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

And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
readMatthew 6:7-8

Pray that those who don't have a relationship with their Creator will come to know a God who hears their every need, freeing them from empty rituals and drawing them into a real, trusting relationship with Him.

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
readRevelation 4:11

Pray that the good news will advance and people will recognize and worship the One who created all things by His will, giving glory and honor to Him alone.

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
readIsaiah 49:13

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and suffer for their faith, they will sing for joy and be glad in their hearts because the Lord has compassion on them.

The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
readJohn 1:35-36

Pray for those God sends to cross cultures to share the gospel, that they might faithfully share the good news of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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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