This entry was posted on Monday, January 15th, 2007 at 10:33 pm and is filed under Africa, Mbeya People Groups, Tanzania. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
The Ndali
I have been giving you information on each of the ten language groups we’ll be taking the Scriptures to in Tanzania. The sixth group in our series is the Ndali. To see the first five click on the Mbeya People Groups category on the right sidebar.
The Ndali 
The Ndali people believe a Ndali Bible would make a major difference in their spiritual and church life and would help this third generation Christian community in discipleship and teaching. The church leaders expressed that they see a lack of depth of understanding of the faith and their congregations are not able to make sufficient use of the Swahili Scriptures. Church leaders believe that the greatest challenge in the Ndali church is that people do not have a depth of Christian committment. Therefore they believe that a meaning-based translation of the Bible in today’s language will be needed.
The Ndali live in an area which crosses the Tanzanian-Malawi border. Much of their homeland is mountainous and the Ndali have perfected farming on very steep slopes. They love their language and want to see it developed. The people have been praying for years to have the Bible in their own language and are excited about how translated Scriptures will make a difference in their lives.
Population: 370,000. About 300,000 live in Tanzania while 70,000 live in Malawi.
Cultural Information: The Ndali are farmers, cultivating maize, millet, beans, cassava, bananas. They also own cattle, goats, sheep and poultry.
Religion: Christian, traditional religion. Christianity has been in the Ndali area for about one hundred years. The communities are largely churched and close to 100% of the Ndali would identify themselves as Christians. There are many educated as well as theologically educated Ndali. The Moravian Church is the largest denomination followed by the Roman Catholic Church. These two denominations account for about 90% of the Ndali speakers.
The Ndali formed their own language board years before the Mbeya-Iringa Cluster Project was started. Understandably, they are more than happy to get the help they need to develop their language. The church leaders in the area recognize the need to translate the Bible into their language. They have been praying for a long time to receive the Scriptures so partnering with them is truly an answer to prayer. A Ndali Bible would make a major difference in their spiritual and church life!
