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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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The Sau of Afghanistan

The Sau of Afghanistan, numbering approximately 9,200 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community centered on Sau village on the east bank of the Kunar River in northeastern Afghanistan; their Savi language is an Indo-Aryan Shina variety closely related to Palula and Kalkoti. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Savi is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Sau

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Afghanistan
People Cluster: Kashmiri
Primary Language(s): Savi (sdg)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 9,200
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024013
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Pray for the Sau of Afghanistan

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: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Savi
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Savi Speakers

Media Resources in Savi:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Savi:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Savi bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), 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): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% 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 Sau:
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

Pray specifically for the Sau of Afghanistan

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
readPsalm 1:6

As many look for hope in worldly pleasures, pray they will hear and accept salvation through Christ, turn from destruction, and experience joy in the way of righteousness.

Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
readMark 10:14b

Praise Jesus for the way He loves children, asking that many will learn the truth about Him and come to Him unhindered.

Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.
readJohn 17:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will experience freedom from sin as God sanctifies them in the truth of His Word.

Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”
readPsalm 96:10

Pray for God to put in the hearts of believers to go to the lost and testify about the Lord who reigns.

Sau Across Countries (ROP3 - 108746) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress Index ▲LanguageReligion
SauPG024013SauAfghanistan9,200Unengaged and UnreachedSaviSunni Islam

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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