Songhai

Quick facts about the Songhai

Location: Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana
Also Known As: Songhoy
Status: Engaged by IMB
Population: 3,500,000
Primary Religion: Islam & Animism
Number of Christians: less than 200
Language: Songhai in three dialects

The Songhai people live along the Niger Riger at the edge of the Sahara Desert in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.
Half the Songhai population is 15 years of age or younger.
The men are fishermen or farmers of rice and millet.
The women raise small gardens and make traditional pottery, mats and bread.

Intercede for new Songhai believers, that they would be firmly rooted and grounded in His Word, that their faith would be strong in Him and able to withstand everyday trials and persecution. Call upon God to break the strongholds of Satan, transforming believers’ hearts and lives.

Learn more about the Songhai!

The West African Songhai kingdom, centered in Gao, Mali, was built and developed by occult sorcerers, Moslem kings, and fearless warriors in the 15th and 16th centuries. Today, those vast, ancestral lands have diminished, and the need for survival has reduced this once proud people to subsistence farming along the Niger River. Men grow millet in dry, sandy fields and rice along the marshy river banks; women birth babies and tend to household tasks. At very early ages children begin to help with work and few attend school. Songhai marry other Songhai, continuing to live within their polygamous, extended family groupings in dwellings made of mud and straw. Life expectancy is limited by the shortage of water and the presence of hunger and disease. They respect the power of their ancestors and fear the spirit world, claiming the Islamic religion and embracing animistic practices. Their patriarchal society, along with its history, customs, and traditions, have been virtually untouched for centuries, eluding change and building barriers to Christian witness.