Dinka

Background

The Dinka people are a group of tribes living along the streams and small rivers in the Upper Nile region of southern Sudan and Southwest Ethiopia. Traditionally nomadic, the Dinka settled in villages after colonization by the British. During the Sudanese civil war, these communities were scattered and their semi-pastoral way of life was completely disrupted.

Today the Dinka people are slowly returning to their homeland from Uganda, Kenya and far corners of the earth. They are mainly agro-pastoral people, relying on cattle herding at riverside camps in the dry season and growing millet and other varieties of grains in fixed settlements during the rainy season. They number around 1.5 million people, the largest ethnic tribe in South Sudan, and constituting about 4% of the population of the entire country.

Ministry Updates

In the past, Dinka-language production had been based at the Lokichoggio Ministry Center at the Kenya-Sudan border, where Nuer-language production continues. Since most Christian Dinkas are Anglican, Words of Hope is building a Dinka production team in consultation with Anglican partners in Uganda. Rumbek, a town in the heart of Dinka territory, has been chosen for the Dinka production base.