The Ubi are a smaller Hadjeray (meaning mountain people) group, in the Guera province of central Chad. There are six Ubi villages to the south of the Bidiyo canton.
Their area receives rain earlier than most of the rest of the Guera, and has a very high water table, making it more fertile for agriculture. Many Ubi are able to produce more millet and sorghum grain than they need, which they sell for cash for things like tea and sugar. Ubi men also spend a lot of time weaving colorful palm frond mats to sit on and sell in the larger Bitkine and Mongo markets. The Ubi are proud of the new mosques in two of their villages, built of concrete and metal, a luxury in Chad where most villages only have mud and thatched huts. Though the Ubi are only about 50 km from Mongo, the provincial capital, the road is difficult, and in one of the villages, before linguistic surveyors visited, no white person had passed since a French colonist named Martin rode through on his horse before Chad's independence in 1960.
The Ubi people are Sunni Muslims who believe that the supreme God, Allah, spoke through his prophet, Mohammed, and taught mankind how to live a righteous life through the Koran and the Hadith. To live a righteous life, you must utter the Shahada (a statement of faith), pray five times a day facing Mecca, fast from sunup to sundown during the month of Ramadan, give alms to the poor, and make a pilgrimage to Mecca if you have the means. Muslims are prohibited from drinking alcohol, eating pork, gambling, stealing, slandering, and making idols. They gather for corporate prayer on Friday afternoons at a mosque, their place of worship. The two main holidays for Sunni Muslims are Eid al Fitr, the breaking of the monthly fast and Eid al Adha, the celebration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son to Allah. Sunni religious practices are staid and simple. They believe that Allah has pre-determined our fates; they minimize free will. Like most African Muslims, the Ubi people depend on the spirit world for their daily needs since they regard Allah as too distant. Allah may determine their eternal salvation, but the spirits determine how well we live in our daily lives. For that reason, they must appease the spirits. They often use charms and amulets to help them with spiritual forces.
The Ubi people need to submit to Jesus Christ so they can experience the abundant life he offers them in John 10:10.
Pray that the Ubi people will have a spiritual hunger that will open their hearts to the King of kings. Pray for workers who are driven by the love and boldness of the Holy Spirit to go to them. Pray for a movement to Christ among them to begin this decade.
Scripture Prayers for the Ubi in Chad.
| Profile Source: Joshua Project |
