Jehovah’s Witnesses participated in the 19th International Book Biennial of Rio de Janeiro, held at the Riocentro Convention and Event Center from August 30 to September 8, 2019. The event, Brazil’s largest cultural festival, featured 520 exhibits and attracted approximately 600,000 visitors. Our brothers set up a booth highlighting our website and the efforts to make Bible-based material accessible. During the ten days of the Book Biennial, the 258 brothers and sisters who volunteered at the booth distributed 3,737 publications.

The booth featured dedicated exhibits for visitors who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, or blind. The brothers showed videos in Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS), and publishers fluent in LIBRAS were present to assist visitors. One of the volunteers explained: “When someone arrived at the booth, they felt comfortable talking to us and did not feel embarrassed. There was always someone available to explain how jw.org works and what happens on a Bible study.”

One teacher visited the display with seven deaf students. She was impressed by the sign-language material for teenagers on jw.org. She explained that parents often ask her to help them communicate with their deaf children on sensitive issues. The teacher stated that she will direct parents to our website in the future.

The booth also featured interactive displays translated into indigenous languages that are currently available on jw.org, such as Guarani, Ticuna, and Xavante. Ricardo Carneiro, a local spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, said: “Our interest is to help indigenous people better understand the Bible in their own language.”

The Rio International Book Biennial encourages reading with the goal of increasing the quality of life in Brazil. Thousands of visitors to the jw.org booth were given the opportunity to read the Bible and other materials in their own language, which has improved people’s lives for centuries.—2 Timothy 3:16, 17.