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Project Profile

Mbeya NT Cluster | Bungu

This language group is participating in the Mbeya NT Cluster project.

About 36,000 Bungu speakers live on the plains and hillsides of the Great Rift Valley in western Tanzania. Many people construct their houses from mud, and their villages are surrounded by vast expanses of forest. Most families grow crops like millet, rice and cassava for their food. Many who live near Lake Rukwa catch fish in traps, and others raise livestock or grow cotton or tobacco as cash crops. Most Bungu speakers are poor, and they do not have much access to education. There is one secondary school in the Bungu region.

Catholic missionaries brought news of Jesus to the Bungu people about one hundred years ago, and today nearly all of the people claim to be Catholics. But many people still practice their traditional religion and there is a significant need for the clearly translated gospel. A few Evangelical denominations have begun work among the Bungu in recent years. The leaders of these churches are eager to see the Scriptures translated into Bungu. In 2003, they began sending representatives to training workshops that SIL was offering in the city of Mbeya.

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