People group profile · PG014971
The Kwaya of Tanzania
The Kwaya of Tanzania, numbering about 209,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Bantu fishing people of Lake Victoria's southeastern shore in Tanzania's Mara Region, descended from the Kwiregi, Kanadi, and North-Mara peoples, whose name derives from mukwaya, their word for the fish eagle, and who gave the town of Musoma its name.
They are an indigenous people in the Bantu, Central-Lakes people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Animism, and they primarily speak Kwaya.
Fast facts
- Country
- Tanzania
- Population
- 209,000
- Affinity group
- Sub-Saharan African Peoples
- People cluster
- Bantu, Central-Lakes
- Primary language
- Kwaya (kya)
- Primary religion
- Animism
- Strategic Progress Index
- Engaged yet Unreached
- Evangelical
- Less than 2%
- GSEC
- Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
- Lostness priority
- Expanding Unreached People Group
- Region
- Eastern Africa, Africa
- Location
- Mara region: Musoma rural district, Nyanja division, and Musoma urban district
Where they live
Gospel status
The Kwaya are Engaged yet Unreached, which means fewer than 2% are evangelical Christians, but there are sustained efforts to establish self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. In GSEC terms, this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years.
- Congregations exist Yes
- Church planting in the last two years No Churches Planted
Next steps for the Kwaya
- Continue prayer and fasting for this group
- Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
- Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people
Primary religion
Animism · Ethnoreligion
55% adherents
Primary language
Kwaya · Atlantic-Congo family
80% speak Kwaya
Gospel resources in Kwaya
- Bible available, published 2023
- JESUS Film available
- Radio programs not available
- Gospel recordings not available
- Audio resources available
- Bible stories not available
Films
- JESUS (Kwaya)
Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.
Pray for the Kwaya
- Psalm 27:1. Pray that new believers will be strengthened in the face of persecution, with the Lord as their stronghold.
- Romans 12:4–5. Pray that believers from many cultures will work together as one body so that the church is built up.
- Revelation 7:9. Pray for the day when people from this group stand before the throne with every nation, tribe, people and language.
- John 17:3. Pray that many will come to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
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