Mission station Mlalo

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The Missionsstation Mlalo (originally called Missionsstation Hohenfriedeberg ) is a mission station in the Tanzanian town of Mlalo , which was founded in 1891 by Bethel missionaries . It is located in the Usambara Mountains in the Lushoto district of the Tanga region .

Mlalo station, mission church

history

Foundation of the Mlalo Mission

After the Bushiri uprising in what was then German East Africa was settled , the two Bethel missionaries Ernst Johanssen and Paul Wohlrab traveled to the Usambara Mountains in 1891. They did not have a police escort because they “did not want to start missionary work with bayonets ”. With the approval of the district chief Sikinyassi, they founded the first mission station in Mlalo in May 1891, which they called "Hohenfriedeberg".

In the German Colonial Lexicon of 1920 it says about Mlalo:

“Mlalo, large village of the Waschambaa ... in n. West Usambara, German East Africa , 1450 m. ü. d. M., in a protective position on a steep mountain cone above the Umba river. Close by is the Hohenfriedeberg mission station . M. is also called the whole landscape through which the upper Umba ... flows. "
Landscape in the Usambara Mountains near the Mlalo mission station

At first, the Shambala (local: WaShambaa ) living in the Usambara Mountains were very skeptical about the mission. But the persistent development work bore fruit. In 1914 the African congregations had over 2000 members. A printer in the Vuga mission station had been printing edifying writings in Shambala and Swahili since 1912 .

After they had gained a foothold in the Usambara Mountains, the missionaries set about building their own school system in which boys and - initially on a modest basis - girls learned to read and write in the local language. On the eve of the First World War , about 3,600 African children were being educated in the mission schools. Since 1902 the missionaries also trained African teachers in a middle school, and in 1908 a German school was founded.

Mission Mlalo, Church and School

Nursing has been one of the missionaries' work from the start. In 1902 a small colony for lepers was established near Hohenfriedeberg. Since 1905 there was a real mission medical service in the Usambara Mountains. In 1927/28 a mission hospital was finally founded in Bumbuli. It was built by the missionary doctor Samuel Müller and several sisters from the Sareptas Missionary Sisterhood.

In the years 1912–1916 Gustav v. Bodelschwingh worked as a missionary in Mlalo and on the island of Idschwi in Lake Kiwu on the border of the Congo state .

In the first World War

The First World War interrupted the work of the "Evangelical Mission Society for German East Africa" (EMDOA). The mission stations were occupied by Belgians, British and South Africans in the course of 1916, and most of the missionaries and their families were expelled. Shortly before the deportation of all remaining missionaries, seven African helpers were ordained as pastors - this was, at least in the mission areas of Usambara and Bukoba , the beginning of an “ indigenization ” of Christianity.

Between the world wars

After the First World War, the Bethel Mission resumed school work in Tanganyika , now administered as a mandate by the League of Nations of Great Britain . At the end of the 1920s, plans to rebuild the German School became more concrete: in 1931, Friedrich v. Bodelschwingh School opened in Luandai.

In 1930 a cantata festival with 350 singers and 30 trombone players was celebrated in Hohenfriedeberg (Mlalo). This event was the first major church music meeting in the German mission areas. They were in the process of developing church music as a "fighting instrument against paganism".

The Coburg couple Ludwig and Kunigunde Kelber lived and worked from 1932 to 1937 in the service of the Bethel Mission in Mlalo.

During the National Socialist era

The takeover of power by the National Socialists found a cautiously positive response in the Bethel mission. Mission inspector Curt Ronicke gave the motto: "Talk and criticize less, work more bravely, keep quiet and pray". Nevertheless, the ban on collecting and foreign exchange management soon threatened the existence of the Bethel mission. In Usambara and Bukoba, pressure was exerted on the missionaries to join the local NSDAP groups . The German school in Luandai was criticized for being too laxly managed “racial segregation”.

The Bethel missionaries did not fundamentally question the idea of ​​race, but turned against any form of white mastermind: “The great debt of the white race towards the colored races also puts the missionary as a member of the white race into a guilty context, who urgently demands atonement. "

During the Second World War , the work of the Bethel Mission largely came to a standstill.

After the Second World War

It was thanks to ecumenical contacts that the Bethel Mission was able to resume its work after 1945. Bethel missionaries interned in the war worked for other mission societies in South and South West Africa. From 1950 missionaries were sent to East Africa again to work in the traditional mission fields under the direction of American or Scandinavian societies. As the African churches became independent, the role of missionaries changed - a process that was not always free of conflict.

Partnership contacts in the present

Today the bears Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania , the pastoral care , including nursing and education in the former mission areas. It is supported by numerous partners in Germany, e. B .:

Partner from Hanover

Pupils from the vocational school center in Hanover , training center BBS 3, use their knowledge and skills in Tanzania:

“We have been in contact with two partner schools in Mlalo in the Usambara Mountains for more than ten years. Under the motto “Learning from one another by living and working together”, the German students and their teachers help improve the drinking water supply in schools for four weeks. It is about processing and analysis methods, quality assurance, maintenance of sources and repair of lines and much more. And by the way - but not least - the students were able to get to know the living and working conditions of the people in Tanzania and make friends. "

Partner from Göttingen

The Hainberg-Gymnasium Göttingen writes about its partner school and its exchange concept with Mlalo:

“In 1988 the school partnership between the Hainberg-Gymnasium (HG) and the Lwandai Secondary School (LSS) was founded in Mlalo. The primary goal is to promote education and mutual learning through intercultural encounters. The place Mlalo is a settlement with about 13,000 inhabitants and is located in northeastern Tanzania in the Usambara Mountains.
The LSS is a boarding school run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT-NED). In addition to the classrooms and science rooms, the school also has a library with a large assembly hall, a school kitchen, girls 'and boys' bedrooms, a school garden and a cattle shed. The school is currently building a large cafeteria.
Approx. 750 students from all over Tanzania are currently attending the school. These are taught by around 30 teachers. The students speak different tribal languages. The language of communication is Kiswahili , the language of instruction is English. The organization of lessons is based on the British school system, ie the pupils are taught in four years (form I-IV); these correspond to our years 8-11. Since 2001 there have also been 2 small classes with a total of approx. 26 students who can complete A-Levels (form 5 + 6) (university entrance!).
Since 1988 there have been three-week delegation trips to Mlalo approximately every two years. The tour group usually consists of a teacher and 10 to 12 students (at least 16 years old). Guests from our partner school are invited to Göttingen at irregular intervals.
The UNDUGU association was founded to support the LSS (financially). He also created a school network of six schools in the Göttingen area: the Hainberg-Gymnasium, four elementary schools and a special school, which maintain close contact with four comparable schools in Mlalo and a special school in Irente, and their partnerships through letters, encounters and financial support care for."

Partner from Dithmarschen

In 1988 the Dithmarschen parish of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany set up a partnership with the Lwandai Secondary School in the Usambara Mountains. At that time the parish of Norderdithmarschen was asked to support the construction of a water pipe at this school. Further projects followed.

Sons and daughters

literature

  • Oskar Baumann : In German East Africa during the uprising . Journey of the Dr. Hans Meyer 's expedition in Usambara , 1889; Reprint Bremen: Europäische Hochschulverlag 2013, ISBN 978-3-9558-0480-0 .
  • Oskar Baumann: Usambara and its neighboring areas. General presentation of north-eastern German East Africa and its inhabitants based on a trip carried out on behalf of the German East African Society in 1890 , Berlin: Reimer 1891; Reprinted by Ulan Press 2012.
  • Oskar Baumann: Map of northeastern German East Africa , Berlin 1893.
  • Otto Warburg : The cultivated plants Usambaras , 1894; Reprinted by Kessinger Publishing 2010.
  • August Seidel: Handbook of the Shambala language in Usambara, German East Africa. With texts, a Shambala-German and a German-Shambala dictionary , 1895; Reprinted by Hansebooks 2017.
  • Hans Wolf: The Gospel among the Waschambaa in the land of Usambara , Berlin 1899.
  • Rudolf Fitzner: German colonial manual. Edited from official sources , Volume I: Keyword Mlalo , Berlin: Paetel 2nd ed. 1901 online  - Internet Archive .
  • Botanical yearbooks for systematics, plant history and plant geography , Volume 41, Leipzig 1908 online  - Internet Archive .
  • Paul Wohlrab: Usambara. Becoming and growing a Gentile Christian community in German East Africa , Bethel 1915; Reprint Saarbrücken: Edition Finis Mundi 2005.
  • Heinrich Schnee (Ed.): German Colonial Lexicon , 3 volumes, Leipzig 1920; Reprint: Saarbrücken 2006 (online at ub.bildarchiv-dkg.uni-frankfurt.de) .
  • Gustav v. Bodelschwingh: Friedrich v. Bodelschwingh. Ein Lebensbild , Bethel 1922, p. 266 (online at gutenberg.org) .
  • Gustav Menzel: The Bethel Mission: From 100 Years of Mission History , Verlag Vereinte Ev. Mission, 1986, ISBN 978-3-9219-0009-3 .
  • Klaus Kordon : Once upon a time in Usambara , Bindlach: Loewe 1990, ISBN 978-3785523049 .
  • Wolfgang Kornder: The development of church music in the formerly German mission areas of Tanzania , Erlangen 1990, ISBN 978-3-8721-4308-2 .
  • Günther Taube: Economic stabilization and structural adjustment in Tanzania. The Impact of the Economic Recovery Program 1986-1989 in Rural Areas. Case study West Usambara Mountains, Lushoto District , Hamburg: Institute for African Studies 1992, ISBN 978-3-9280-4915-3 .
  • Christian Mersmann : Environmental Knowledge and Land Use in the African Village. On the question of peasant involvement in the design of the cultural landscape of the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania , Hamburg: Institute for Africa Studies 1993, ISBN 978-3-9280-4920-7 .
  • Karin Augustat: Women and soil erosion . A development-ethnological case study in the West Usambara Mountains, Tanzania , Saarbrücken: Verlag für Entwicklungspolitik 1994, ISBN 978-3-8815-6636-0 .
  • Stefan Arnold: Land scarcity in the Usambara Mountains (Tanzania). Conflicts and strategies of the population , Hamburg: Institute for African Studies 1996, ISBN 978-3-9280-4939-9 .
  • Thorsten Altena: "A bunch of Christians in the middle of the heathen world of the dark continent". On how Protestant missionaries understand themselves and others in colonial Africa 1884–1918 (= Internationale Hochschulschriften; Vol. 395), Münster: Waxmann 2003, ISBN 978-3-8309-1199-9 .
  • Christof Hamann : Usambara. Roman , Göttingen: Steidl 2007, ISBN 978-3-8652-1557-4 .
  • Leah Bach: Gentle moon over Usambara. Roman , Munich: Blanvalet 2012, ISBN 978-3-4423-7957-6 .

Movies

  • Peter Heller : Usambara, the land where faith should move trees , documentary 1980.
  • The Usambara Mountains of Northern Tanzania , 2012.
  • JiMBONI MLALO , 2016 (online on youtube.com) .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bethel Historically: Usambara - a new mission area. In: bethel-historisch.de. Retrieved March 29, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon 1920, Volume II, p. 585 (online at ub.bildarchiv-dkg.uni-frankfurt.de)
  3. ↑ Vuga 2015 - A summer experience. (PDF; 406 kB) In: evkg-hennen.ekvw.de. Evangelical Church Congregation Hennen, December 10, 2015, accessed on September 24, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Bethel Historically: The Diakonissenhaus Sarepta - Sisters for Bethel. In: bethel-historisch.de. Retrieved March 29, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Kornder: The Development of Church Music ... , Erlangen 1990, p. 106; quoted from Verena Grüter: What does the harmonium do in the Himalayas? On musical cultural change in ecumenism , in: EMW Annual Report 2007/2008, pp. 3–33, here p. 12.
  6. ↑ Rainer Gerhardt: Uhusiano Mwema - Good partnership. A chronicle of the 50-year partnership between the decant districts of Chimala and Coburg , Coburg 2012, p. 96 (online at coburg-evangelisch.de)
  7. ↑ Bethel Historical: Dankort - fusion of popular missions and international mission. In: bethel-historisch.de. Retrieved March 29, 2017 .
  8. ↑ BBS 3 - School for Occupations in Construction: School Partnership Tanzania. In: bbs3-hannover.de. Retrieved March 29, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Lwandai Secondary School: Tanzania - SaaHiiHii. In: saahiihii.com. Retrieved March 29, 2017 (English).
  10. ^ North-Eastern Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania - Karibuni! In: elct-ned.org. Retrieved March 29, 2017 (English).
  11. ↑ UNDUGU Friends' Association. In: hainberg-gymnasium.de. Retrieved March 29, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Tanzania: partner school and exchange concept. In: hainberg-gymnasium.de. Retrieved March 29, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Lwandai. In: kirche-dithmarschen.de. Archived from the original on March 25, 2017 ; accessed on July 27, 2019 .
  14. ^ Fitzner, Rudolf - Catalogus Professorum Rostochiensium. In: uni-rostock.de. Retrieved March 29, 2017 .
  15. ↑ Usambara - the land where faith is supposed to move trees. Brief description and trailer. In: filmkraft.de . Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  16. ↑ The Usambara Mountains of Northern Tanzania on YouTube , April 12, 2012, accessed May 13, 2018.
  17. ↑ Menzel: “When the station was first set up, the two missionaries received help from the deacon Carl Holst, who was a gardener and who was sent out a month later . ... Carl Holst switched to government service after only one year, obviously not working to full capacity in his service, but probably too restricted in his freedom of movement. He died on May 17, 1894 in Dar es Salaam . "(Pp. 86 and 501)

Coordinates: 4 ° 34 ′ 49 ″  S , 38 ° 21 ′ 2.9 ″  E