Unreached people group
Shatt
The Shatt live in the Shatt hills, in South Kordofan state, in the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan. Among themselves they call themselves Caning and name their own language ikä caning. Shatt is an Arabic word meaning “scattered,” and it was the name their neighbors applied to them and to other groups of the range.
They are one of the related peoples of the Daju world, a set of communities stretching from western Sudan to eastern Chad and counted among the oldest in the region. The Shatt have their own language and identity within it.
Life is organized in villages gathered into three main areas, Shatt Damam, Shatt Tebeldia and Shatt Safia, each with its own way of speaking. Village houses are usually round, with cone-shaped roofs, while rectangular mud-brick buildings predominate in the towns. The language is now considered severely endangered, which makes passing it on to the children a question of the future for the whole community.
The Shatt belong to the eastern branch of the Daju family, peoples who have lived for many centuries in western Sudan and eastern Chad. The Daju are among the oldest communities of this region, and their mountainous territory has always made control by outside forces difficult. The Shatt remained in the hills that now bear their name.
The name by which they are known outside the mountains came from Arabic, the fruit of centuries of coexistence with Arab neighbors and with other peoples of the Nuba Mountains. This contact with the language and religion of their neighbors has shaped much of present-day life.
| Country | Share of the people | Population |
|---|---|---|
Sudan Unreached
|
100%
|
38.000 |
Most live off the land. They grow millet, sorghum and maize, and round out the table with wild fruits and honey gathered in the countryside, as well as game. Women carry much of the farm work, prepare the meals and care for the children, sustaining the household in a decisive way.
Society is patriarchal: the older men lead the family and have the final word in important decisions. The clans have their leaders, who act under the authority of a sultan, today with a mainly ceremonial role. Life in small villages, bound by kinship and neighborliness, makes the extended family the center of each person’s identity and protection.
The great majority are Muslim, mainly Sunni. Children learn to recite the Quran in classical Arabic, and Islam marks the calendar, the festivals and the life of the community. Belonging to the people and practicing this faith usually go hand in hand from childhood.
Alongside Islam, older traditional practices remain. Many believe in good and evil spirits and turn to witchcraft in times of illness, fear or need. A minority follow the ancestral ethnic religions, and the number of Christians is very small. Faith and belonging to the people go together, so changing religion is usually seen as turning away from one’s own family.
Portions of the Bible exist in the Shatt language, available since 2018, and the language already has a published script. The New Testament and the complete Bible have not yet been translated, and so most people still cannot read Scripture in their own language. Because the language is endangered and many also speak Arabic, God’s Word in the language of the heart is a very important step for the Shatt to hear it as their own.
A people only truly understands the gospel when they hear it in the language of their heart. See how far the translation has come.
- Translation started Done
- Portions Current stage
- 3 New Testament Still ahead
- 4 Whole Bible Still ahead
Translation data: Joshua Project.
Among the Shatt, being part of the people and being Muslim go together, and following Jesus can be understood as breaking with family and community. Beliefs in spirits and witchcraft create a fear that also makes openness to the gospel difficult. Added to this are life in remote villages, the near absence of Christians among them and the little Scripture available in the local language.
The Shatt need access to more Scripture in their own language, beginning with the New Testament, and people willing to live among them with respect and patience. They also need freedom from the fear of spirits and witchcraft, which so often weighs on daily life.
There is also the need to preserve the language and to offer the community conditions for a dignified life in the region where they live. Whoever comes to believe in Jesus will need companionship, discipleship and a community that welcomes them.
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