BORANA

"For the purpose of this profile the Borana people and Gabra people are considered together as one unit. They are a very large group of about 4.5 to 5 million persons of whom over 100,000 live in north central Kenya with the balance in Ethiopia. This profile will concentrate on the people of Kenya, though it may well be that the gospel can spread freely across the country boundary.

The word spelled Borana is pronounced with the final vowel silent. It refers to the people or their language and also means friend or kind person. For example, a bad person can be told he is not Borana.

The economy and life style are built entirely around the cattle and camels. Young men do the daily herding while the women do all family nurturing . The homestead groups may be required to move three or four times each year, often distances as great as 100 km or more. Huts, constructed by the women, consist of interwoven branches thatched with grass all the way to the ground, or, in the case of the Gabra, frequently woven mats cover the framework. When movement of the homestead is required, the transportable portions are loaded onto the back of an assailable camel or woman and carried to the new location.

The parallel ""modern"" phenomena of rapid population growth and decreasing as availability of productive grazing land threaten the Borana people. Contacts with other nomadic peoples lead to clashes, sometimes bloody for land. Also, they have been increasingly dependent upon outside help from relief agencies which is culturally repugnant to these proud people.

Traditional religion is monotheistic with communication through intermediary priests or ""Qalla"". This large and ancient people have had only minimal contact with Christianity, due in part to their nomadic life style. Yet an indigenous church exists and probably with adequate support and scripture in their own language, they will be able to evangelize their own people and neighboring groups."

• Country: Kenya
• Percent Christian: 82.1%
• Percent Evangelical: 34%
• Population (Year): 30.8 million (1995)
• Major Religion: Christianity
• Openness to Missionaries: Open"

"1. HAVE THEY HEARD THE GOSPEL?

Ratio of pastors/evangelists to population: 1 pastor or evangelist for every ??? persons (total pastors or evangelists - ???)

Ratio of missionaries to population: 1 missionary for every ??? persons (total missionaries - ???)

Who is Jesus Christ to them?

15% Believe Jesus is the Son of God and are nominally Christians
10% Believe in the Son of God and have accepted him as their savior 35% Believe Jesus is a prophet, teacher, a good man, but not God's Son 50% Follow their traditional local religion

2. HAVE THEY RESPONDED TO THE GOSPEL?

3. DO THEY HAVE A CHURCH?

Ratio of churches to population: 1 church for every ? persons (total churches- ???)

Total number of communities (cities,towns,villages): 1 church for every ? community (communities without church - ???)

4. DO THEY HAVE THE WORD OF GOD TRANSLATED INTO THEIR MOTHER TONGUE?

Yes, the New Testament and Genesis. Other books have work in progress.

5. ANY HINDRANCES TO SCRIPTURE DISTRIBUTION?

Literacy Rate: 1%

The nomadic lifestyle makes teaching literacy difficult. Distribution of scipture and audio tapes is difficult for the same reason.

6. WHAT OTHER FORMS OF GOSPEL PRESENTATIONS ARE AVAILABLE?

Recordings: Yes
Literature: Not much
Films: No
Radio: No
Video: No
Audio-visual: No

Seventeen tapes in Borana have been made by Language Recordings International

7. ARE THEY RECEPTIVE TO CHANGE AND TO CHRISTIANITY?

Those who claim to be Muslim are fairly resistant to Chnstianity, while those who follow the traditional religion are fairly open to change and to the gospel.

8. IS OUTSIDE (CROSS-CULTURAL) ASSISTANCE REQUIRED FROM MISSIONARIES?

Yes."