Who are the Beans?
They inhabit the hills and the coastal plain along the Red Sea, Sudan and Egypt. Missionaries are not wanted by the governments, so most groups involved with them use “Beans” as a security name.
The Beans have traditionally followed a nomadic way of life, and are known for a mental and physical toughness that has helped them to overcome the harshness of their environment.
They are best known as camel traders, moving up and down the Red Sea area from Egypt to Eritrea. They also maintain food crops, usually farmed for them by West Africans engaged for this purpose. They also trade their crafts of straw mats and woolen rugs or charcoal and firewood for food in the markets.
There are many cultural markers of the Beans. The men wear a typical Sudanese white jallabiya (a long, loose-fitting shirt with baggy pants underneath), and a white turban. Men, even now, own a sword that can be used as a weapon or for special ceremonial dances at celebrations. Often, Bean women wrap a brightly colored cloth called a tawb around their dresses.
What is the 10/40 Window?
The 10/40 Window is outlined in tape on the big world map at the back of our church building. It stretches from West Africa, through the Middle East, to Eastern Asia. The majority of the world’s unreached people groups live here. It is where the Beans live. Some facts about the 10/40 Window:
- 4.2 billon of the world’s 7 billon people live here
- There are 62 nations
- More than 8 out of 10 of the poorest of the poor live in the Window (average wage: $1.40/day)
- It is an area of great spiritual darkness known as the “resistance belt”
- Many of the 10/40 window nations are closed to western missionaries