Introduction / History

The Sila are a Tibeto-Burman people who live in Vietnam. They migrated from south China and are part of the Lolo linguistic groups.

What Are Their Lives Like?

Most farm and hunt for their food supply and they struggle with malnutrition and diseases such as malaria. Sila villages consist of small groups of houses made of wood or bamboo, built on stilts, and clustered against the sides of the hills. Their residential areas are usually adjacent to their farmlands. With the houses built above the ground, the family livestock-poultry, pigs and goats-run freely underneath the houses. Because their villages are usually organized around tribal lineage, it is likely that their social structure is based on family units.

What Are Their Beliefs?

They practice an ethnic religion combined with animism and ancestor worship.

What Are Their Needs?

They encounter health issues that divert their focus toward getting better rather than eternal spiritual issues.

Prayer Points

Ask the Lord to send Christian medical workers to labor among the Sila and soften the people's hearts.
Ask God to strengthen, multiply and protect the small number of Sila Christians and for government leaders to be open to allowing foreign workers. Ask the Lord to establish a Sila church that will multiply.
Pray the Sila people would soon turn away from worshiping the dead to worshiping the living Christ.

Scripture Prayers for the Sila in Vietnam.