Engela
Engela | |
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Suburb of UTC+2 (South African Standard Time ) |
Engela is an
History of the mission station
Finnish missionaries first made visits to Oukwanyama in a place called Omafo where the English Major Fairlie had built a small church in 1918. The Finns travelled to Omafo from Ondonga via Oshigambo, which meant a journey of some 60 kilometres, taking 12 hours with an ox cart, no counting stops along the way.
By 1920, the church work in Oukwanyama involved 40 teachers and 1300 students, and it was getting difficult to administer the work from Ondonga. Thus it was decided to establish a mission station in this kingdom. Permission for this was obtained from the South West African government on 8 December 1920. The place for the mission station was determined by August Hänninen. He had been responsible for the church work in Oukwanyama while he still lived in Oshigambo. The new station was given the name Engela, and it was located ca. two kilometres from Omafo. Missionary Eetu Järvinen joined in the construction of the station, and in November 1920 the station was inaugurated. The following year, nurse Linda Helenius was sent to Engela to help Hänninen.[3]
Building of the church
The parish members of Engela were the most eager church builders in Ovamboland. In 1923, when the church in Omafo was badly run down, the parishioners built a beautiful clay brick church in Engela, assuming most of the expenses themselves.[4]
The dispute between the Finns and the Anglicans
In the early 1920s, the Finnish missionaries had a dispute with the
The hospital
Engela hospital was founded by
By the 1950s, the number of patients in Engela grew even bigger than that of Onandjokwe, which remained the main medical establishment in Ovamboland.[9]
In 1950, the Engela Parish Institute was founded, in order to train people for service in the ELCIN. This institute continues to thrive today. It seems that the institute was preceded by two separate institutions, a girls’ school and an institute for men.[10]
References
- ^ Nandjato, Ileni (4 February 2016). "Town planners failed Helao Nafidi". Informanté.
- ^ "Local elections results". Electoral Commission of Namibia. 28 November 2015. p. 5. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015.
- ^ Peltola 1958, p. 186, 188, 191, 196–198.
- ^ Peltola 1958, s. 210–211, 303.
- ^ Saarilahti 1999, p. 174–179.
- ^ Peltola 1958, p. 198–202.
- ^ Peltola 1958, p. 199, 231–232.
- ^ Peltola 1958, p. 234.
- ^ Peltola 1958, p. 188, 191.
- ^ Peltola 1958, s. 228, 245.
Sources
- Peltola, Matti (1958). Sata vuotta suomalaista lähetystyötä 1859–1959. II: Suomen Lähetysseuran Afrikan työn historia [‘One Hundred Years of Finnish Missionary Work 1859–1959. II: The History of FMS’s Missionary Work in Africa’]. Helsinki: The Finnish Missionary Society. p. 91.
- Toivo Saarilahti (1999). Kriisien kautta kasvuun. Suomen Lähetysseuran toiminta kotimaassa 1914–1938 [‘Growth through crises. The domestic work of the Finnish Missionary Society 1914–1938’]. Helsinki: Finnish Missionary Society. ISBN 951-624-257-X.