Trawing

The Trawing live in the Nuba Mountains, in South Kordofan, a hilly region in central Sudan that is home to many small communities, each with its own customs and villages on the mountainsides. They are related to the Shatt people and are also known by the name Daldoko.

Today they speak Sudanese Arabic, a widely used language of communication in the country, and almost all are Muslim, although they preserve their traditional ethnic religion. Their ancient story has been little documented outside the villages themselves, so it must be told with humility. What can be said with confidence is that the history of this people, like that of all peoples, is in the hands of God, who knows every people from the very beginning.

Life among the Trawing revolves around the fields. They grow sorghum, peanuts, sesame, and beans, and raise cattle, sheep, and goats. The rhythm of the rains and the harvest sets the calendar of each year, the land demands patience and effort from everyone, and the work of farming and caring for the animals sustains the families.

They live in six small villages in the mountains. Water comes from a drilled well, a daily meeting place, and life remains simple, marked by sharing what the land provides. The community has no schools, and this weighs on the children’s future. Even so, life together, among neighbors who share the same mountain, is a precious treasure to the people.

Almost all the Trawing are Muslim, and Islam is part of how they see themselves and how they relate to their neighbors. Faith is lived in community, alongside the ties of family and village, and anyone who visits them notices how present religion is in daily life and in relationships between people.

At the same time, the people still keep their traditional ethnic religion. Customs and beliefs inherited from the ancestors remain present, so that spiritual life combines two inheritances. Beneath both lies a genuine longing for protection, blessing, and meaning, which only Christ can fully answer.

The Trawing speak Sudanese Arabic, and the New Testament already exists in that language. The complete Bible is not yet available. There are also versions of the Jesus Film in Sudanese Arabic. Since there are almost no Christians among them, the greater challenge is not only the existence of the text, but getting it to the villages and having it heard and understood by those who have never known the story of Jesus.

The main barrier is the absence of a Christian witness: there are almost no Christians among the Trawing, and no church planting work is underway among them. Added to this is the isolation of the mountain villages and the fact that, since Islam is the faith of almost everyone, following Jesus may sound far removed from the life of the people. Workers are needed who will go there, learn the language, and build friendship with patience.

The people live with few resources, in remote villages, and lack basic services, such as schools for the children, and depend on the rain and the land to survive. They need educational opportunities and material care for the families of the villages, and conditions in which the children can learn to read and write and build a better future without leaving behind who they are.

Above all, they need someone to bring them the good news of Jesus with respect and friendship, and a community of faith that is born among them, within their own culture.