The Ese Ejja of Peru

The Ese Ejja of Peru, numbering approximately 600 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an Amazonian people, also known as Huarayo or Chama, whose name Ece'je simply means people, living along Peru's Tambopata and Heath rivers as part of a small transborder population shared with Bolivia and once entirely dependent on hunting and gathering. They mostly adhere to Animism and Ese Ejja is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Peru
People Cluster: Amazon
Primary Language(s): Ese Ejja (ese)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 600
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG017531
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Ese Ejja of Peru

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Ese Ejja
Language Family: Pano-Tacanan

100%
%
Ese Ejja Speakers

Media Resources in Ese Ejja:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Ese Ejja:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2006 New Tribes Bolivia✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Ese Ejja bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Ese Ejja 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 Ese Ejja:
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 Ese Ejja of Peru

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
readEphesians 2:8-9

Pray that the lost among them will receive the gift of salvation by grace through faith, not by works, and be created for good works.

For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.
readLuke 2:30

Pray that the lost will see the salvation of God, and that they will trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.
readColossians 4:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be wise in the way they walk with the lost and manage their time and other resources in a way that honors God.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
read1 John 1:5

Pray that God will raise up believers who can share the gospel with people who don't know the good news of Jesus, that God is light and in him, there is no darkness at all.

Ese Ejja Across Countries (ROP3 - 102948) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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 Data Standards section.

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