Nyanga-Li in Congo, Democratic Republic of

Introduction / History

Ethnographers, linguists and anthropologists cannot agree if the Nyanga-Li are a distinct people group or if they have intermarried into other groups or if they are a local identity label. Whatever the truth is, they have shared a common history with the other groups of the Democratic Republic of Congo: Bantu migration, Belgian imperialism, independence, and frequent upheavals since independence. They have also experienced missionary outreach to the point that today most of them are nominally Christian, Roman Catholic or Protestant. They live between the Ulele (needs acute accent I can't do in email) and Ituri regions.

What Are Their Lives Like?

Their lives are hard. They live in a transition zone between forest and savannah. Roads are unpaved and quagmires during the rainy season. Villages of mud and thatched houses, some with metal roofs and solar panels, line either roads or rivers. They are primarily slash and burn farmers, growing casava, maize, ground nuts, yams, and beans. They get their water from streams or by digging wells by hand. Women farm; men hunt or fish. The extended family is important, as are lineages and kinship, for land use. People identify themselves in terms of kinship, lineage, and local chiefdoms.

What Are Their Beliefs?

A minority practice African Traditional Religion (ATR), which venerates ancestors, placates forest spirits, trusts charms and amulets, practices divination and healing rituals, and believes in a deistic high God.

The majority are either Roman Catholic or Protestant, mostly practicing folk Christianity, a syncretism with ATR because they lack Scripture in their own language and pastors are without theological training.

What Are Their Needs?

They need improvements in health and health care, teacher training, pedagogy, student retention, and more schools. They need security from bandits, armed groups, displacement, and instability. Their roads need improvement so they can improve their economy. They need to distinguish between biblical and non-biblical beliefs and practices.

Prayer Points

Pray for development of clean water projects, infrastructure, and health care.
Pray for security and healing from trauma.
Pray for a clear understanding of the gospel.
Pray for Bible translation and Christian education materials in their language.
Pray for a discipleship movement and an evangelistic movement to the African religion traditionalists.
Pray for the introduction of theological education by extension in their language. Pray for revival.

Sources:
E. E. Evans-Pritchard, The Azande; Jan Vansinna's works on the Congo; UN & NGO reports on peoples of the Ulele and Iture regions.

Text Source:   Joshua Project