Mubi

The Mubi people have their roots in the Guéra region of central Chad, where they formed as one of the many Chadic groups that settled the lands east of the Abou Telfane mountains and south of Massalit territory. Over the centuries, proximity to routes crossed by Arabs brought commercial exchange and intermarriage between ethnic groups, which helped shape the people's current identity without erasing their language or their organization into three cantons around Mangalmé. It was only from the 1960s onward that cattle raising was added to the subsistence farming practiced for generations, expanding the means of livelihood for Mubi families.

Agriculture sustains the life of the majority: millet, sorghum, sesame, beans, cotton, and peanuts are grown on the dry lands around Mangalmé. Since the mid twentieth century, cattle raising has also gained ground, along with goats, sheep, donkeys, and horses, whose care is shared among the families of each village, often gathered into a communal herd taken to graze in dry riverbeds during the winter.

The villages, surrounded by thorn hedges for protection, are organized into three traditional cantons: Mubi Hadaba in the north, Mubi Zarga in the south, and Mubi Goz in the east. During droughts, when the rains fail, hunger threatens families, and for this reason marriage with neighboring peoples is common, weaving ties that cross the region’s ethnic boundaries.

The Mubi are Sunni Muslims, and Islamic faith is intertwined with the people’s own identity and with the life of the villages organized around Mangalmé. They follow the traditional pillars of Islam, such as prayer facing Mecca and the Ramadan fast, but this practice coexists with elements of folk religion inherited from before Islam arrived in the region. Being Mubi and being Muslim go hand in hand in how the community recognizes itself and relates to its neighbors.

Close contact with Arab groups who regularly cross their territory reinforces this shared religious identity, while at the same time preserving customs and a language of their own, distinct from the Arab peoples with whom they exchange goods and services day to day.

There is no record of a Bible translation in the Mubi language, spoken by tens of thousands of people in central Chad. Communication with other peoples is usually carried out in Chadian Arabic, used as a second language by much of the population, but the heart language remains without a single portion of Scripture translated, leaving the message of Christ practically inaccessible to those who speak only Mubi and depend entirely on translators willing to take on this work.

Being Mubi is deeply tied to Sunni Islam: faith is part of the clan’s and the land’s identity, and there is no record of followers of Jesus among the people to this day. The physical distance, the isolation of the Guéra region, and the almost total absence of any local Christian witness mean that the first contact with the gospel, when it happens, will likely come from outside.

Dependence on rainfall makes hunger a recurring threat: when the rainy season fails, entire families face food shortages. Access to clean water is also a daily challenge, with women often walking long distances to supply their homes, as is access to electricity and basic health care in the villages farthest from Mangalmé.

Beyond these material needs, the Mubi people lack any local Christian community. There is no church, discipleship, or living witness of the gospel among them, which makes the arrival of brothers and sisters in the faith, of resources in their own language, and of a first encounter with the message of Christ as urgent a need as daily bread.