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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Mbukushu of Botswana

The Mbukushu of Botswana, numbering approximately 40,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group indigenous to Southern Africa. They primarily live along the Okavango River, in regions such as Ngamiland (Botswana), the Okavango Delta, the Kavango region (Namibia), and into southern Angola and southwestern Zambia. They are also known as Hambukushu, Mbukushu, Gova. They are an Indigenous people in the Bantu, Central-South people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Mbukushu and their primary religion is Animism.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Mbukushu

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Botswana
People Cluster: Bantu, Central-South
Primary Language(s): Mbukushu (mhw)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 40,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015244
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Pray for the Mbukushu of Botswana

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

70%
%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Mbukushu
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%

Media Resources in Mbukushu:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Mbukushu:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Mbukushu bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Expanding Unreached People Group, (LPI: 2), 0.5% to 2% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Mbukushu:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Mbukushu are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Mbukushu:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Mbukushu are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Mbukushu:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Mbukushu of Botswana

These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self- made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
readColossians 2:23

Pray for those without Christ, that they will see the emptiness of human traditions and turn to the truth and grace found in Jesus.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
readRomans 10:14

Pray that the gospel will advance among those who don’t know the good news of salvation in Jesus so that they might believe and trust in Jesus.

For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.
read2 Thessalonians 3:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will persevere according to God's command, walk in faith, and be strong so that they can resist the evil one’s deception.

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
readLuke 18:29-30

Pray that God will raise up people to go and share the gospel and help them trust His promise that anyone who has left those they treasure for the sake of the kingdom of God will receive many times more in this life and in the life to come.

Mbukushu Across Countries (ROP3 - 106490) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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