Introduction / History

There are nearly half a million speakers of Nyungwe in Western Mozambique. The Zambezi River flows through the area and many villages depend on this large river for farming and fishing.

While the neighboring language areas are in highly productive, higher elevation agricultural areas, the Nyungwe survive long dry seasons with cattle and goat herding. The heat is the most difficult aspect of life in the Nyungwe area. Temperatures are regularly over 40C/100F during half of the year.

Although many Nyungwe people would identify themselves as Christians, they may have only a surface understanding of the Gospel. In the cities, almost everyone has heard of the Bible and Jesus but their traditional religion is animist, with all the ancestor worship and spirit appeasement that entails.

God is working among the Nyungwe, but progress is slow with little vision for evangelism and sharing the truth. The needs of the Nyungwe people would probably be best addressed through God's Word becoming an agent of change in their lives.