Hawawir

Hawawir tradition traces their roots to Arabia, from where their ancestors came in an ancient migration toward the Nile valley and the interior of Sudan. One account about the Habassab, one of the people's branches, tells that they arrived from the north thirteen or fourteen generations ago and, finding the land uninhabited, settled around wells that gave rise to the villages kept up to this day.

Upon settling in the Bayuda Desert, the Hawawir did not adopt the customs of the neighboring African populations, preserving instead their original Arab traits. Over time, they became one of the recognized subgroups of the Dar Hamid confederation, and at least one of their members, a nineteenth century Islamic scholar, left a lasting mark by founding an important mosque in El Obeid.

Hawawir life revolves around herds. They raise camels, goats and other animals, which they trade for grain, salt, tea, sugar, fabric, dates, spices and metal utensils at nearby fairs and villages. The camel holds a central place: it provides milk, which is the basis of the daily diet, occasionally meat, material for tents and the transport that makes it possible to cross long stretches of desert.

Like other nomadic Arab peoples in the region, the Hawawir follow a calendar of movement that takes parts of the family to different places at certain times of the year, always in search of the vegetation that sprouts after the desert’s rare rains. This constant mobility shapes both family organization and the rhythm of social relationships.

The Hawawir traditionally identify as Sunni Muslims, and this religious identity is intertwined with the very notion of belonging to the people. Even so, much of the community lives out the faith in a more cultural than instructed way, with limited knowledge of the formal teachings of Islam.

The elders, the most respected figures in Hawawir social structure, are also the most faithful guardians of the Islamic religious system, and it is through them that norms of conduct and loyalty to tradition are passed on to younger generations.

The Hawawir speak Sudanese Arabic, one of the gateway languages of the African continent and the mother tongue of dozens of other peoples in Sudan. A complete New Testament already exists in this language, with a version published in 2005, along with older Scripture portions and audio recordings now available on apps and digital platforms. The Old Testament translation is still missing, but the greatest challenge is not the lack of Scripture, but the distance between these resources and the everyday life of a nomadic people scattered across the desert.

Among the Hawawir, being Muslim is an inseparable part of being Hawawir, and the most respected elders are also the most committed to this religious tradition, which makes any change of faith a risk to a person’s standing within the clan. Nomadic life in the Bayuda Desert adds to this as a practical barrier: scattered, constantly moving communities make any sustained contact difficult, even where Christian resources are available in Sudanese Arabic.

Life in the Bayuda Desert forces the Hawawir into a constant search for water and pasture, and years of more severe drought can jeopardize the herds on which their whole subsistence depends. Alongside these material needs is a spiritual one: a New Testament and audio material exist in Sudanese Arabic, but there is practically no sign that this people has access to a Christian community of faith or to anyone who shares these Scriptures with them in their own language and context.