Bibleless Nations
Twelve people groups in India speak Kangri as their primary language. The smallest group has only eighty speakers, but the largest, the Hindu Ghirath, has 164,000. Other names for Kangri include Pahari and Dogri.
Kangri is written with Hindi script, and Hindi is spoken to outsiders. A Hindi Bible is available, but Kangri speakers are still waiting for their own scriptures. Listen to a Kangri gospel recording: globalrecordings.net/program/C03121
Most Kangri speakers practice Hinduism, the world’s third largest religion. Hinduism has evolved over the centuries from many religious traditions and has no single founder or authority. This results in widely diverse beliefs; though the main goal in life is to attain freedom from the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth (reincarnation) by reaching a state identical to Brahman, the supreme soul.
Summer 2009
The Kho, natives of northern Pakistan, live isolated among the world’s highest mountain peaks. The dry, rugged terrain barely supports herding and subsistence farming. Due to poor nutrition and water quality, health problems are many.
Generous and hospitable, quiet and peace-loving but also brave, the Kho resent their long domination by the Pushtan. Traditional poems and songs are sung to new generations to the accompaniment of the sitar, an instrument of mulberry wood with five strings.
The Kho do not marry outsiders. They have three social classes: nobility, landowners, and laborers. Urdu is the national language and Arabic is the religious (Islam) language, but Khowar is the language of heart and home. There are no Scriptures in Khowar.
Spring 2009
The Gwangxi province is home to the largest minority group in China—over seventeen million Zhuang. There are two main groups, the Northern and the Southern Zhuang. While the Northerners are being assimilated into the Han Chinese culture and becoming largely atheistic, the Southerners still maintain their traditional practices of ancestor and spirit worship and their agricultural lifestyle.
Although the Zhuang are friendly to outsiders, their diversity of language and culture, the mountainous terrain, and the remoteness of many villages pose a seemingly insurmountable obstacle in communicating the Gospel. Little has changed since a 1922 report stating that there are fifty-eight cities, seven hundred market towns, and over seventeen thousand villages in Gwangxi alone where no effort is being put forth to preach Christ. Of the fifty-plus dialects of Zhuang, none have the Scriptures.
Winter 2008-09
The hill tribe of Chaungtha, numbering 166,000, is one of one hundred forty distinct people groups of Burma. Chaungtha means people of the valley or people of the river. Their main occupation is growing rice on terraced mountainsides.
Buddhism co-exists with the Chaungtha’s traditional animistic ethnic religion in which the spirits (nats) must be appeased. Different nats preside over specific regions, villages, families, and activities.
The official government policy is one of religious tolerance, but even groups that follow the requirement to register with the authorities report restrictions and mistreatment. There is no state religion, but the repressive military regime shows a preference for Thervada Buddhism in such areas as the news media or government schools.
Shan is the trade language, but the native language, which has no Scriptures, is spoken in homes. Foreign religious workers must be careful their activities are not seen as proselytizing.
Fall 2008
Because of the Hazaras’ physical, cultural, and language features, many believe they are of Mongolian descent. They were first mentioned as a people in the late 1500’s, and their unwritten language, Hazaragi, is a dialect of Persian.
Besides the 1,770,000 Hazaras of Afghanistan, there are major populations in western Pakistan and Iran as well as groups living in North America and Europe. Because the Hazaras are of the minority Shi’ite Islam sect, they have long suffered oppression, persecution, and even ethnic cleansing. This began with the Pashtuns in the mid 1800’s and continues to the present. They were targeted by the Taliban in 1998, and today’s Christian converts may face torture or death.
Strong, brave, and determined, they are also peaceful, enjoying their own poetry, music, and storytelling. The physical drought and disease they suffer mirrors the spiritual state of the Hazaras, and there are no Scriptures to tell them of the Water of Life.
Spring 2008
Red Thai is one of fifty-four distinct ethnic groups in Vietnam. (Some also live in Laos.) Their name is taken from the Red River in Yunnan, a southern province of China where they originated. Thai Daeng is a tonal language spoken by 176,000 people who are without any Scriptures or Gospel recordings.
The men are the leaders, but both men and women share such duties as plowing, fishing, cooking, and cleaning. The Thai Daeng are known for their intricate weaving; white deer on a sixty-year-old sarong are pictured here.
Most Red Thai are animists, mixed with a little Buddhism. They believe that spirits live in objects and pray to ancestors as well as to guardian and locality spirits, hoping to appease them and receive their aid. They know nothing of the One who died to set them free.
Winter 2007-08
Champa, an ancient empire, was invaded by Vietnam in 1471. Many Cham fled to Cambodia to escape death. Then, in the late 1970’s, hundreds of thousands were massacred under the rule of the Khmer Rouge.
The Cham are a very tight-knit matrilineal community. Polygamy is practiced, but for cultural and religious reasons, there is little intermarriage. One of their customs is digging up a loved one’s grave a year after burial and transferring the bones to a permanent resting place.
As Muslim people, the most faithful dedicate several days each month to study and meditate. Very few have turned to God, and they have no Bible. Literature is highly valued, but the Cham language has no Scripture.
Summer 2007
The 1,165000 Dimili Kurds live in the Caucasus Mountains. Many are isolated in small villages, accessible only by goat trails; and there is no electricity, medical facilities, or schools. The fertile valleys sustain both farms and animal herds.
The Kurds are not recognized as a people group by the Turkish government and have been victims of forced resettlement and ethnic cleansing. In Turkey, even speaking Kurdish was illegal until 1991.
The Dimili Kurds principle religion is Alevi, a sect of Islam that allows women full participation in religious rituals and gatherings. Followers daily incant hymns while bowing to the rising sun and moon.
Some Turkish Kurds hold Christ in high regard, but deny His deity, and there is no Christian outreach in Dimili (a Kurdish dialect). Open missionary work is forbidden.
Spring 2007
The Daur (or “cultivator”) live in the river areas of northeast China. These areas are conducive to farming, hunting, and raising animals. The men enjoy wrestling, horseman-ship and archery. Women are skilled in intricate embroidery and the making of ornate home decorations. Traditional music and dance depict themes from life such as an eagle’s flight or picking potherb.
The family is important. Each clan has their own shaman, or witchdoctor. The dead are buried in the family graveyard along with body ornaments, tobacco pipes, or cooking utensils.
Ninety percent of the Daur still speak their ancient Mongolic language, but they have no Scriptures. An alphabet has never been devised; however, a native Daur scholar has experimented writing in Pinyin, a system of Romanization for standard Mandarin.
Fall 2006