Elim is a village in the north-east of the Republic of

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...

. It is the district capital of the

Elim Constituency Elim Constituency is an electoral constituency in the Omusati Region of Namibia. It had 15,210 inhabitants in 2004 and 7,883 registered voters . Its district capital is the settlement of Elim. Elim borders to the north and west to the constitue ...

in the administrative

Omusati Region Omusati ( ng, Mopane, after the dominant tree in the area) is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Outapi. The towns of Okahao, Oshikuku and Ruacana as well as the self-governed village Tsandi are situated in this region. , Om ...

. It is situated in a formerly forested area that has largely been converted into agricultural grassland. Elim is the centre of the

Uukwambi Uukwambi is a traditional kingdom of the Ovambo people in what is today northern Namibia. Its capital is Elim. The last king of Uukwambi was Iipumbu yaTshirongo, who was toppled by the South African authorities in 1932. Nowadays the highest tradi ...

traditional authority. The ''Monument for the Uukwambi Kings'', erected at the site of the grave and the remains of the homestead of king Nuuyoma, the sixteenth king of the Uukwambi, is situated here.

History

Elim was founded as a Finnish

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

station on 18 July 1870. Gradually, administration of the Lutheran parishes in

Ovamboland Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Ovambo people. The term originally referred to the part ...

was transferred from the Finnish missionaries to native ministers. Elim was one of eight such parishes and as such an important site of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) is a Lutheran denomination based in Namibia. It has a total membership of over 772,398, mainly in Northern Namibia. Formerly known as the Evangelical Lutheran Ovambo-Kavango Church (ELOC), it pl ...

. It has a well-developed infrastructure, including a clinic, church, constituency head office, community hall, mobile antenna, its own water supply, several

shebeen A shebeen ( ga, síbín) was originally an illicit bar or club where excisable alcoholic beverages were sold without a licence. The term has spread far from its origins in Ireland, to Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, the ...

s, a 'China shop', a small grocery store and some schools, such as the Naango Junior Primary School, Elim Senior Primary and Ashipala Senior Secondary School. Coinciding with the collection of pensions once a month a market is held.

Transport

There is one main gravel road which cuts through Elim joining

Oshikuku Oshikuku is a town in Omusati Region in the north of Namibia. It is the district capital of Oshikuku Constituency. Oshikuku features a secondary school, Nuuyoma Senior Secondary School, and a hospital. Its neighbouring villages are Outapi, Eli ...

(on the Uutapi Main Road from

Oshakati Oshakati is a town in northern Namibia. It is the regional capital of the Oshana Region and one of Namibia's largest places. Oshakati was founded in July 1966 and proclaimed a town in 1992. The town was used as a base of operations by the S ...

) to Ondalaye-ya-Elim (Okahao Main Road from

References

Populated places in the Omusati Region Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission mission stations in Uukwambi {{namibia-geo-stub