Matthew and Acts in Kwamba — Amba Scripture Portions (Uganda)
Overview
Matayo, Bikoluwa ndia Bhakwenda ("Matthew, the Acts of the Apostles") is Matthew and Acts in the Kwamba (Amba) language of Bundibugyo District, Uganda, published by Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. (copyright ©2025) and available via YouVersion/Bible.com (ID 4356; abbreviation: KWAMBA). These portions follow earlier scripture work: a team of three Amba translators produced Jonah and Luke in 2014 (with technical assistance from SIL Uganda), distributed with a Kwamba Spelling Guide. The Matthew and Acts volumes represent the continuation of this translation program. The community's own name for their language is Kwamba; in DRC the same language is called Kihumu.
Language and People
Amba/Kwamba (ISO 639-3: rwm; autonym: Kwamba) is a Bantu language: Niger-Congo → Atlantic-Congo → Benue-Congo → Bantoid → Narrow Bantu → Zone D, code D.22 (Lega-Holoholo group). Its closest relatives are Bera (70% lexical similarity), Bila, Kaiku, Komo, and Bhele (57–59% similarity). Two dialects are documented: Kyanzi (Kihyanzi) and Suwa (Kusuwa).
Kwamba is spoken in two countries:
- Primary: Bundibugyo District, southwestern Uganda, at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains south of Lake Albert
- Secondary: Ituri Province, DR Congo (Watalinga and Bawisa subcounties, Beni Territory), where speakers are called Bhahumi/Kihumu
Estimated speakers: approximately 40,000–62,000 (2014 Uganda census: 42,559; Ethnologue 2002: ~40,000; Joshua Project: ~70,000 total including DRC).
The Baamba are primarily agriculturalists — plantains, millet, maize, sweet potatoes, peanuts, rice, coffee, cotton, cassava — and raise goats and sheep. Christianity is the predominant religion.
Historical Context
The Baamba were historically engaged in the Rwenzururu movement — an armed movement seeking autonomy from the Toro Kingdom that led to conflict in the mid-1960s and early 1980s. In 2008, the Ugandan government formally recognized the Kingdom of Rwenzururu — Uganda's first kingdom jointly shared by two ethnic groups, the Amba and the Konjo people. Linguistic research on Kwamba began in 1993–1995 under Dr. C. Kutsch Lojenga (Bantu consultant, Leiden University); a community organization, the Kwamba/Lubwisi Development Association (KLDA), initiated language documentation as early as 1964.
Publishing and Organizations
Published by Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. in partnership with a local Amba translation team, with earlier SIL Uganda technical assistance.