Catarina, sometimes Caterina, Zenab (1848–1921) was a Sudanese Catholic missionary.

A member of the Dinka people,[1] born in a Dinka village, Zenab studied at the Holy Cross Mission before traveling with Daniele Comboni to Khartoum in 1860. Fluent in Dinka and Arabic, she assisted the missionaries in developing a dictionary and grammar of the Dinka language.[2] She traveled to Verona to study before returning to Khartoum in 1873 to teach in the mission schools. Zenab spent her entire career as a missionary in Khartoum, Cairo, and Omdurman, evangelizing among the Dinka, many of whom were enslaved in those cities. She has been called "perhaps the first Christian Dinka evangelist".[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Bengt Sundkler; Christopher Steed (4 May 2000). A History of the Church in Africa. Cambridge University Press. pp. 144–. ISBN 978-0-521-58342-8.
  2. ^ Kathleen E. Sheldon (2005). Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5331-7.