But they are not inexhaustible. Such water deposits are like money in the bank. You can’t keep on withdrawing it if you make few deposits. Sooner or later, the day of reckoning will come.

Use and Misuse of Groundwater

Groundwater is the water supply we tap into when we sink a well. The United Nations Children’s Fund report Groundwater: The Invisible and Endangered Resource calculates that half the water used for domestic purposes and for irrigating crops comes from this source. Since groundwater is usually less polluted than surface water, it also provides much of our drinking water, both in cities and in the countryside. If withdrawals were moderate, groundwater supplies would remain constant, since they are regularly renewed by rain that slowly seeps through to these underground reservoirs. But for decades mankind has been siphoning off much more water than the natural water cycle can replace.

The result is that the level of the groundwater gets farther from the surface, and it becomes either uneconomical or impractical to dig deep enough to reach it. When the well runs dry, economic and human disaster results. In India such tragedies have already begun to occur. Since the food for a billion people who live in the central plains of China and India depends on water stored underground, the outlook is alarming.

Depletion of groundwater supplies is further aggravated by contamination. Agricultural fertilizers, human and animal wastes, and industrial chemicals are all finding their way into the groundwater. “Once an aquifer is contaminated, remedial measures can be long and costly, even impossible,” explains a report published by the World Meteorological Organization. “The slow penetration of pollutants has been called a ‘chemical time bomb.’ It threatens humankind.”

The final irony is that water pumped out of the underground aquifers may end up ruining the very land it was intended to irrigate. Much of the irrigated land in the arid or semiarid countries of the world now suffers from salinization. In India and the United States—two of the world’s major food-producing countries—25 percent of irrigated land has already been seriously damaged.

Waste Not, Want Not

Despite all these difficulties, the situation would not be so bleak if the planet’s precious water were used more carefully. Inefficient irrigation methods often squander 60 percent of the water before it reaches the crops. Increased efficiency—using available technology—could reduce industrial water consumption by half. And even urban water use could be cut by 30 percent if broken pipes were fixed quickly.

Measures to conserve water require both the will and the way. Are there sound reasons to believe that our planet’s precious water will be conserved for future generations? Our final article will address this question.

[Footnote]

[Box/Picture on page 7]

WATER MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND

Practically all industrial processes consume large quantities of water.

◼ The production of one ton of steel can consume 280 tons of water.

◼ Manufacturing one pound [1 kg] of paper can require as much as 700 pounds [700 kg] of water (if the factory does not recycle the water).

◼ To make a typical U.S. car, the manufacturer uses 50 times the car’s weight in water.

Agriculture may be just as demanding, especially if livestock is raised in semiarid regions of the earth.

◼ To produce one pound [1 kg] of steak from California beef cattle requires 2,500 gallons [20,500 L] of water.

◼ Processing just one frozen chicken takes at least seven gallons [26 L] of water.

[Graph/Pictures on page 8]

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WHERE IS THE WATER USED?

Agricultural 65%

Industrial 25%

Domestic 10%

[Pictures on page 9]

Millions of gallons of water are wasted because of broken water mains and faucets that are left running

[Credit Line]

AP Photo/Richard Drew

In Search of the Water of Life

OVER two thousand years ago, a thriving city of 30,000 people grew to prominence in the Arabian Desert. Despite the area’s unforgiving climate, where average rainfall measures only six inches [150 mm] a year, the citizens of Petra learned to cope with little water. And Petra grew rich and prosperous.

The Nabataean inhabitants of Petra had no electrical water pumps. They did not build massive dams. But they did know how to harvest and conserve their water. A huge network of small reservoirs, dikes, channels, and cisterns enabled them to funnel the carefully hoarded water into their city and onto their small plots of land. Hardly a drop was wasted. Their wells and cisterns were so well built that modern-day Bedouin still use them.

“Hydrology is the unseen beauty of Petra,” marvels one water engineer. “Those guys were absolute geniuses.” Recently, Israeli experts have been seeking to tap the genius of the Nabataeans, who also cultivated crops in the Negeb, where rainfall rarely exceeds four inches a year [100 mm]. Agronomists have examined the remains of thousands of small Nabataean farms whose owners skillfully channeled the winter rain to their small terraced fields.

Already lessons learned from the Nabataeans are helping farmers in the drought-plagued Sahel states of Africa. Modern methods of water conservation, however, can be just as effective. On Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, which lie off the coast of Africa, farmers have learned how to grow grapes and figs where rainfall is practically nonexistent. They plant the vines or fig trees at the bottom of rounded hollows and then cover the soil with a layer of volcanic ash to prevent evaporation. Sufficient dew can then trickle down to the roots to ensure a good crop.

Low-Tech Solutions

Similar stories of adaptation to arid climates can be found all over the world—such as among the Bishnoi people, who live in the Thar Desert of India; the Turkana women of Kenya; and the Navajo Indians of Arizona, U.S.A. Their techniques for harvesting rainwater, learned over many centuries, are proving much more reliable for solving agricultural needs than impressive high-tech solutions.

The 20th century was an age of dam-building. Mighty rivers were harnessed, and massive irrigation systems were developed. One scientist estimates that 60 percent of the world’s streams and rivers have been controlled in some way. While such projects brought some benefits, ecologists point to the damage done to the environment, not to mention the effect on the millions of people who lost their homes.

Furthermore, despite good intentions, the benefits of these schemes rarely reach farmers who desperately need the water. Referring to irrigation projects in India, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said: “For 16 years we have poured money out. The people have got nothing back, no irrigation, no water, no increase in production, no help in their daily life.”

Low-tech solutions, on the other hand, have proved more useful and less harmful to the environment. Small ponds and dams constructed by local communities have been very successful in China, where six million have been built. In Israel, people have found that with a little ingenuity, the same water can be used first for washing, then for sanitation, and finally for irrigation.

Another practical solution is drip irrigation, which conserves the soil and uses only 5 percent of the water required by traditional methods. Wise use of water also means choosing crops that suit a dry climate, such as sorghum or millet, rather than those that need extensive irrigation, such as sugarcane or corn.

With a little effort, domestic users and industry can likewise cut back on their demands for water. A pound of paper, for example, can be manufactured with about a pint of water if the factory’s water is recycled—a saving of over 99 percent. Mexico City has replaced conventional toilets with ones that use only one third the amount of water. The city also sponsored an information campaign that aimed to reduce water usage significantly.

What Is Needed for Success

Solutions to the water crisis—and most environmental problems—require changes in attitudes. People need to be cooperative rather than selfish, to make reasonable sacrifices where necessary, and to be determined to take care of the earth for its future inhabitants. In this regard Sandra Postel, in her book Last Oasis—Facing Water Scarcity, explains: “We need a water ethic—a guide to right conduct in the face of complex decisions about natural systems we do not and cannot fully understand.”

Such “a water ethic,” of course, requires more than just a local approach. Countries as well as neighbors need to cooperate, since rivers are no respecters of national boundaries. “Concerns about water quantity and quality—historically treated as separate—must now be seen as a global issue,” says Ismail Serageldin in his report Beating the Water Crisis.

But getting nations to handle global issues is no easy task, as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan admits. “In today’s globalized world,” he says, “the mechanisms available for global action are hardly more than embryonic. It is high time we gave more concrete meaning to the idea of the ‘international community.’”

Clearly, an adequate supply of good water—although vital—is not all that is needed if we are to enjoy a healthy and happy life. Humans must first recognize an obligation to the One who provided both water and life itself. (Psalm 36:9; 100:3) And rather than shortsightedly exploit the earth and its resources, they need to ‘cultivate and take care of it,’ as our Creator instructed our original parents to do.—Genesis 2:8, 15; Psalm 115:16.

A Superior Kind of Water

Since water is so vital, it is not surprising that in the Bible it is given a symbolic significance. Indeed, to enjoy life as we were meant to, we must recognize the source of this symbolic water. We must also learn to reflect the attitude of the woman in the first century who requested of Jesus Christ: “Sir, give me this water.” (John 4:15) Consider what happened.

Jesus stopped at a deep well near modern-day Nablus—evidently the same well that people from around the world often visit even to this day. At the time, a Samaritan woman also came to the well. Like many women of the first century, she no doubt made regular trips there in order to keep her home supplied with water. But Jesus said that he could provide her with “living water”—a source of water that would never run out.—John 4:10, 13, 14.

Understandably, the woman’s interest was aroused. But, of course, the “living water” that Jesus spoke about was not literal water. Jesus had in mind the spiritual provisions that can enable people to live forever. There is a link, however, between symbolic and literal water—we need both to enjoy life to the full.

On more than one occasion, God provided his people with a solution to an actual water shortage. He miraculously supplied water for the huge crowd of Israelite refugees who crossed the Sinai desert on their way to the Promised Land. (Exodus 17:1-6; Numbers 20:2-11) Elisha, a prophet of God, cleansed the well of Jericho that had become contaminated. (2 Kings 2:19-22) And when a remnant of repentant Israelites returned from Babylon to their homeland, God led them to ‘water in the wilderness.’—Isaiah 43:14, 19-21.

An inexhaustible supply of water is what our planet urgently needs today. Since our Creator, Jehovah God, provided a solution to water problems in the past, will he not do so again in the future? The Bible assures us that he will. Describing conditions under his promised Kingdom, God says: “Upon bare hills I shall open up rivers, and in the midst of the valley plains, springs. I shall make the wilderness into a reedy pool of water, and the waterless land into sources of water, . . . in order that people may see and know and pay heed and have insight at the same time, that the very hand of Jehovah has done this.”—Isaiah 41:18, 20.

The Bible promises us that when that time comes, people “will not go hungry, neither will they go thirsty.” (Isaiah 49:10) Thanks to a new global administration, there will be a definitive solution to the water crisis. This administration—the Kingdom, for which Jesus taught us to pray—will operate “by means of justice and by means of righteousness, from now on and to time indefinite.” (Isaiah 9:6, 7; Matthew 6:9, 10) As a result, people everywhere on earth will finally become a true international community.—Psalm 72:5, 7, 8.

If we search now for the water of life, we can look forward to seeing the day when there will truly be enough water for everyone.

[Pictures on page 10]

Above: Ancient inhabitants of Petra knew how to conserve water

Below: A Nabataean water channel in Petra

[Credit Line]

Garo Nalbandian

[Picture on page 10]

Farmers on one of the Canary Islands have learned how to grow plants where rainfall is nearly nonexistent

[Pictures on page 13]

What did Jesus mean when he promised this woman “living water”?

The Dalmatin Bible—Rare but Not Forgotten

BY AWAKE! WRITER IN SLOVENIA

THE last of the barrels with their valuable contents arrived in Slovenia in the late 1500’s. For two years they had been in transport by various routes. To disguise their contents, the barrels had been labeled “playing cards” or “store supplies.” Concealed inside were leather-bound volumes of the first complete Bible in the Slovenian language.

The valuable consignment was the fulfillment of the dream of two dedicated men—Jurij Dalmatin and Primož Trubar, who devoted their lives to translating the Bible into the common language of their people. While these men may not be featured in many history books, their names can be added to the list of those who made a great contribution to early Bible translation.

Dalmatin, the man responsible for the secret transport of the Bibles, had included one special richly bound copy for Trubar, his friend and adviser. Let us consider the challenges these two men faced in making the Bible available in the common tongue of their fellow countrymen.

The Making of a Translator

In the 16th century, the Holy Roman Empire, which was closely associated with the Roman Catholic Church, was still entrenched in most of Europe. However, the Protestant Reformation was well under way, and the effects of the movement had filtered into the towns and villages of what is present-day Slovenia. Trubar, a local clergyman there, was among the first to adopt Protestant convictions.

Since Latin was the language of the Catholic Church, only a privileged few who were schooled in that ancient tongue could understand church services and the Bible. Yet, the Reformers said that church services should be held in a language understood by all. Therefore, by the mid-1500’s, some Bible passages were read in the local Slovenian language during church services. This was made possible because the Slovenian equivalent of certain texts was written in the margins of the Latin missal, or Mass book, that was used by the clergy.

However, Trubar wanted to have the entire Bible in Slovenian. Since there was as yet no Slovenian alphabet, Trubar invented one, and in 1550 he wrote the first book printed in the Slovenian language. In it he included some Bible verses from Genesis. Later, he also translated the Psalms into Slovenian and eventually the entire New Testament, or Christian Greek Scriptures.

Yet, Trubar recognized that he did not possess the language skills needed to carry out his ambition to translate the entire Bible into Slovenian. In Jurij Dalmatin, a gifted young student, he saw someone who could help him accomplish his goal.

Dalmatin’s Early Background

Dalmatin, the son of a poor family, was born in about 1547 in a village located in what is today southern Slovenia. As a boy, he attended the local school run by an early convert to Protestantism, and this greatly influenced his later religious inclinations. With the support of Trubar as well as a schoolteacher and the local parish, Dalmatin attended a religious school and later went to a university in Germany. He thereby perfected his Latin and German, learned Hebrew and Greek, and completed his studies in philosophy and theology.

Although Dalmatin studied abroad, he was encouraged by Trubar to value and cultivate his mother tongue, Slovenian. When Dalmatin was attending university, while still in his 20’s, he began the monumental task of translating the Bible into the language of his countrymen. Trubar’s fervent wish to have the complete Bible in Slovenian now became Dalmatin’s main goal in life.

Translation Begins

Plunging into the project with great enthusiasm, Dalmatin began by translating the Hebrew Scriptures. Apparently, he translated from the original languages but with close reference to Martin Luther’s German translation of the Latin Vulgate. As for Trubar, by 1577 he had translated the entire Christian Greek Scriptures into Slovenian, as mentioned previously. Dalmatin now corrected and improved Trubar’s text, once again relying heavily on Luther’s German Bible translation. He eliminated many of Trubar’s Germanisms and made the translation more uniform. Dalmatin may have used his knowledge of Greek in his translation work, but scholars still debate whether he consulted early Greek texts or not.

Obstacles Along the Way

Because the Slovenian alphabet had been introduced only a few decades before, Dalmatin faced a daunting task. Moreover, the vocabulary was small, and Slovenian reference books were nonexistent. Therefore, it required a great deal of ingenuity to render the text into understandable Slovenian.

The Counter Reformation movement also added to the difficulties. Since the printer in Slovenia was exiled, Bible printing had to be done on foreign soil. This was why camouflage was needed when Bibles were shipped into the country. Yet, despite the obstacles, Dalmatin achieved his goal in only ten years, apparently while he was still in his early 30’s.

Under Dalmatin’s supervision the first printing of 1,500 copies of the Bible took place in seven months. Many called the Bible a literary masterpiece and a work of art, as it was beautifully illustrated with 222 woodcuts. Many of the original Bibles are still in existence, and the translation has been used as a basis for modern-day versions of the Bible in Slovenian. The work of these two men has contributed to the fact that today Slovenians can read God’s Word in their mother tongue.

[Box/Picture on page 15]

THE DIVINE NAME

Dalmatin included the following explanation in the foreword of his translation of the Holy Bible: “Wherever the word LORD is printed in capital letters, this means the LORD God alone whose name is יהוה, Jehovah, in the Jewish language. This name belongs only to the LORD God and no one else.”

[Pictures on page 14, 15]

Primož Trubar

Front page of the Slovenian Bible

[Credit Line]

All pictures except Tetragrammaton: Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica—Slovenija—Ljubljana

A Unique Floral Region

BY AWAKE! WRITER IN SOUTH AFRICA

AFTER classifying a batch of flowers from Africa, 18th-century botanist Carolus Linnaeus described their place of origin as “that paradise on earth, the Cape of Good Hope, which the Beneficent Creator has enriched with His choicest wonders.”

These so-called choicest wonders are found in an area that covers the southern tip of Africa. Dutch settlers named the dominant vegetation in the area fijnbosch, meaning “fine bush” or “fine woods.” Since the word fijn means “small,” this was possibly a reference to the small size of the leaves and plants as well as to the slender timber growing in the area. In time, the word fijnbosch became “fynbos.” Fynbos leaves may be small and hardy, but the flowers come in stunning sizes, colors, and shapes.

The Fynbos region is located in a floral kingdom that is very different from others in the world—the Cape Floral kingdom.a Although this kingdom covers a relatively small area, it is home to a staggering variety of plant species—one source says more than 8,550—two thirds of which are not found anywhere else in the world.

On Table Mountain alone, 1,470 plant species have been counted! “This,” remarks the journal New Scientist, “is more than are found in the whole of the British Isles.” Fynbos, though, has influenced other parts of the world as well. How so?

Amazing Variety

If you happen to have a geranium sitting on your windowsill, chances are that you are caring for the offspring of a Fynbos native. Of the 250 species that grow naturally on earth, more than two thirds are found in the Fynbos region.

In addition, a third of the 1,800 flowers belonging to the family Iridaceae grow here, including more than 72 gladioli found nowhere else on earth. As for daisies and vygies, the southern tip of Africa boasts 1,646 species.b These include everlastings, which retain their brightness and are used for years in dried-flower arrangements.

The most remarkable feature of the Fynbos, however, is the flowering plant called erica, or heath. Believe it or not, the Fynbos has 625 species of erica, out of a world total of 740!

Sugar-Bush and Sugarbird

Linnaeus examined one group of Fynbos flowers that had a strange variety of shapes. He named them Protea (a member of the Proteaceae family), after the Greek god Proteus, who was believed to change into different bodies. Altogether, 328 different proteas originate from the Fynbos region. What a thrill it is to hike in the Cape mountains and chance upon the large king protea! Its majestic flower is sometimes bigger than a human face.

Another common protea is the sugar-bush. The flowers on this tree are like cups, and they contain a generous supply of nectar. Early settlers used to shake the flowers over a container to collect the nectar, which they later boiled into syrup.

The Cape sugarbird—a creature found only in the Fynbos region—also appreciates the nectar of proteas. With its long beak and long tongue, the sugarbird siphons off the nectar that the plant provides and returns the favor by transporting pollen from one flower to another—an efficient fertilization service. Moreover, the sugarbird feeds on insects attracted to the large flowers. Thus, the bird and the flower need each other to survive.

Other Pivotal Partnerships

Some protea flowers lie close to the ground, hidden beneath other vegetation. Mice are attracted to a yeastlike smell given off by these proteas. Pressing their heads into the flowers, the mice drink the nectar and then visit other proteas, transferring pollen that has collected on their furry faces. Thus field mice and proteas form a partnership for survival.

A similar partnership exists between erica flowers and the colorful orange-breasted sunbird, found only in the Fynbos region. Because they are shaped like bent tubes, the flowers are a perfect match for the sunbird’s beak. When the bird inserts its beak to suck the nectar, its head collects pollen. Throughout the year ericas in bloom satisfy the sunbird’s needs, and the plants benefit from the bird’s pollination services. What a delight it is to walk along a hillside and watch this amazing interaction!

Many other living creatures are vital to the Fynbos. For example, a butterfly called the Table Mountain beauty is the exclusive pollinator of 15 species of red flowers. One of these flowers is the famous disa, which graces Table Mountain.

Then there are certain mole rats that feed on bulbous roots of plants belonging to the orchid, lily, and iris families. Cape mole rats carry root segments to their burrows and store them. Portions are dropped along the way or are left uneaten in the burrow, and these often take root and grow.

Hundreds of Fynbos plants produce fleshy, oily attachments to their seeds that spread a smell that ants cannot resist. After grabbing hold of these “handles,” ants drag the seeds underground. After that, the ants eat the soft attachments but not the hard seeds. In that way, the buried seeds, protected from birds and mice, can later germinate.

Then there are flies equipped with a long tube, or proboscis, extending from their mouth. These flies are perfect pollinators of Fynbos plants that have long tubular flowers. One fly has a proboscis measuring almost three inches. Indeed, partnerships are crucial to the survival of the Fynbos!

A Precarious Partnership

“It is a pity,” states environmentalist T.F.J. van Rensburg in the book An Introduction to Fynbos, “that Man, having been placed in charge of Creation, is in many cases responsible for the destruction of certain natural areas.” Indeed, tremendous devastation has occurred in a relatively short time, as Dr. Piet van Wyk explains: “In the 300 or so years since colonisation, the low-lying fynbos veld has been fragmented and transformed to such an extent by man that only 31 percent of the original . . . fynbos growth still remains. Thirty-nine fynbos species are already extinct, while the status of a further 1 033 has changed from threatened to critically rare.”

Man’s actions also threaten the crucial partnership existing between the Fynbos animals and plants. “Ecologists,” notes the book Table Mountain—A Natural Wonder, “are only beginning to understand the intricate animal/plant relationships that exist in the fynbos. If a plant dies out, will its pollinator (rodent, butterfly or beetle) become extinct too?” And what about the Fynbos birds? According to South African biologist C. J. Skead, the survival of sugarbirds is in danger because of their “close association with Protea species.”

Such disturbing reports about the Fynbos region are a reason for concern. Even so, for those who, like Linnaeus, believe in “the Beneficent Creator,” there is also reason for hope. For one can rest assured that the earth will flourish and flower as never before when Jehovah God fulfills his promise to ‘make all things new.’—Revelation 21:5.

[Footnotes]

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(For fully formatted text, see publication)

Fynbos Region (shown in green)

Table Mountain

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Mountain High Maps® Copyright © 1997 Digital Wisdom, Inc.

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The painted lady, one of 72 gladioli found no place else on earth

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Una Coetzee (www.agulhasfynbos.co.za)

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Some proteas are larger than a human face

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Nigel Dennis

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On Table Mountain alone, 1,470 different plant species have been recorded

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Strawberry everlasting flower

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Nigel Dennis

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One of many daisy species found in the Fynbos

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Kirstenbosch, Cape Town

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The Table Mountain beauty is the exclusive pollinator of 15 species of red flowers

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Colin Paterson-Jones

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Pincushion protea

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National Parks Board of South Africa

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A unique partnership exists between erica flowers and the sunbird

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Colin Paterson-Jones

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Proteas and the Cape sugarbird are special friends

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Kirstenbosch, Cape Town

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A Watsonia

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Kirstenbosch, Cape Town

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National Parks Board of South Africa

Abandoned by Parents—Loved by God

AS TOLD BY BERNADETTE FINN

I was left in a convent, along with three older sisters, when I was not quite four years old. Bridie 12, Phyllis 8, and Annamay 7 recall the weeks of my continual screaming for my parents. Why were we left there?

I WAS born into a large Catholic family on May 28, 1936. We young ones lived with our parents in a small house in Duncormick, County Wexford, Ireland. I was the eighth child, and I shared a large bed with seven older brothers and sisters. A brother and sister born shortly afterward slept in the drawers of a dressing table.

Our father was a hardworking farm laborer. He earned very little money; hence food for our family was limited. On rare occasions Mother was able to provide a little lunch for my older brothers and sisters to take to school. Our situation was directly affected by the general poverty throughout Ireland and by the merciless rule of the Catholic Church at that time.

Our family attended church regularly, yet Mother was not deeply interested in spiritual things. My sisters, however, recall seeing her reading some religious literature while seated in front of the fireplace. She would try to explain to us some of what she had read.

“Where Is My Mother?”

I shall never forget the day I was taken to the convent. My parents were standing in the hallway talking seriously to a nun, and I started to play with some other little girls there, blissfully unaware of the conversation. Suddenly I looked around, and to my dismay Mother and Father were nowhere to be seen. “Where is my mother?” I cried at the top of my voice. As mentioned at the outset, I kept this up for weeks.

My three older sisters were at least some comfort. But as they were in a different area of the convent, I did not have much contact with them. Since they stayed up at night for two hours longer than we younger ones did, I stayed awake until I heard them heading for bed. Then, sneaking out of my bed, I went to the top of the stairs so that my sisters could wave to me. I lived for that precious moment each day.

The convent did not seem to encourage contact with parents, so we rarely saw ours. I felt that estrangement severely. In fact, on the only visit that I remember my parents making, I did not go near them, and they did not come near me. My older sisters, however, remember a few other visits.

In time, I came to regard the convent as my family, my home, my world. During the 12 years that I was there, I only ventured out twice. These excursions to the nearby countryside were very exciting, as we saw trees and animals. Otherwise, we girls never saw cars, buses, or shops, and for that matter we rarely saw men, with the exception of the priest.

Convent Life

Life in the convent had many faces—some positive, many negative. A very nice young nun taught us about God as best she knew how. She told us that God was a loving father. That pleased me, and I decided from that day on that I would think of God as my father because he was more loving and kind than my real father was. From then on I talked to God a lot in simple, childlike prayers. I missed that nun when she left the convent.

I received a good basic education, for which I am thankful. Yet, I remember what were referred to as “day girls,” who received preferential treatment when they came to the convent for schooling. They were from wealthy families, and when they came, we had to leave the classrooms. The nuns frequently reminded us that we were just orphans and should mind our place.

There were many rules in the convent. Some of them made sense, so most of us could understand why they were needed. There were beneficial lessons regarding behavior, manners, and so forth. I have never forgotten these, and they have benefited me all my life. But some rules were trivial and seemed unfair, while others were confusing and devastating. One such rule called for punishment for wetting the bed at night; and another, for needing to go to the toilet at night.

One day as I was walking up the stairs, I began talking to the girl next to me. A nun called me back, and I was punished for talking. The penalty? I had to stay in my summer dress throughout the bitter Irish winter! I was a sickly girl, frequently suffering with asthma and tonsillitis. I became very ill and contracted tuberculosis (TB), as did many girls in the convent. Although placed in a separate dormitory, we received no medical attention, and some died, including my closest friend.

Some of us were severely beaten for minor infringements of the rules. During a public assembly, we watched one girl being beaten for more than two hours by a nun. We were all crying. Of course, in fairness, not all nuns were so mean. Yet, what still puzzles me to this day is how anyone can be so utterly cruel to defenseless children. I shall never understand that.

In time, Bridie and Phyllis left the convent, leaving Annamay and me behind. We were the most important people in the world to each other. Annamay comforted me with stories about how one day our parents would come and take us away from the convent to a place where the nuns would never find us. When Annamay left the convent, my heart nearly broke. I remained there for three more years.

Learning to Live Outside

Leaving the convent at the age of 16 was a frightening experience. I knew nothing about the world beyond the convent walls, and it was truly bewildering. When boarding a bus, I was asked for a fare, but I had no idea what a fare was. Since I had no money anyway, I was promptly put off the bus and had to walk to my destination. On another occasion I wanted to ride the bus, but no bus came. I did not know that you had to go to a bus stop.

However, with a little bravado and bluffing, I gradually came to understand what was expected of me. I managed to obtain some simple employment, but after working for several months, I decided to go back home to see my mother. There I met some of my younger siblings for the first time—altogether by that time I had 14 brothers and sisters. Since there was no room for me to stay with them, my parents arranged for me to move to Wales to stay with my sister Annamay. My father accompanied me there but then left immediately.

I was practically destitute but managed to survive somehow. Later, in 1953, I moved to London, England, where I joined the Legion of Mary, a lay Roman Catholic welfare organization. However, I found working with them very disappointing, as I had expected some spiritual aspect to working with such people. I loved talking about spiritual things, but my work with the Legion of Mary was mundane, and it seemed that there was never any time for spiritual discussions.

While living in London, I met Patrick, who was a friend of my brothers’. We fell in love and married in 1961. Our first two children, Angela and Stephen, were born there. Later, in 1967, we migrated to Australia, where our third child, Andrew, was born. We settled in the rural town of Bombala in New South Wales.

Spiritual Food at Last

Soon after our arrival in Australia, a young man named Bill Lloyd called on us in Bombala to talk about the Bible. I was thrilled to have my questions answered straight from the Bible. But although I recognized the ring of truth in what Bill was saying, I argued with him a lot, to keep him there and to hear more explanations from the Bible. Later, Bill brought me a Bible and some magazines to read.

I enjoyed the magazines very much, but to my shock I realized that the people who published them did not believe in the Trinity. So I hid the magazines, in case reading them might corrupt Patrick’s faith. I determined to return them the next time Bill came, but on his next visit, he showed me that the doctrine of three persons making up one Godhead is in direct conflict with Bible teachings. It soon became clear to me that Jesus is God’s Son, that he was created by his Father, Jehovah God—thus, he had a beginning—and that the Father is greater than Jesus.—Matthew 16:16; John 14:28; Colossians 1:15; Revelation 3:14.

Soon I learned that other things that I had been taught as a Catholic were wrong. For example, the Bible does not teach that humans have an immortal soul or that there is a fiery hell of torment. (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10; Ezekiel 18:4) Learning that was a most wonderful relief! One day I danced around the kitchen out of sheer joy that, at last, I had found the Father whom I always loved but never knew. My spiritual hunger began to be satisfied. To my further joy, Patrick felt the same enthusiasm for these newfound beliefs.

Bill invited us to a convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Temora, another country town. Although this was many miles away, we gladly accepted the invitation and arrived in Temora early Friday evening. On Saturday morning, groups gathered at the convention hall to engage in house-to-house preaching. Patrick and I were excited at the prospect, as this was what we had wanted to do for some time. However, Bill said that we would not be able to share in the preaching work because we both still smoked cigarettes. Yet, when Bill left, Patrick and I joined another group. They assumed that we were Witnesses and so took us along.

We soon learned the Scriptural requirements to qualify to engage in preaching the good news. (Matthew 24:14) We finally gave up smoking, and Patrick and I symbolized our dedication to Jehovah God by water baptism in October 1968.

Trials of Our Faith

As we grew in knowledge of the Bible and in our relationship with Jehovah, our faith in God’s promises became firmly anchored. After some time Patrick was appointed an elder in a congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Canberra, Australia’s capital city. We did our best to raise our children in the mental-regulating of Jehovah, coping with all the normal challenges of bringing up teenagers.—Ephesians 6:4.

Sadly, at 18 years of age, our son Stephen was killed in a car accident. Despite our grief, the fact that Stephen had become a worshiper of Jehovah was a real comfort to us. We long to see him again when Jehovah resurrects those in the memorial tombs. (John 5:28, 29) The following year, 1983, I joined our daughter, Angela, in the full-time ministry, and I have remained in that ministry ever since. Sharing our Bible-based hope with others has helped me keep a positive outlook on life, and it has contributed toward easing the pain in my heart. To my utter joy, I learned recently that my sister Annamay began studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses in Wales.

In 1984, Patrick developed what at that time seemed to be a mysterious illness. Later it was diagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome. Eventually he had to give up regular secular work, and he stepped down from serving as a Christian elder. Happily, he has made a partial recovery, and he now serves again as an appointed servant in the congregation.

My early childhood taught me discipline and self-sacrifice, and it taught me how to live a simple life and be satisfied with few things. But it has always puzzled me why the 4 of us girls were placed in the convent but the other 11 children stayed at home. I console myself with the thought that my parents, who died years ago, did their best under circumstances that I will probably never be able to comprehend fully. Those were hard times, calling for difficult decisions. Despite this, I am thankful to my parents for the gift of life that they passed on to me and for caring for me in the best way they knew how. Above all, I thank Jehovah for his fatherly care.

[Picture on page 22]

When we were newlyweds

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When our children were young

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With Patrick today

The Love Song of the Cricket

AT TWO inches [50 mm] or less in length, a cricket might not seem to be a likely showstopper. Yet, the song of this cricket captures the attention of millions of people worldwide. How does this small creature sing, and for what purpose?

Interestingly, among the approximately 2,400 species of crickets, only the males sing, or chirp. Rather than doing so from their throats, male crickets make music with their wings. One encyclopedia explains that male crickets chirp by rubbing part of one forewing along a row of about 50 to 250 teeth on the opposite forewing. The frequency of the chirps depends on the number of teeth struck per second. The vibrations fill the air with the distinctive song of the cricket.

But surely the male cricket does not sing simply to entertain his human listeners! No, indeed! The intended audience of this musician is a potential mate. The book Exploring the Secrets of Nature explains: “In his quest for a mate, the male cricket, a skilled communicator, sings three different songs: one to advertise his presence, one to court and one to ward off unwanted competitors.” Some crickets continue to sing to advertise their presence until a female cricket shows interest. Hearing the song through the “ears” on her forelegs, the female is not content to carry on a long-distance courtship. As she approaches the source of the chirping, the male cricket will begin to sing a continuous trill, the courtship song. This serenade entices the female to her suitor, and the two crickets mate.

In East Asia some people keep male crickets as pets because they are amused by their song. Others prefer to enjoy such music in a cricket’s natural habitat. In whatever setting, the song of the tiny cricket enchants human listeners around the globe and brings praise to its Designer.

Young People Ask . . .

Will God Hear My Prayers?

“I pray about everything because Jehovah is my friend, and I know he will help me if I have a problem.”—Andrea.

YOUNG Andrea is sure that God hears her prayers. But not all youths share that confidence. Some feel too distant from God to approach him. They may even wonder if God cares enough about them to make prayer worthwhile.

What is the secret of prayer? Simply put, it is having a real friendship with God. The psalmist prayed: “Those knowing your name will trust in you.” (Psalm 9:10) What about you? Do you know God well enough to trust him with your prayers? Before you read any further, please try to answer the questions in the box entitled “How Well Do You Know God?” How many can you answer?

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW GOD? Answers on page 27

1. What is God’s name, and what does it mean?

2. What does the Bible reveal to be four main attributes of God?

3. What was God’s greatest expression of love for mankind?

4. How can we enjoy friendship with God?

5. What should properly be our attitude when we pray?

Are you able to answer at least some of the questions now, even before reading the rest of the article? Then you already know more about God than most people do. It may be, though, that your answers reveal a need to take in more knowledge about him, to get to know him more intimately. (John 17:3) To that end, consider just a few of the things that the Bible teaches us about the “Hearer of prayer.”—Psalm 65:2.

God Is a Real Person

First, the Bible helps us to appreciate that God is not some impersonal force. He is a person with a name, Jehovah. (Psalm 83:18) In Hebrew that name means “He Causes to Become.” He can become whatever he needs to be in order to accomplish his purpose. An impersonal bundle of energy could not do that! So when you pray, you can be sure that you are not talking to some abstract force or talking into the air. You are talking to a person, one who can both listen to and respond to your prayers.—Ephesians 3:20.

Young Diana thus says: “I know that wherever I am, Jehovah will listen to me.” To have that confidence, God must be real to you! “He that approaches God must believe that he is,” says the Bible.—Hebrews 11:6.

A Source of Wisdom and Power

God can really help us because he is awesome in power. That power is unlimited, as evidenced by the magnitude and complexity of the material universe. The Bible says that Jehovah knows the name of every star—even though there are countless billions of them! More than that, he is the source of all the energy tied up in those stars. (Isaiah 40:25, 26) Is that not amazing? And yet as astounding as these facts may be, the Bible says that “these are only hints of his power”!—Job 26:14, Today’s English Version.

Consider, too, Jehovah’s unlimited wisdom. The Bible says that his thoughts are “very deep.” (Psalm 92:5) He made mankind, and therefore he understands us better than we understand ourselves. (Psalm 100:3) Because he exists “from time indefinite to time indefinite,” he has unlimited experience. (Psalm 90:1, 2) There is nothing beyond his understanding.—Isaiah 40:13, 14.

How does Jehovah use all that power and wisdom? Says 2 Chronicles 16:9: “As regards Jehovah, his eyes are roving about through all the earth to show his strength in behalf of those whose heart is complete toward him.” There is simply no problem you could have that God cannot solve or help you to cope with. Young Kayla remembers: “Recently, when my family and I were going through a difficult time, I prayed to Jehovah, and I feel that he helped us to get through circumstances, problems, and feelings that would otherwise have been unbearable.” When you talk to God, you go to the source of wisdom. You cannot do better than that!

A God of Justice and Love

But how do you know that God wants to help you? Because Jehovah has chosen to identify himself, not by his immense power or by his deep wisdom or even by his unshakeable justice. Rather, Jehovah is known primarily for his attribute of love. “God is love,” says 1 John 4:8. And that great love gives prayer its power. The greatest expression of his love was the giving of his Son as a ransom sacrifice in order that we might enjoy everlasting life.—John 3:16; 1 John 4:9, 10.

Because God is love, you don’t ever have to fear that he will ignore you or treat you unjustly. “All his ways are justice,” says Deuteronomy 32:4. God’s love for you assures you of a hearing ear. This makes it feel safe for us to share our most private thoughts and feelings with him.—Philippians 4:6, 7.

Friendship With God

Actually, Jehovah invites us to talk to him. He does not want to be a stranger to us. On the contrary, throughout human history Jehovah has invited people to be his friends. Among those who enjoyed friendship with God, who were agreeable to his heart, were men and women, young and old. They included people such as Abraham, King David, and Mary, the mother of Jesus.—Isaiah 41:8; Luke 1:26-38; Acts 13:22.

You too can be one of Jehovah’s friends. Of course, such friendship does not mean that you should view God as some sort of genie that you call on only when you have a wish or a problem. Our prayers cannot be centered on just our own needs. If we want God’s friendship, we have to take an interest in his will—not just our own—and we must actually do the will of God. (Matthew 7:21) Jesus, therefore, taught his disciples to focus their prayers on the things important to God. He said: “You must pray, then, this way: ‘Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.’” (Matthew 6:9, 10) Our prayers should also be full of praise and thanksgiving to God!—Psalm 56:12; 150:6.

Nevertheless, we should never think that our needs or cares are too small or trivial to pray about. “Even though I try to be open with him,” Steve says, “sometimes I feel that I should not bother God with some of the mundane things.” Whenever you start feeling that way, try to remember what Jesus taught his disciples: “Five sparrows sell for two coins of small value, do they not? Yet not one of them goes forgotten before God. . . . Have no fear; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6, 7) Is that not reassuring?

It’s easy to see, then, that the more you know about Jehovah, the more you will be moved to approach him in prayer and the more you will have the confidence that Jehovah can and will help you. Therefore, what should be your mental attitude when you approach God in prayer? You need to be respectful, humble, and unselfish. Do you think any high official on earth would listen to you if you made a request in a proud or disrespectful manner? Then you should not be surprised that Jehovah also expects you to respect him and his standards before he will answer your prayers.—Proverbs 15:29.

Thousands of God-fearing youths have learned to pour out their hearts to God. (Psalm 62:8) “When Jehovah answers my prayers,” says Brett, “it encourages me that he is still there as my friend.” What about you? How can you get to enjoy the same kind of friendship with God? Two Christian youths offered the following comments:

Rachel: “To be closer to Jehovah, I feel the need for deeper study of his Word, and I am trying to develop a longing for such study.”—1 Peter 2:2.

Jenny: “I feel that the more involved you are in his service, the closer you feel to Jehovah.”—James 4:8.

Have you ever wondered just how much good saying a prayer really does? One Christian youth says: “I would feel closer to God if he would speak to me or send me a message.” Since Jehovah does not answer us audibly when we pray, how does prayer really help us? This will be discussed in a future issue.

[Box on page 27]

Answers to questions on page 25

1. Jehovah. It means “He Causes to Become.”

2. Love, power, justice, and wisdom.

3. He sent his only-begotten Son, Jesus, to die in our behalf.

4. By not simply being concerned with our own needs but taking an interest in God’s will and doing it.

5. We should be humble, respectful, and unselfish.

[Pictures on page 26]

Studying the Bible and learning from creation will help you to know God better

Watching the World

Land Mines Redefined

Over 135 countries have already signed the Ottawa Convention banning antipersonnel mines, and the United States is scheduled to add its signature in 2006. “But there’s a disturbing trend towards technologies designed to change the definition of what constitutes a banned mine,” says New Scientist. “Japan . . . believes that explosive devices strewn on beaches are not antipersonnel mines just so long as they are remote controlled. . . . Instead of calling it a landmine, it’s dubbed a ‘projectile scattering device.’” The United States currently uses antipersonnel mines to protect antitank mines, so they are working on antitank mines that can hop around to foil attempts to clear a minefield. If some mines are cleared or destroyed to make a path through the field, the remaining robotic mines “will sense that they are missing and hop around until they form a regular pattern again,” the magazine reports. The self-righting mines “will have a powerful piston-driven foot attached to their base that should propel them more than 10 metres [30 feet] into the air.”

Greater Life Expectancy

Life expectancy increased by 12.8 years in Peru during the last 25 years, according to a recent United Nations report on human development. While life expectancy between 1970 and 1975 was 55.5 years, it went up to 68.3 years between 1995 and 2000. The increased life expectancy, says the newspaper El Peruano, is the result of improved health care, which has reduced the mortality rate of newborn babies from 115 per 1,000 to 43 per 1,000, and of children under five years of age from 178 per 1,000 to 54 per 1,000 during the same period. It is calculated that during the following five-year period, “23 percent of the population will live to 60 years of age,” states El Peruano.

Beneficial Vitamin

When we are working at a computer terminal, our eyes constantly react to the bright and dark points of light appearing on the screen, notes Zdrowie, a Polish health magazine. The stronger these visual signals are, the more our eyes consume rhodopsin, a photosensitive pigment that enables us to see. Vitamin A is essential in the production of rhodopsin. According to Zdrowie, rich sources of vitamin A include liver and cod-liver oil. People who have to limit their fat and cholesterol intake can eat foods containing beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A with the help of sunlight. Beta-carotene is present in yellow, orange, red, and green vegetables and such fruits as apricots, peaches, dried plums, melons, and mangoes.

Cell Phone Accidents

Roads are not the only places where cellular telephone usage may contribute to accidents. Railway officials in Japan say that passengers waiting on platforms get engrossed in cell-phone conversations and forget where they are. Among the recent accidents reported by Asahi Evening News is that of a young man who was leaning over the edge of a platform while talking on his telephone. When he unconsciously bowed to the person he was talking to, his head was grazed by an incoming train. Happily, he escaped with just “a cut above his right eye.” In another case, however, “a high school student talking on a cellphone leaned over the platform edge and was struck and killed by a freight train.” Station personnel report that people sometimes drop their telephones on the tracks. A 26-year-old man who jumped down to pick up his telephone was “crushed to death” by a train. Railway officials ask people “to keep in mind that railway platforms are very dangerous areas.”

Attitudes and Aircraft Accidents

An article in the Singapore newspaper The Straits Times points to social processes or interactions in the cockpit of airliners as being one of a number of potential causes of air accidents. The report says that “cockpit interaction between the captain and his co-pilot is very hierarchical in Asia. The captain is the unchallenged boss, so that a co-pilot who spots an abnormality may hesitate to point it out for fear of challenging the captain’s authority.” According to the newspaper, people may detect a potential problem but hold back from pointing it out “because they may have to place themselves in an unfavorable light.” Or they may feel that their credibility will be doubted because of “their place in the hierarchy.” In the cockpit of an aircraft, an unwillingness to speak up on the part of the copilot could increase the risk of an accident.

Coral in Deep Trouble

From South Africa to India, coral reefs in the Indian Ocean are in big trouble, says The Economist. Marine biologists recently made the alarming discovery that “50-95% of the ocean’s coral reefs have died in the past two years.” The reason is coral’s inability to tolerate a sea temperature rise of over 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit [1 to 2 degrees Centigrade] for more than a few weeks. “In 1998, the temperature around the Seychelles was 3°C [5°F] above seasonal norms for several weeks,” says the report. The researchers believe that this provides “dramatic evidence of global warming.” Coral death cost the Maldive Islands $63 million in 1998/99. Tourists expecting to see beautiful reefs, says The Economist, “turn away in dismay from piles of unsightly grey rubble.” Olof Linden, the coeditor of the report, stated that “a large part of the most diverse ecosystem on the planet has simply tipped over.” Because coral reefs are important marine nurseries, this disaster also bodes ill for coastal populations that depend on fishing.

Retiree Divorce

In France “the number of couples over 55 years of age who split up has increased by 52 percent in four years,” reports the newspaper Le Figaro. During the same period, the divorce rate of couples over 70 has more than doubled, with an increasing number of women initiating the divorce. Difficulties in adapting to retired life is one factor. Problems that were manageable while a spouse was at work often become unbearable with both mates at home. Additionally, there is an increase in the number of financially independent women over 50. These women are more likely to divorce unfaithful husbands than women were in previous generations. While retired men often find a younger companion, a growing number of women in their 60’s and 70’s who are not widows end up on their own.

French Generosity

Women are more generous than men, and the elderly, more than the young. These are two of the conclusions of a year-long opinion poll commissioned by the Fondation de France, a philanthropic institution. The results reveal that half the French population perform acts of generosity, 28 percent of them giving several times a year, either in cash, time, or some other way. The report found that “religious practice and involvement in an association” promote generosity. Based on the study, the Paris newspaper Le Monde draws the profile of the typical French miser as being a single, nonchurchgoing young male, likely living on the Mediterranean Coast or in the countryside.

AIDS Explosion

Over five million people became infected with the AIDS virus in the year 2000, says a report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization. This brings the worldwide number of people with HIV to over 36 million, more than 50 percent higher than projections made in 1991. The epidemic has exploded in Eastern Europe, where the number of infected individuals—mainly intravenous drug users—has nearly doubled in a year. The report also notes that prevention efforts in the world’s wealthier nations have stalled, with AIDS spreading primarily among intravenous drug users and homosexual men. On the other hand, the number of new infections in sub-Saharan Africa, where 25.3 million people are infected, appears to have stabilized for the first time. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, over 21 million people have died from the disease.

From Our Readers

Better Health As a doctor of chiropractic and a registered physical therapist, I have been in the health field for 21 years, providing assistance to thousands of patients. I am extremely concerned that many reading the cover series “Better Health—What Choices Are There?” (October 22, 2000) may hesitate to seek chiropractic care for fear of the potential dangers implied.

A. K., United States

You mention that a chiropractic adjustment to the neck might cause a patient to suffer a stroke. I have been a chiropractor for over 50 years, and I have never seen or heard of this reaction.

B.D.B., United States

It was not our intention to discourage readers from seeking chiropractic treatment if this is what they desire. “Awake!” reported: “Significantly, there is a low incidence of side effects with chiropractic manipulation by a skilled practitioner.” At the same time, the “Archives of Internal Medicine,” Volume 158, November 9, 1998, noted regarding such manipulation that “the rate of serious complications is still debatable” and that “estimates vary from 1 in 400,000 to between 3 and 6 per 10 million.” We should have clarified that complications from chiropractic adjustments, which were said to include stroke, evidently are extremely rare.—ED.

Many thanks for this series. I am not against conventional medicine, but I have life-threatening reactions to antibiotics. At times, the conventional doctors cannot diagnose my ailments, so I have to choose alternative medicine. The articles have really encouraged me because some people have even made fun of me because of my choices.

S. H., Antigua

The box on page 8 quoted a doctor who stated that the herbs ginkgo biloba and feverfew can interfere with blood clotting when they are combined with prescription medication. I take both of these herbs, along with medications. I had thought all herbs were perfectly safe! This may help me to avoid future problems.

G. G., United States

Calendar Controversy Your articles are well researched and authoritative; mistakes are rare. However, on reading the article “The Vikings—Conquerors and Colonizers” (December 8, 2000), I did notice a technical error. You stated that the English names of certain days were based on Norse mythology. Although the Vikings did worship Tyr, Odin, Thor, and Frigga, the German people also did so under slightly different names. They brought the worship of these gods to Britain when they invaded in the fifth and sixth centuries. The days of the week are thus Anglo-Saxon in origin.

A. C., Britain

“The World Book Encyclopedia” and other sources indicate that the names for these days are “derived from the names of Norse gods.” However, “The Encyclopædia Britannica” says that these names came “from Anglo-Saxon words for the gods of Teutonic mythology.” Some scholars believe that these Anglo-Saxon words are linguistically linked to Old Norse. Whatever the case, this is a matter that will continue to be debated among scholars.—ED.

Depression Many thanks for the article “Young People Ask . . . Should I Tell Someone That I’m Depressed?” (October 22, 2000) The article appeared at a time when I was very depressed and did not know what to do. Reading the article made me feel that someone understands me. I spoke to my parents, to my best friend, and particularly to Jehovah. He helped a lot. I never want to do without my close personal relationship with Jehovah.

A. P., Germany

Passwords—A Key to Security

“PLEASE enter your password.” For many people worldwide, these words flashing across a computer screen are part and parcel of everyday life. Whether you are logging on to your personal computer, switching on your mobile telephone, using a credit card, or disarming a door-security system, passwords, or PINs (personal identification numbers), jealously guard access to numerous regular operations.

Many office workers have between 3 and 5 passwords just for work, and it is estimated that within ten years, consumers could be faced with handling more than 100 passwords! Given the prevalence of passwords, how can you choose ones that are sufficiently complicated to be secure yet are simple enough to remember?

There are basic guidelines to bear in mind. First, the don’ts. Don’t use as a password your name or that of a member of your family, even in modified form. Also avoid use of the number on your license plate, your telephone number, your Social Security number, or your address. Such information can easily be obtained by a determined hacker.

In addition, if possible, don’t use passwords made up entirely of letters or digits. A relatively simple computer program can crack such a code quickly. Finally, do not use a word that can be found in any dictionary, even a foreign-language one. Huge lists are available that contain words, place names, and proper names from all languages. Programs can test for variations of these words, such as if they are spelled backward, capitalized, or combined.

So, what kinds of passwords should be used? Usually ones that have a minimum of six to eight characters and that have a mixture of upper- and lower-case letters, digits, and punctuation symbols. How difficult is it to crack such a combination of characters? One source says that “a machine that could try one million passwords per second . . . would require, on the average, over one hundred years.”

How can you choose a combination that is easy to remember? Some suggest that you take the title of a favorite book or film or a line from a song or poem and use the first letter from each word as your password, adding capital letters, punctuation, or other characters. For example, “to be or not to be” could become “2B/not2B.” You could even take a Bible reference and use this as your password. Thus 1 Chronicles 9:27 might become “1Chr9:27.”

Other suggestions include alternating consonants with one or two vowels to form a nonsensical word that is pronounceable. For example, “QuiMSoPy,” or “WotyRuba.” Or one could take two short words and link them with a punctuation character, such as “High?Bug” or “Song;Tree.”

Although not all passwords require the same degree of security and some programs may not accept certain characters or recognize capital letters, taking into account the suggestions outlined above can help you to protect important information from unwanted intruders. Remember, too, the importance of changing your passwords regularly. Just a final comment: Whatever passwords you decide to use, don’t pick any of the examples given above.

It Strengthened Her Faith

A woman in New York State, wrote regarding the 32-page brochure entitled Will There Ever Be a World Without War?: “I felt compelled to write to let you know how much I appreciated and enjoyed it. Although I am not Jewish and was raised by a mother who was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, I was never more moved by a piece of literature in my life!

“I hesitated to read it at first because I felt that since it considered subjects of special interest to the Jews, I would have a hard time getting through it. I was wrong. Everything was presented in such a clear and logical way.”

Certain peoples in history have certainly experienced intense suffering. That has been true of the Jews, especially during the Holocaust of the last century. We invite you to read Will There Ever Be a World Without War? It considers such topics as “Why Does God Permit Wickedness?” “Knowing the True God—What Does It Mean?” and “Who Will Lead the Nations to Peace?”

You may request a copy by filling in the accompanying coupon and mailing it to the address shown on the coupon or to an appropriate address listed on page 5 of this magazine.

□ Send me a copy of the brochure Will There Ever Be a World Without War?

□ Please contact me concerning a free home Bible study.