Orma

The Orma descend from the larger Oromo family, which began its expansion from the highlands of northern and central Ethiopia even before the sixteenth century, moving south toward what is now Kenya. Over the course of this migration, different Oromo branches settled in distinct regions, giving rise to related peoples such as the Borana and the Gabra.

In the late nineteenth century, conflicts with neighboring peoples pushed the Orma's ancestors further south, into the Tana River delta region, where part of the group settled on the fertile plain along the river and another part occupied the land to the west. It was in this territory, in southeastern Kenya, that the Orma consolidated the identity they hold to this day.

Livestock keeping is at the center of Orma life. Alongside their long-horned zebu cattle, raised with pride and considered among the finest herds in Africa, families also keep goats and sheep. Milk, meat, and, traditionally, cattle blood form the foundation of their diet, now supplemented by corn, rice, beans, and tea.

Cattle mark life’s major passages: they are given as part of the bride price in marriage and slaughtered at celebrations and funerals. The search for pasture and water requires seasonal movement, and closeness to the Tana River is vital, which also draws the Orma near, and at times into tension with, the farming peoples of the region.

The Orma today are almost entirely Muslim, having adopted Islam some three or four generations ago. The practice of the faith is serious and constant, with observance of prayers, fasts, and festivals of the Islamic calendar as a central part of community life.

Before the arrival of Islam, Orma religion recognized a creator God associated with the sky and a variety of spirits tied to places and elements of nature. Traces of these older beliefs still appear woven into everyday Islamic practice, especially in rituals connected to the land and the cycles of the herd.

The Orma language received portions of Scripture as early as 2000, and the complete New Testament was published in 2016, the fruit of years of translation and literacy work. Today there is also an audio New Testament and the JESUS film in the Orma language, along with an app containing the Bible and other materials. Even so, the complete Bible does not yet exist in Orma, and the vast majority of the people still have no personal contact with these Scriptures.

Among the Orma, being Muslim is inseparable from being Orma: the Islamic faith sustains ethnic identity and group cohesion, and abandoning it is seen as breaking with one’s own family and community. Add to this their semi-nomadic way of life, which makes it difficult for any Christian witness to remain nearby, and the near total absence of known believers among them, which makes the message of Jesus something practically unknown to most.

Orma life depends directly on the climate: periods of drought threaten the cattle that sustain each family, and the relationship with neighboring peoples over access to land and water requires peace and good coexistence so that no one goes without. In this context, the greatest spiritual need is the near total lack of contact with the gospel, of Scripture in their own language, and of any local Christian community they can turn to.

In 2016, after years of translators’ work, the Orma people received the complete New Testament in their own language, a rare milestone among the pastoral Muslim peoples of East Africa. The work came alongside the JESUS film and audio recordings, extending the message’s reach even to those who do not read. These are concrete seeds planted in soil until then almost untouched by the gospel.