1040Window.org

Who Lives There?

These twelve images represent twelve ethnic families of the 10/40 Window. Click on a picture or scroll down to read more about these people.

105,000,000 Turkic Peoples

My name is Elmira Urbaeva. I am Kyrgyz, one of the many ethnic groups in the Turkic family. I live in southwest Kyrgyzstan in a city of 300,000 people called Osh.

I grew up in a farming village where my parents raised horses and grew tobacco. I recently moved to Osh to go to school and study medicine. I have noticed the strong influence of the Russians upon the culture of my Muslim country.

Someday I hope to travel outside the disputed borders of Kyrgyzstan to Almaty, Kazakhstan to the north, or Andijahn, Uzbekistan to the west, or Dushanbe, Tadjikistan to the south, or perhaps even east to the Xinjiang province of China.

Other people groups in the Turkic family include the Kyrgyz (Kirghiz), Turkmen, Kazakh, Uzbek, Uyghur, Turk, Tatar, Azerbaijani, and Bashkir.

16,000,000 East African Cushitics

My name is Abdul Mohammed. I am a Beja of the Adbabda tribe and I live in the Red Sea Hills region of Sudan.

Our people are semi-nomadic. We farm part of the year and then travel in search of grazing lands for our livestock. I have always been afraid of foreigners because they may try to occupy our people and restrict our wanderings. I am a Muslim and I am not afraid to fight for our freedom. I enjoy reading about the prophet Mohammed's travels in the Koran. Our family was named after him and we are descendents of Noah's son Ham and grandson Cush.

Someday I hope to cross the Red Sea and make a pilgrimage to Mecca. I have already traveled to Ethiopia to the south, Chad to the west, and Egypt to the north.

Other people groups in the Cushitic family are Somali, Sab, Gaaliin, Dinka, and Arusi Galla.

14,000,000 North African Berbers

My name is Hasem Ali. I am a Riffi Berber. I live in the city of Al Hoceina situated in the mountains of northern Morocco.

I go to a Spanish language school and someday I hope to travel to Europe and get a job because there are very few around here. I like to hang out at the Cafe after school and watch movies. My parents are strict Muslims adhering to the 5 pillars of the Islamic faith 1.) shahada - "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.", 2.) salah - praying 5 times daily facing toward Mecca, 3. sadaga - giving alms to the poor OR zakat - a religious tax given to a charity, usually 2.5% of a person's income, 4.) fasting - done during the day throughout Ramadan, the 9th month of the Muslim year, and 5.) hadj - annual pilgrimage to Mecca. I do not take Islam as seriously as my parents. I often wonder if there could be a more fun way to practice religion?

When I look out over the ocean on a clear day I can barely see the Rock of Gibraltar. Spain is to the north, Algeria to the east, and Western Sahara to the south.

Other people groups among the North African Berbers are the Jebala, Tamazight, Kabyle, Susiua, Shleuh, and Riffi.

60,000,000 Kurdo Iranians

My name is Cyrus Sunali. I am an Iranian Kurd. I live in the Zagros mountains of western Iran.

Many of our Kurdish brethren have gathered to live in the semi-autonomous region called "Kurdistan" located where the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria meet. I speak the Farsi language but cannot read or write. I am a Sunni Muslim. I live in a village of about 1,500. We have no medical facilities and no source of clean drinking water. Many of our children die from malaria and tuberculosis. This is our home, we have no where else to go.

Conditions are not better in the surrounding countries. To the north is Turkey, to the west is Iraq, and to the east is Afghanistan.

Some of the other people groups in the Kurdo-Iranian family are the Bakhtiari, Tadzhik, Gilaki, Carduchi, Hazara, Central Kurds, Southern Kurds, Western Kurds, Turkish Kurds, Iraqi Kurds, Kaboli, Luri, Mazaderari, and Persians.

40,000,000 West African Muslims

My name is Drissa Kone. I am Ivorian Malinke. I live in Daloa, Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivore).

I come from a very large family. I have 8 brothers and 4 sisters. My father is the imam of our Muslim community (umma). I study Arabic everyday. When I visit the mosque, I make certain I wash my hands and feet so that I will be clean when I say my prayers. When Allah doesn't answer me, sometimes I call upon my ancestors for help by performing an ancient tribal ritual of sacrificing a chicken.

There are many nations surrounding my French speaking country. Mali and Burkina Faso to the north, Guinea and Liberia to the west, and Ghana to the east.

Other people groups in the west African Muslim family are Fula Jalon, Fulani, Fula, Zerma, Kanuri, Bororo, Bidan, Hausa, and Bambara.

121,000,000 Southern Chinese

My name is Li Wang. I am Miao, one of the many ethnic minority groups of Southern China. I live near Guiyang, the capital city of 1,100,000 of the Guizhou province.

Even though I am young, my destiny is already being planned for me by the State, the atheistic Communist party, and someday I will be assigned to labor in a work unit. I will be starting school soon and will learn all about the glorious history of my country's many dynasties. My parent's sometimes take me to the countryside where I can see the beautiful mountains and terraced rice paddies. I often wonder how they got there?

If my parents travel to the north, we can visit the Sichuan province, to the west, the Yunnan province, to the south, the Guangxi Zhuang province, and to the east, the Guangdong province.

Other people groups in the Southern Chinese family include the Tibetans, Dong, Zhuang, Tujia, Yi, Miao (Meo)(Hmong), Ge, Yao, Shui, Boyei, Hani, Bai, Nosu, Han-Hainese, Han-Hakka, Han-Hunanese, and the Han-Kam.

74,000,000 Indo-Malay

My name is Fadhlan Amiri. I am Acehnese. I live in Banda Aceh, the capitol city of Aceh, the northern most province on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.

My people, 3,000,000 of us, are an ethnic mixture of Arab, Chinese, European (Portugese), and Hindi (Gujarati), hence the name ACEH. We are Muslims and proud of our heritage. Indonesia has the largest population of Muslims in the world. In fact, our city is often referred to as the "veranda of Mecca" because it is a resting place for Muslim pilgrims who make the annual Hadj (pilgrimage) to Mecca. I pray 5 times a day in rote Arabic, but I am not sure what I am praying because I do not speak Arabic as my native language.

If I decide to study the Koran and become an imam, I may have the opportunity to travel to other islands of Indonesia to spread Islam.

Other people groups in the IndoMalay family are Malay, Komering, Lampongese, Madurese, Banjarese, Minangkabau, Sasak, Sundanese, Balinese, Buginese, Javanese, Gayo.

80,000,000 Hindustani

My name is Shrilata Patel. I am Hindi, a practitioner of Hinduism. I live in Varansi in northern India.

I worship millions of deities in various idol forms. Some of my favorites are Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesh, Kali, and Brahman. My country is rich in exotic ritual and dance but poor in material wealth and medical care. In order to cleanse myself spiritually, I often take a pilgrimage with my children to the Gangese river where we bathe amidst the ashes of the deceased. Our society is divided into castes, from the highest Brahman priestly caste to the lowest "untouchables" caste.

Someday I hope to save enough money to travel north to Nepal, or east to Bangladesh. I am afraid to travel west to Pakistan because we are at war with them over the disputed region of Jammu Kashmir.

Other people groups in the Hindustani family include the Hindi, Nagpuri, Bihari (Sadri), Gond, Nimadi (Nimari), Wagdi (Wagheri, Vagdi, Vaged), Garhwali (Pahari), Bagri (Bahgri), Mina, Lamani (Banjara, Labhari), Rajasthani, Bhil, Ho, Kumaoni, Tulu, Tamang, Manipuri (Methei, Kathe), Nepalese (Gurkhali), Malvi (Ujjaini, Malavi), Sindhi (Kachchi, Bhatia), Bhojpuri, Bihari, and the Maitili (Tirahutai).

800,000,000 Northern Chinese

My name is Long Wenza. I am Manchu. I live in the city of Harbin in Northern China in the province of Helilongjiang.

I work in a coal mine as my father did before me. I'm a rather lonely man. All my life I have been an atheist and have never practiced any form of religion. I do however think of my father often and seek him for advice on important decisions, even though he has been dead for 30 years. I have never traveled outside of China. I wonder what life is like to the north in Russia, or to the west in Mongolia, or to the south in North Korea, or to the east in Japan?

Other people groups in the Northern Chinese family include the Mongol, Manchu, Hui (Dungan, Tunya), Khalka, Han-Mandarin, and Korean.

60,000,000 Arabic

My name is Sharif Assad. I am Druze. I live in Qatzrin in the Golan Heights of northern Israel.

My people have seen warfare for centuries. The place I live is claimed by Israel but was once part of Syria. We have lots of wineries, I happen to work in one. I am a very religious person. I practice the secret teachings of the patriarchal Druze. We believe in one god and that after death a person is reincarnated back into another Druze family. We call ourselves, "Sons of Grace" because we are so kind and hospitable.

We co-exist peacefully with the other religions and ethnic groups around us. To the north is Lebanon, to the east, Syria, and to the south, Jordan.

Other Arabic people groups include the Bedouin, Yemeni, Tunisian, Omani, Algerian, Saudi, Moroccan, Kuwati, Iraqi, Sudanese, and Libyan.

119,000,000 Asian Muslim

My name is Ahmed Rashid. I am Pustun (Pathan). I live in Kabul, Afghanistan. I am a Muslim.

You might think that I like to make carpets, but I don't. That is a common misconception about our people. You may recall that the Russians occupied our country for many years and devastated everything. The Taliban, fundamental Islamic students, are now fighting for control of all major cities. I often wonder if my country will ever experience true peace?

To the north is Tajikistan, to the west, Iran, to the south, Pakistan, and to the east, China.

Other people groups in the Asian Muslim family are the Dogri, Ceylon Moor, Sindhi, Urdu, Decacani, Kashmiri, Afghani, Bihari, Brahui, and Baluchi.

121,000,000 Indo China

My name is Mea Neang. I am Khmer and a Buddhist. I live in a kampong (village) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia called Kean Suay.

Because of the many hardships in my life, like planting and harvesting crops by hand, and carrying wood and water for miles each day, I have arthritic pain in all my joints and I look a lot older than I actually am. To take my mind off my back-breaking labor, I play music on a reed instrument called a lushong. 3,000,000 of my fellow countrymen, including 5 of my own family members, were massacred by our Communist government, the Khmer Rouge, in the Killing Fields, during the 1970's and 1980's. This is another reason I play music, it helps me forget horrible memories from the past. I'm not sure my future is going to be much better though. Rumor has it that the Communists have rigged the elections and will be regaining power soon.

I think I might move to another country if I can get the money. Perhaps Laos to the north, or Thailand to the west, or Vietnam to the east.

Other people groups in the IndoChina family are Pattani, Khmer, Shan, Tai, Thai, Myen, Lao, Isen, Khmu, Karen, Cham, and Vietnamese.

(The stories you have read are real and are based on actual people, however to protect their true identity, the names and photos you see above are not their own.)

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