He is a kind and compassionate man, with a heart to encourage his people, dreams for their education, and concerns about their health. He has been a guest in my home, and has invited us to walk with him in moving this people group into the 21st Century. There are no census figures, estimates of the numbers under his authority range from one to three quarters of a million. They inhabit the land on both sides of the river dividing this part of Sudan and Ethiopia. Scarcely five percent of the people are Christian, most follow the traditional African religion of their ancestors.
Life is difficult, days consumed by the efforts to provide subsistence for their families.
Women work hard beyond the imagining of those of us who live with the technological blessings of the West. Children have no schooling available to them, as there are no teachers, because there is no pay. Assistance will have to start at the bottom rung of the development ladder. We have heard that some of the local evangelists have been beaten and chased out of villages. Social governance is through village chiefs in widely scattered communities.