PRAY FOR THE KOYA PEOPLE OF ANDHRA PRADESH
The KOYA people are a largely unreached people group in the mountains of Andhra Pradesh. They live in the forests, plains, and valleys. The Koya people we visited in Gurralagoomi had no running water, toilets, electricity, or phones. Their livestock wandered about the village. There was one central stove; many children and adults were cold, without enough blankets and clothes.
THEIR BELIEFS?
"The Koya practice their own ethnic religion, but also worship a number of Hindu gods and goddesses. Many Koya deities are female, the most important being the "mother earth." Sacrifices are carried out by the village priests. The Koya do not believe in heaven, hell, or reincarnation. When a person dies, his body is carried on a cot which is covered with grain, liquor, new clothes, money, and a cow's tail. At the appropriate place, the cot is faced towards the West, and the body is burned. The ashes are placed in a clay pot. The Koya believe that their spirits either linger about the clay ancestor pot, patrol the sky over the village, or wander about the village disturbing daily life"(Source: Joshua Project).
PRAYER POINTS AND NEEDS