Mission Education in the Eastern Caprivi Stripi during the Colonial Times, c1920s – ca1964

The historiography of the nineteenth century Christian mission in Southern Africa focused mainly on South Africa and then spread to Southern Rhodesia. The above assessment by (Oermanns, 1999, p.19) resulted in the cases of Mozambique and Namibia to be less known in the English-speaking world, and barely integrated in the overall debate. While there is ‘veritable renaissance ’ (in Ranger’s words) of Namibian historical studies, the historiography of Christian mission in Namibia neglects, mildly put, the role of missionaries in the conquest and subsequent colonial administration of the Caprivi Strip. Focus is put on south, central and north-central Namibia, examining the role of the Rhenish Missionary Society (RMS), the Finnish Missionary So ciety (FMS), the London Missionary Society (LMS) and the Roman Catholic Orders, and still in the case of the latter, their involvement in the Eastern Caprivi Strip (now Zambezi Region) is often not discussed in any major signifi cant detail. The discussion in this study is an attempt to remedy the above historiographical anomaly. However, instead of presenting a genera lised account, the specifi c focus is on the role of the missions (Seventh Day Adventist Mission and the Roman Catholic Holy Mission) in the provision of education during the period 1920s to 1964. The choice of the period of review was dictated by the fact that the fi rst mention of mission education in the Caprivi Strip appears to be in the early 1920s (Kangumu: 2000, p.19) and that by 1964 the Union government had started transferring the responsibilities for the provision of education and health services to the government department. General themes such as the nature of relations between African and mission Chris tianity, the interaction of missionaries with the colonial state (either as agents or innocent players) and the evangelization project will only be dealt with peripherally, if at all