Kwasio are historically forest-dwelling farmers and hunter-gatherers. Their villages relocated around 1900 and now live near roads and along the coast. Many are highly educated theologians, and civil servants.

Women tend to the family food. They grow cassava and other staples. Plantain and wild fruit are abundant seasonally.

The living fear the dead — that's what outsiders would conclude from the elaborate tombstones and explicit memorials surrounding older, plainer homes in a Kwasio village. And the outsiders would be right, especially if they learn that these poor farmers sometimes pay thousands of dollars to bury a loved one.

Church is primarily a social gathering place. Clergy sometimes perform exorcisms or other rituals to help protect believers from the evil spirits they so deeply fear. Few church members understand Christ's work on the cross, and fewer still embrace the freedom and peace implicit in a relationship with the living Savior. Until now, churches have always used another language.

Scripture Prayers for the Ngumba, Mabi in Equatorial Guinea.