Catarina Zenab

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

Early life and Education A member of the Dinka people, 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. She traveled to Verona to study before returning to Khartoum in 1873 to teach in the mission schools. Career 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".