The Nuba People and their Land
The Nuba Mountains is a region situated in the center of Sudan. It covers an area of more than 50,000 square kilometers with the highest peak rising to more than 1500 meters (4920 feet) above sea level. These mountains are home to about 1,600,000 Nubians. Just two years ago, the population was 400,000 in the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) controled areas. This rapid increase reflects the massive return of Nuba people who had fled their homes during the war as well as the integration of region as a result of the 2005 peace agreement.
The Nubians geographically and culturally form a frontier barrier between the Arab north and the Black south. However, one fact that makes this area very important is due to the intermarriage of peoples of the different cultures over the years. After the collapse of the ancient Christian kingdoms of Nubia, Alwa and Dotawo, due to the Islamic invasion of the north of Sudan around the 15th century, the Nuba of the North moved to the Nuba Mountains. The mountain region provided protection over centuries, including during the violence of the last twenty two years of civil war.
As a matter of record, Sudan, and particularly the Nuba Mountain region is one of the most rapidly growing sectors of the Church.
A Twenty-two Year Civil War
The Nuba people, now comprise about 79 various black African tribes living in the Nuba Mountains region (in the Sudan province of Southern Kordofan State). They have been besieged by the regular Sudanese Army for the past twenty years. The genocide perpetrated on the Nuba people during the civil war remained largely concealed from the larger world public. For years there were no observers, no reporters or even members of humanitarian organizations. They were not allowed into the Nuba Mountains. It was in the Spring of 2003, thanks to the ceasefire agreement of 2002, that U.N. monitors, and a willingness on the part of both sides of the armed conflict to provide escort, that the first humanitarian aide in years, was able to come from North Sudan.
Conditions in the Nuba
In the Nuba Mountains electricity is limited to a few small generators, no petrol stations, not a single shop or restaurant, nor even a waste disposal system. Schools and churches were destroyed. Conditions in the Nuba Mountains are extremely harsh. There is little water to be found. Long walks are required to bring water to temporary shelters, with the water carried in jugs on the peoples’ heads. Temperatures, typically, are in the mid 90s - 100s F. Traveling is only by climbing up and down steep mountains, mostly on foot, or a bicycle or donkeys, if one is fortunate. There are few roads, and fewer cars. Dehydration is a serious problem for anyone exerting effort. Still, the mountains provided safety.
In the valleys of the mountains lies rich agricultural land. With the peace agreement, farming can begin in earnest. Typical crops of the Nuba are peanuts, corn, wheat, all kinds of vegetables, and sesame from which oil is produced.
The comprehensive peace settlement of January 2005 opens up reconstruction and development in the Nuba. It also means the return of over 4 million displaced persons. Some began returning in the Spring of 2004, but an increasing number are returning with the signing of the agreement.
Helping with the reconstruction and development is the Nuba Chrisitian Family Mission, and its counterpart in the Sudan.
The Nuba Christian Family Mission
The Nuba Christian Family Mission, Inc., is a nonprofit organization, faith-based and community-based, dedicated to lend assistance to the persecuted Church in the Sudan and the Nuba Mountain refugees seeking resettlement in the United States. Its Board of Directors is made up of peoples from the Nuba Mountain region, now resident in the United States. The Co-Chairs for the NCFM Technical Committee, Sudan, are The Rt. Rev. Andudu Adam Elnail, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of the Nuba Mountains, and Mr. Shemon Solomon, a Roman Catholic layman and lawyer, Nuba Mountains. NCFM is an indigenous, ecumenical, and collaborative organization.
NCFM had its beginnings in Cairo, Egypt in 1997 when the Nuba Diaspora formed itself as an organization to lend assistance to those in diaspora and those remaining in the Nuba Mountains. When in the later half of the 1990’s a number of them resettled in the United States, the organization was reconstituted here. The corporation is now registered in Georgia and Louisiana.
