Almost all the population of Mali is African. The major groups include the Bambara, the Tuareg, the Soninke, the Sénouf, the Songhai, the Malinké, and the Fulani. Nomadic Tuareg and other Berber tribes roam the Sahel region and parts of the Sahara Desert.

The Maasina region of Mali is a full-fledged geographical and political state located in the central part of the country. The culture and lifestyle of the Fula Kita who live there are virtually identical to those of the other Fulani peoples in West Africa.

What are their lives like?
The Fula Kita make a living mainly from farming and herding. Gathering forest products, hunting, fishing, and trading are also part of their daily lives. Staple crops include millet, rice, and peanuts. Cattle are their main type of livestock, but sheep and goats are also raised. The cattle are not the usual Fulani humped breed, but a native Fouta Djallon breed called Ndama, which is resistant to the disease-carrying tsetse fly.

Herding cattle is usually a male activity, although the women milk and help take care of the cattle. The women also tend to the small livestock and poultry, cultivate gardens, and carry containers of milk and cheese to the local markets for sale or trade.

Although Fula Kita villages are scattered, each village has a central court and a mosque. Together, these compose a miside, or community. Each miside has a headman who handles village affairs and answers to a chief.

Houses belonging to the settled Fula Kita are typically round with mud walls and thatched roofs. Each hut has an encircling veranda. The nomadic Fula Kita live in open, beehive-shaped huts with no walls or verandas. Each hut is surrounded by a cattle corral.

Daughters remain with their mothers until they marry. However, as soon as a son reaches puberty, he leaves the family compound and lives alone in a nearby compound, usually with some cattle. This new compound will become the home of the son and his future wife.

The first marriage of a man is usually arranged by the man's father. A bride-service of helping the girl's father with his livestock is performed by the man, who usually marries while he is in his early twenties. Polygyny (the practice of having more than one wife) is common, up to the Muslim limit of four wives. There is one chief wife, however, who has authority over the other wives.

Children belong to "age-sets" until they marry. An age-set occurs at three or four year intervals, with every child born in those years belonging to that set. The children in an age-set go to school together and often work together. When the time for marriage arrives, they may even help one another with the bride-service. Within each age-set are a leader, a deputy, and a judge.

What are their beliefs?
The Fula Kita in Mali are 95% Muslim. As such, they follow the teachings of the Koran, Islam's holy book. They believe that Allah is the only god and that Mohammed is his prophet. To teach their children the Muslim faith, some of the Fula Kita villages have established Islamic schools.

What are their needs?
The Fula Kita have some Christian radio broadcasts available in their own language. In addition, there are six missions agencies currently targeting them. Unfortunately, however, this large effort to evangelize these people has resulted in only a very small number of Fula Kita believers. Apparently, they are very devoted to Islam and view it as a fulfillment of their needs. To win the Fula Kita to Christ, further prayer is needed so that their hearts and eyes will be opened to the Truth.

Prayer Points

• Ask the Lord to send additional missionaries to join the ones who are already working among the Fula Kita of Mali.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to grant wisdom, favor, and unity to the six missions agencies that are targeting the Fula Kita.
• Ask God to anoint the Gospel as it goes forth via radio in their area.
• Pray that God will reveal Himself to the Fula Kita through dreams and visions.
• Pray that God will use the Fula Kita believers to minister salvation to their families and friends.
• Take authority over the spiritual principalities and powers that are keeping the Fula Kita bound.
• Ask God to raise up prayer teams who will begin breaking up the spiritual soil of Mali through worship and intercession.
• Pray that strong local churches will be raised up among the Fula Kita.

See also the following related groups: the Adawama Fulani of Cameroon; the Bagirmi Fula of Chad and the Central African Republic; the Bauchi Fulani of Nigeria; the Benin/Togo Fulani of Togo; the Bororo Fulani of Cameroon; the Fula of Benin and Burkina Faso; the Fula Jalon of Guinea, Mali, Senegal, and Sierra Leone; the Fula Macina of Mali and Maruitania; the Fula Toro of Senegal; the Fula Kunda of Guinea Bissau, and Senegal; The Fulani of Chad, Gambia, and Sudan; the Gurma Fulani of Burkina Faso; the Krio Fula of Sierra Leone; the Sokoto Fulani of Niger and Nigeria; the Liptako Fula of Burkina Faso; the Toroobe Fulani of Nigeria; and the Western Fulani of Niger.

THE PEOPLE

• People name: Fula Kita
• Country: Mali
• Their language: Peul
• Population: (1990) 32,200
  (1995) 37,800
  (2000) 44,000
• Largest religion: Muslim (Malikite) 95%
  Ethnic religionist 4.2%
• Christians: <1%
• Church members: 287
• Scriptures in their own language: None
• Jesus Film in their own language: None
• Christian broadcasts in their own language: Available
• Mission agencies working among this people: 6
• Persons who have heard the Gospel: 9,400 (25%) Those evangelized by local Christians: 2,200 (6%)
  Those evangelized from the outside: 7,200 (19%)
• Persons who have never heard the Gospel: 28,400 (75%)

• Country: Mali
• Population: (1990) 9,211,700
  (1995) 10,795,300
  (2000) 12,599,300
• Major peoples in size order: Bambara 31.4%
  Fula Macina 9.6%
  Soninke 7.4%
  Sanghai 6.3%
• Major religions: Muslim 85.3%
  Ethnic religionist 12%
  Christian 2.7%
• Number of denominations: 18