Bokoruge

The Bokoruge descend from the Daju peoples, one of the oldest groups in East Africa, whose presence in the region now spanning Chad and Sudan predates the arrival of Islam. Over the centuries, the Daju split into several related communities, among them the Bokoruge, who put down roots in the area known as Dar Sila, around the city of Goz Beïda.

Starting in the 15th century, contact with Muslim traders and preachers led much of the population to adopt Islam, a process that took hold over time without fully erasing older practices and beliefs. Conflicts and instability along the border with Sudan, especially linked to the crisis in Darfur, have pushed many Bokoruge families into displaced persons camps within Chad itself, disrupting part of traditional village life.

The Bokoruge economy is agricultural, based on growing grains such as millet, sorghum, and corn, cultivated on land around the villages during the rainy season. Village houses are usually round, with mud walls and conical thatched roofs, while in towns and larger settlements rectangular mud brick buildings with flat roofs predominate.

Life revolves around collective work and hospitality. Wives are expected to raise the children and run the household on their own, pleasing their husbands without relying on their direct help with domestic tasks. Among close relatives, it is common for women to go about with their breasts uncovered, a traditional custom that carries no immodest connotation within Bokoruge culture.

Since the 15th century the Bokoruge have identified as Muslims, following the Maliki school of Sunni Islam. The Quran is treated as the foundation of every serious promise and commitment: oaths, business agreements, and important community decisions are usually sealed under its authority.

At the same time, practices and beliefs that predate conversion remain present in daily life, blended with Islamic observance without this being seen as a contradiction. The Islamic faith is so intertwined with Bokoruge identity that abandoning it would, in practice, mean ceasing to belong to the people itself.

The Bible has not yet been fully translated into Dar Sila Daju, the mother tongue of the Bokoruge, though translation work has already begun. Recorded audio Bible teaching is also available in this language, but there is not yet a version of the Jesus film. For most Bokoruge, access to the story of Jesus in their own language remains limited.

Being Bokoruge is, in practice, being Muslim: the Islamic faith is so bound up with ethnic identity that considering another religion sounds like abandoning one’s own people. The still incomplete translation of the Bible into the mother tongue makes the path even harder, since the people lack the full texts and resources to hear the Christian message in terms and sounds they recognize as their own. Added to this are the displacement of families to refugee camps because of conflicts on the border with Sudan and the distance from any established Christian community in the region.

Instability on the border between Chad and Sudan has been pushing Bokoruge families into camps for internally displaced people, where basic resources are lacking and traditional farming life is interrupted. Under these conditions, the need grows for security, for land to plant again, and for the stability to rebuild community life.

In the spiritual realm, the Bokoruge people still lack a complete Bible and broader materials in their own language and culture, as well as nearby Christian communities of faith able to proclaim the gospel in a way that respects the customs and identity of this people.