DOCSLIB.ORG

The Helms of Hope Fountain © by Gwenda Newton

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Helms of Hope Fountain © by Gwenda Newton 1 The Helms of Hope Fountain © By Gwenda Newton Paarl, 1999 2 Contents Page Chapter 1. ELSBETH 3 Chapter 2. CHARLES 5 Chapter 3. NEW HORIZONS 9 Chapter 4. THE JOURNEY NORTH 14 Chapter 5. LOBENGULA 17 Chapter 6. HOPE FOUNTAIN 33 Chapter 7. UMHLABATINE 54 Chapter 8. THE CONCESSION SEEKERS 67 Chapter 9. THE RUDD CONCESSION 70 Chapter 10. THE MOORE CONTROVERSY 100 Chapter 11. THE PIONEER COLUMN 123 Chapter 12. THE MATABELE WAR 130 Chapter 13. THE REBELLION 148 Chapter 14. THE DREAM FULFILLED 152 Appendix. A TREK WAGON 161 Bibliography and List of Illustrations 162 - 165 3 1. ELSBETH small white object was moving slowly, high on the mountainside. Elsbeth Elsbeth realized that it was a wagon ascending the pass that she would travel A travel over the next day. That, Elsbeth told her daughter Jessie in later life, life, was the only moment in her life that she felt like turning back. The year was 1874 and Elsbeth, her husband, Charles and their baby, Jessie, had outspanned their wagons at the foot of the Montagu Pass, between George and Oudtshoorn in the Cape Province. This was their first trek up to Matabeleland where Charles was to take up his duties as a missionary with the London Missionary Society. Nothing in her early years had prepared the Baroness Elisabeth (Elsbeth) Eduardine Von Puttkamer for this experience, or, for that matter, her life as a Missionary’s wife in a remote area of central Africa. *** Born on the 31st of March 1848, on her parents’ Estate in Sulzow, Pomerania (although one source states that she was born in Lubzow), she was one of thirteen children, three of whom died in infancy. Her father, the Baron Georg Friedrich Von Puttkamer was a member of an old aristocratic family, who had inherited a family Estate, Gross-Podel, on the death of his father in 1833. 4 Five years later, at the age of 25, he married 23 year old Delphine Von Zitzewitz. Their eldest child, Marie, was 2 years old when they sold the family Estate and moved to Sulzow in 1841. All their subsequent children were born on this Estate. Elsbeth had happy memories of her childhood and many evenings were spent recalling them for her children. The one particular story that two of her daughters remembered vividly, was that of a rainy afternoon when Elsbeth, with some of her siblings wandered into the newly decorated Ballroom, which was supposedly out of bounds to them. Carrying ripe pears in their hands, temptation, in the form of cherubs at the corner of the ornate ceiling, was irresistible, and soon one of the boy’s pears scored a hit. Alerted by their shouts of excitement, their mother arrived on the scene. She advised them that it would be in their best interest to see that the mess was cleared up before their Father found out. Sadly, in 1860 when Elsbeth was 12 and the youngest child 2, money problems forced the family to sell this Estate and move finally to Stolp (Now in Poland and called Slupsk). Elsbeth, like her sisters, had a Governess in her early years, but her formal education began at the Seminary of Pastor Schultz in Crangen and lasted until 1865, when she transferred for 2 years to the High School for girls in Stolp. During her final year there, her second brother, Otto, died of a chest infection. When she left school, Elsbeth realized that the lack of family funds could limit her future, so she decided to earn her own living. With the help of some English friends she obtained a post as a companion to Mrs. Bliss, whose husband was the Bodleian Librarian at Oxford in England. She caused great merriment in the Bliss household on the day she rushed in from a walk, and asked the Professor if it was the custom in England to allow lunatics out with such a small guard. She had witnessed her first Rugby match! She returned home at the end of 1867. Her maternal grandmother had died on the 4th of November and her eldest brother Georg had been killed on the 1st of December while mountain climbing. He had been a Lieutenant in the 21st Infantry Regiment in Berlin. She began the New Year in Dublin, Ireland, as a companion/governess to Lina Greene, a granddaughter of Lord Plunkett. Here Elsbeth became a firm favourite and was accepted as part of the family. Lina’s brothers loved to tease her. On one occasion, as she passed one of the boys on the stairs, he gave her a resounding kiss on the cheek, to which she retaliated with a playful slap. At dinner that evening the young man arrived at the table with his face swathed in bandages. When asked for an explanation, he answered with a twinkle in his eyes, “Ask Puttie!” The boys also never allowed her to forget her lapse in English when she referred to the “Tripes of Israel” 1870 was a sad year for Elsbeth as her two older unmarried sisters, 23 year old Olga and 31 year old Marie, died. News of her Father’s death in 1872 saw her returning home once more, after having said her final good-bye to the Greenes. Lina was now too old to have a Governess, so when Elsbeth returned to England, she went to Lancaster Gate, London, where her new charge, a 17 year old girl, lived. For a while 5 Elsbeth attended Church with the family but, as she was a Lutheran, she found the services “too high”. The maid suggested that the Congregational Chapel at Craven Hill might be more suitable for her. It was, and Elsbeth became friendly with the Minister’s daughter, and often visited her. Lodging with the Minister, the Rev. Archibald McMillan, was a young man who was attending New College, Hampstead, which was a Congregational training centre for Missionaries. The young man was Charles Daniel Helm. 6 2. CHARLES nlike Elsbeth, Charles Helm’s early years had fully prepared him for a Missionary’s life. He was born on a Mission station, at Zuurbraak, Cape UProvince, on the 22nd of September 1844, where his parents Daniel and Johanna Helm were in charge of the Mission. Both sets of Grandparents were also Missionaries with the London Missionary Society (L.M.S.) which had been formed in London in 1795. The Directors of the L.M.S., in May 1796, had defined the fundamental principles as follows: “As the Union of Christians of various denominations in carrying on this great work is a most desirable object, so, to prevent, if possible, any cause of future dissension it is declared to be a fundamental principle of the Missionary Society that our design is not to send Presbyterianism, Independency, Episcopacy, or any other form of Church Order and Government (about which there may be difference of opinion amongst serious persons), but the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God to the Heathen; and that it shall be left (as it ever ought to be left) to the minds of the persons whom God may call into the fellowship of His Son from among them to assume for themselves such form of Church Government as to them shall appear most agreeable to the Word of God.” Charles’ paternal grandfather was Heinrich Carl Jacob (known as Henry), who was born on the 22nd March 1780, at Neubrandenburg, in the State of Mecklenburg, Strelitz. Henry’s wealthy parents owned a sugar refinery in Schleswig Holstein, and 7 fully expected young Henry to follow in his father’s footsteps, so they were dismayed when he decided to study Theology at Rijks-University. Threats of disinheritance did not alter his determination. After leaving University, he became a Chaplain in the Dutch Navy, and it may have been at this stage that he decided to go for Missionary training at the London Missionary Society in England. Once there, he worked as a Clerk to subsidize his studies. Finally, on the 5th of June 1811, he set sail from Portsmouth on the “Lady Barlow”, for Cape Town, South Africa. With him was his new bride, Charlotte (nee White). As she was the daughter of wealthy parents, they had among their belongings in the ship’s hold a grand piano, much heavy furniture and silverware. They disembarked at Simon’s Town on the 13th September 1811, and travelled to Cape Town to ascertain their first post with the L.M.S. They were appointed to Pella, a desolate part of North- Western South Africa. Their first home was to be a thatched hut, built on a sandy hill, so their furniture was put into storage where it remained for 16 years. On their journey to Pella, their first son, Samuel David, was born at Steinkopf on the 22nd February 1812. When John Campbell, a Director of the L.M.S. came out on a visit in 1813, he took the Helms with him to visit other stations. He agreed, because of Henry’s ill health that they should move to the L.M.S. station at Oram’s Kraal, Grootrivier where their second son, Daniel Johannes, was born on the 15th March 1814. He was destined to be the father of Charles. During his visit, Campbell had taken Henry on a visit to the family of William Anderson at the Griquatown mission. William Anderson was Charles’s maternal Grandfather. The Anderson’s daughter, Johanna, born in 1813, was to marry Daniel Helm. William had arrived in Cape Town in 1800 and started his ministry among a lawless population, led by a freed slave, Adam Kok.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • History 1886
    How many bones must you bury before you can call yourself an African? Updated December 2009 A South African Diary: Contested Identity, My Family - Our Story Part D: 1886 - 1909 Compiled by: Dr. Anthony Turton [email protected] Caution in the use and interpretation of these data This document consists of events data presented in chronological order. It is designed to give the reader an insight into the complex drivers at work over time, by showing how many events were occurring simultaneously. It is also designed to guide future research by serious scholars, who would verify all data independently as a matter of sound scholarship and never accept this as being valid in its own right. Read together, they indicate a trend, whereas read in isolation, they become sterile facts devoid of much meaning. Given that they are “facts”, their origin is generally not cited, as a fact belongs to nobody. On occasion where an interpretation is made, then the commentator’s name is cited as appropriate. Where similar information is shown for different dates, it is because some confusion exists on the exact detail of that event, so the reader must use caution when interpreting it, because a “fact” is something over which no alternate interpretation can be given. These events data are considered by the author to be relevant, based on his professional experience as a trained researcher. Own judgement must be used at all times . All users are urged to verify these data independently. The individual selection of data also represents the author’s bias, so the dataset must not be regarded as being complete.
    [Show full text]
  • A Biographical Study of Bishop Ralph Edward Dodge 1907 – 2008
    ABSTRACT Toward a New Church in a New Africa: A Biographical Study of Bishop Ralph Edward Dodge 1907 – 2008 This biography of a Methodist Bishop, Ralph Edward Dodge is an extensive look into how, as a missionary, mission board executive, and bishop, Dodge applied principles of indigenization he embraced as a young man preparing for missionary work to the complexities of ministry in Southern Africa when empires were withdrawing and new nations were forming. Written by an African, the dissertation examines Dodge’s impact upon the several countries in which he was involved as a churchman ‒ countries that would soon move from imperial subjugation to independence. Ralph Edward Dodge (1907–2008) was an American missionary and Bishop of the Methodist Church and United Methodist Church. He was born in Iowa and went to Africa in 1936 at age 29. He began his missionary career in the Portuguese colony of Angola. Except for four years during World War II, he would serve there until 1950. During the war, he continued his postgraduate work, obtaining two more degrees, including a PhD. Afterwards, Dodge and his family returned to Africa. In 1950, he was asked to serve as Executive Secretary for Africa and Europe at the Methodist Church’s Board of Missions in New York. Six years later, the Reverend Doctor Dodge would return to Africa as Bishop Dodge, the first Methodist Bishop elected by the Africa Central Conference, and the only American. His Episcopal Area included the colonial territories of Angola, Mozambique, and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). When his twelve-year term was ended, he was elected “Bishop for Life.” Bishop Dodge remained in Africa until his “retirement” in 1968.
    [Show full text]
  • Response to Colonial Encroachment / Invasion: British Penetration
    Response to Colonial encroachment / invasion: British Penetration: Central Africa: NDEBELE STATE During the 19th Century European penetration into Central Africa had taken the form of individual hunter – explorer for example F. C. Selous, small traders like Webtebeach and missionaries who had followed Livingstone. There was no serious consideration of large – scale European settlements and colonial expansion until the 1880s. The reason behind this was that the area was occupied by the Ndebele, the Rozvi and Shona chieftaincies. However in the 1880s, within the context of the atmosphere of the Scramble, renewed European interests gradually began to gain momentum. Countries showing interest here were Portugal, Britain, and the Boers of the Transvaal. The Concession Seekers: The wake of mineral discoveries in South Africa also inspired by the reports of hunter – explorers, individual fortune hunters and prospectors entered the area seeking concessions especially from Lobengula and Khama. The rumour grew rapidly that they must be a Second Rand in the area between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. Among the later concession seekers, there were government officials from Germany and the Transvaal Boers as well as agents of very rich capitalists who also had imperialist aims (for example capitalists like Rhodes, Alfred Maguire and Rudd). The capitalist urged Britain to colonise the Transvaal so that Britain could be in a position to take over the gold fields. They urged Britain to annex Bechuanaland. These people were not just were individuals. They were agents of imperialism. Lobengula, for as long as he could, avoided granting any concessions whatsoever, but as pressure mounted, he was forced into coming to terms with the imperialists.
    [Show full text]
  • Ufahamu: a Journal of African Studies
    UCLA Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies Title Nehanda of Zimbabwe (Rhodesia): The Story of a Woman Liberation Fighter Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3nc0s46w Journal Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, 7(1) ISSN 0041-5715 Author Mutunhu, Tendai Publication Date 1976 DOI 10.5070/F771017440 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California 59 ~iffil\ OF Zlf'Bl\B\£ CIIDIESIA): TI£ STORY OF A~ LIBERATIOO LEAIER lliD FIGITER. by " Tendai Mutunhu Introduction In Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), African women have tradition­ ally shared equal responsibilities and duties in public administration, political affairs and national defense. In the military service, women, like men, were involved in combat duties. During the Mwenemutapa Empire, for example, some of the best combat regiments in the Imperial Army were made up only of women soldiers. These battle seasoned regiments were commanded and led by capable and competent women military officers. The regiments were made up princi­ pally of young and un-married women. A number of the Emperors of this wealthy and powerful empire had great faith and confidence in the fighting capabilities of their women soldiers because many of them had distinguished themselves in battle by their courage and bravery.l This great military tradition has been maintained in Zimbabwe and has surfaced in various forms and intensity s i nce 1890 when the country was formally colonized and sub­ jugated by the British settlers. Because of the growing military and racial conf~ontation between the Zimbabwe Lib­ eration Army, the Military wing of the African National Council, and the forces of the white racist minority regime of Ian Smith, a number of African women of Zimbabwe are being r ecruited to serve at various levels in the army of libera­ tion.
    [Show full text]
  • Jesuit Studies Modernity Through the Prism of Jesuit History
    Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Africa <UN> Jesuit Studies Modernity through the Prism of Jesuit History VOLUME 13 The Boston College International Symposia on Jesuit Studies Edited by Robert Aleksander Maryks (Boston College) Editorial Board James Bernauer, s.j. (Boston College) Louis Caruana, s.j. (Pontif icia Università Gregoriana, Rome) Emanuele Colombo (DePaul University) Paul Grendler (University of Toronto, emeritus) Yasmin Haskell (University of Bristol) Ronnie Po-chia Hsia (Pennsylvania State University) Thomas M. McCoog, s.j. (Fordham University) Mia Mochizuki (New York University Abu Dhabi and Institute of Fine Arts, New York) Sabina Pavone (Università degli Studi di Macerata) Moshe Sluhovsky (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Jeffrey Chipps Smith (The University of Texas at Austin) VOLUME 2 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/js <UN> Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Africa Edited by Robert Aleksander Maryks Festo Mkenda, s.j. LEIDEN | BOSTON <UN> This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the prevailing cc-by-nc-nd License at the time of publication, which permits any non-commercial use, and distribu- tion, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Cover illustration: A version of the ihs logo printed on the cover of early issues of the Zambesi Mission Record. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Maryks, Robert A., editor. Title: Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Africa / edited by Robert Aleksander Maryks, Festo Mkenda, S.J. Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2018. | Series: Jesuit Studies - Modernity through the prism of Jesuit history, ISSN 2214-3289 ; VOLUME 13 | Includes index.
    [Show full text]
  • Rhodesiana Volume 16
    .:; :;.·!_:t~}~{:i:~ ·,; About 1935 The Standard Bank, Bindura 1967 .I RHODESIANA Publication No. 16 — July, 1967 THE RHODESIANA SOCIETY Salisbury Rhodesia Edited by E. E. BURKE assisted by COL. A. S. HICKMAN, M.B.E. Copyright is reserved by the Society but reproduction of any matter is permitted provided that acknowledgement is made to the Society. Authors are responsible for their own opinions and for the accuracy of statements they make. iv to get your share of the market you must first get your share of the mind. ► The source of this commercial truism is not known to us but the means to achieve it is our business. We would like to help you get your share of the mind and there is no more certain way of achieving this than the use of the printed word. Your message will dwell on the mind - your creations must enjoy their share of the market when you PRINT WITH MARDON ~ MAROON PRINTERS (PVT .) LTD. at Salisbury and Bulawayo ii The old Zeedcrberg staging post near the Trojan nickel mine, Bindura. The staging post, which was built in 1905 and later became an hotel, is now occupied by an employee of the mine. Bindura: Old-world charm and present day progress A house wider construction in 1967 for a senior official of Trojan nickel mine. Anglo American Corporation, which admin.isters the mine, is spending £10 million on nickel mining, smelting and the provision of housing and ancillary services in the Bindura/Shamva_a rea. CONTENTS Page PAT JUDSON: FIRST RHODESIAN BORN AIRMAN, BY J.
    [Show full text]
  • Oral History Association of South Africa
    ORAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH AFRICA Oral history: Heritage and identity Proceedings of the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Annual National Oral History Conference White River, Mpumalanga (2010) Mahikeng, North-West Province (2011) & Mangaung, Free State (2012) Editor Christina Landman © 2013 Research Institute for Theology and Religion University of South Africa, P O Box 392, Pretoria, 0003 South Africa First edition, first impression ISBN 978-1-86888-737-8 Typesetting, typographical editing and final lay-out: Nonnie Fouché, Research Institute for Theology and Religion, University of South Africa Cover design: David Kahts Department of Production University of South Africa Printed by: Bontshi Business Services PO Box 51248 Wierda Park Centurion 0149 Acknowledgement: A financial contribution by the Department of Arts and Culture made this publication possible. © 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means – mechanical or electronic, including recordings or tape-recording and photocopying – without the prior permission of the publisher, excluding fair quotations for purposes of research or review. The views expressed in this book are those of the authors of the papers and not necessarily those of the Research Institute for Theology and Religion or the University of South Africa. Table of contents Foreword vii-viii Seventh Oral History Conference 2010 (White River, Mpumalanga) Oral history and heritage: National and local identities Daring to challenge the mightiest: voices and acts
    [Show full text]
  • Jesuits, Protestants, and Africa Before the Twentieth Century
    Jesuits, Protestants, and Africa before the Twentieth Century Festo Mkenda, s.j. Sixteenth-century Africa was anything but a “dark continent” for the Jesuits. Their early missionary imagination clearly included Africa, and parts of the continent received Jesuits from as early as 1548. By 1561, Gonçalo da Silveira (1526–61) had penetrated the interior of southern Africa and had succeeded in baptizing one Monomotapa, king of the Shona people of today’s Zimbabwe. Around the same period, a small band of Jesuits had entered the fabled land of Prester John, constituting the then unmapped Abyssinia, also known as Ethiopia Superior, and had succeeded in establishing a mission to Catholicize a country that was staunchly Orthodox. Mostly tormented and at times persecut ed, that mission lasted for close to a century. Within the same sixteenth century, the Jesuits had made inroads into the old Kongo Kingdom, taking part in a Catholic mission that had already matured into a local church whose bishop had been the king’s own son, Henry (c.1495–1531), described as the “first African bishop south of the Sahara.”1 Similar Jesuit missions in Mozambique and Ang ola lasted until the Society was suppressed in Portuguese dominions in 1759. Jesuits were not the only Catholic missionaries in Africa in that period. Oth- er religious congregations also evangelized in regions that were under Portu- guese influence. However, the Jesuit imprint on the so-called second wave of Christian evangelization of the African continent was significant. As Dr. Fred- eric Perry Noble (b. c.1863)—son of a Congregational pastor, a notable critic of Catholic missions in Africa, and secretary of the 1893 Chicago Congress on Africa—would put it, “He [the Jesuit], despite the activity of the Capuchin, Dominican, Franciscan, Lazarist and other orders, is the dominant figure in the missions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • Treaties Signed by Lobengula
    Treaties Signed By Lobengula Ferdy tenses sneakingly while serried Darrel tithe tactfully or halal animatedly. Parklike Thorpe always obscurations his presenters if Bob is incompatible or rungs neither. Paton often misprints terrifically when enactive Englebart phlebotomise ineligibly and embalms her darnel. Lobengula was able to ensure that we have been scrutinised minutely, then suggested that of friendship treaty with a new constitution makes matabeleland was. Tomoson has changed too cohesively organised the treaty by lobengula. Both sugauli treaty and transcribed by. Matabeleland was acting under the treaty by lobengula was the considerable weight than on this as best to make a prominent place intermittently over control. The entire region of the past few weeks earlier in europe for some unbiased lozis chosen may have convenient answers. As may apply to. Must be issued by lobengula signed all. Lippert was signed by treaty differed greatly. But had had since britain organised to sign any specific policy. Rudd quickly came out of alberta indian reserves in my last goodbye to see also look after him about three countries could demand tax glossary. Retention by lobengula to treaties and native authority to act gave protection for industrial giant which they had announced its role has led to pay to captain lendy at birkenhead for. The treaty by lobengula signed was another tough regime ensuring the company administration of the europeans at the moment unfitted to sign the nation with applications. Moffat maneuver with requests to force his brother, or enhancement that it stipulated that. Royal charter by. Yet its administrative powers to lobengula signed his treaty on a protectorate treaty obligations to a possible for advice and signing over a virtual transvaal protectorate.
    [Show full text]
  • The Colonization of Southern Africa Economic Reasons for Scramble For
    The Colonization of Southern Africa Economic reasons for scramble for territory in Southern Africa Need for raw materials e.g. gold and diamond They wanted to take land Needed markets to sell their manufactured goods. Need for investment areas. Political reasons Strategic reason e.g. Cape Town Power to influence events in Europe The influence of political and imperialists like Rhodes. The National prestige Political control of new lands Mzilikazi and concluding the Moffat treaty of 1836. This facilitated the signing the Moffat treat in 1888 between Moffat and Lobengula Rev Charles Helm persuaded Lobengula to grant the Rudd concession. He was an imperialist agent stationed at Lobengula’s court and was being paid by Rhodes for his role Other factors Lobengula’s Indunas Lotshe and Sikhombo were bribed and persuaded the king to sign the treaty. Lobengula might have willingly signed the treaty to reap benefits promised. Lobengula was illiterate and was taken advantage of Lobengula knew that he was dealing with a powerful force land so had to yield. Perhaps Lobengula wanted to play one group of whites against another. B.S.A.C (British South African Company) Was a company which would give Rhodes the authority to colonize and administer Zimbabwe on behalf of Britain. It was formed in early 1889 It took a deal of time to obtain a charter. Christian groups, tax payers and philanthropic circles both in Africa and Britain oppressed it The opponents wanted Britain herself to colonize and administer Central Africa under a system of protectorated Rhodes argued that if his company was granted a Royal Charter it would colonize and develop Zimbabwe on behalf of Britain but without requiring the British tax payers to pay for these things All expenses would be met by taxes from shareholders of the BSAC i.e.
    [Show full text]
  • Rethinking Religious Encounters in Matabeleland Region of Zimbabwe, 1860-1893
    African Journal of History and Culture (AJHC) Vol. 1 (2), pp. 016-027, June, 2009 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJHC ISSN 1992 - 1950 © 2009 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Rethinking religious encounters in Matabeleland region of Zimbabwe, 1860-1893 Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni* The Open University, P O Box 75, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom. Tel.: +44-1908-240097, E- mail: [email protected], [email protected]. Accepted 12 June, 2009 This article provides a new interpretation of the religious encounters that unfolded in Matabeleland region in the period between 1860 and 1893 from the perspective of Gramscian concept of hegemony and John and Jean Comaroff’s concept of cultural and colonial encounters. The focus of the article is on the nature of encounters, uneasy religious dualities, conversations, contestations, blending, rivalries, negotiations and transformation of consciousness that developed at the centre of the meeting of the Ndebele speaking people and Christian missionaries prior colonisation. The article challenges previous scholarship that informed by the inflexible ‘domination and resistance’ perspective that had no room for the agency of the African communities involved in colonial encounters. Key terms: Religion, worldview, christianity, traditional religion, hegemony, colonial encounters, conversion. INTRODUCTION Existing studies on the introduction of foreign religious any religious reason to convert to Christianity in large ideas like Christianity into Africa have tended to take the numbers in the nineteenth century. What attracted the erroneous view of African pre-colonial communities falling Ndebele to Christian missionaries were commercial inter- arbitrary into a foreign worldview.
    [Show full text]