Nangombe Sakeus Iihuhua (born ca. 1885, Omapale,

Ondonga Ondonga is a traditional kingdom of the Ovambo people in what is today northern Namibia. Its capital is Ondangwa, and the kingdom's palace is at Onambango. Its people call themselves ''Aandonga''. They speak the Ndonga dialect. The Ondonga kingd ...

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 ...

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 ...

— died 22 June 1976) was one of the first seven

Ovambo Ovambo may refer to: *Ovambo language *Ovambo people *Ovamboland *Ovambo sparrowhawk The Ovambo or Ovampo sparrowhawk, also known as Hilgert's sparrowhawk, (''Accipiter ovampensis'') is a species of sub-Saharan African bird of prey in the family ...

pastors, whom the director of the

Finnish Missionary Society The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (''FELM'', formerly ''The Finnish Missionary Society''; fi, Suomen Lähetysseura ry; sv, Finska Missionssällskapet rf) is a Lutheran missionary society formed on January 19, 1859, in Helsinki, Finlan ...

Matti Tarkkanen Matti may refer to: * Matti (given name), people with the given name * Matti (surname), people with the surname * Matti, Karnataka, a village in India * '' Matti: Hell Is for Heroes'', a 2006 film about Matti Nykänen See also * Masa (disambigu ...

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform var ...

into priesthood in

Oniipa Oniipa is a town in the Oshikoto Region of northern Namibia and the district capital of the Oniipa electoral constituency. It lies just outside Ondangwa. It is the hometown of former Lutheran bishop and liberation leader Leonard Auala. There is ...

, on 27 September 1925, with a permission granted by the Bishop of Tampere,

Jaakko Gummerus Jaakko is a Finnish male first name, etymologically rooted in the Biblical names Jacob or James. The name day of Jaakko in the Finnish calendar is July 25. Jaakko may refer to: *Kings who are in English named ''James'' are in Finnish named ''Jaakko ...

. His brother

Obadja Iihuhua Uushunga Obadja Iihuhua (born , Omapale, Ondonga, Ovamboland, Namibia — died 10 June 1940) was one of the first seven Ovambo pastors, whom the director of the Finnish Missionary Society, Matti Tarkkanen ordained into priesthood in Oniipa, Ovamb ...

was also ordained at the same time. Iihuhua was baptized in 1902 in Oniipa by

Frans Hannula Frans is an Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish given name, sometimes as a short form of ''François''. One cognate of Frans in English is ''Francis''. Given name * Frans van Aarssens (1572–1641), Dutch diplomat ...

. He went to school in Oniipa during 1906–07 and in

Onayena Onayena is the district capital of Onayena Constituency in the north of Oshikoto Region in northern Namibia, situated approximately north of Etosha National Park. Economy and infrastructure The main economic activities in the constituency ar ...

during 1908–12, and in the Oniipa vocational school during 1913–16. He attended the Oniipa pastoral seminary during 1922–25 and was ordained in 1925. Even before his ordination, Iihuhua was a man of influence in Ombalantu. He had been working there as a teacher between 1917 and 1921. The king of

Ombadja Ombadja (known as Santa Clara until 1975) is municipality in Cunene Province, Angola. Its seat is the village of Xangongo (known in ancient times as Roçadas). It occupies 12,264 square kilometers and has about 304,964 inhabitants . It is border ...

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

had had a dream and sent a man to Iihuhua, so that he could obtain a teacher into his kingdom. However, this could not be arranged at the time. Before Iihuhua was ordained, the church services in Ombalantu had been performed by a Finnish missionary from

Okahao Okahao is a town in the Omusati Region of northern Namibia and the district capital of the Okahao electoral constituency. It is situated in the Ongandjera tribal area west of Oshakati on the main road MR123 ( Outapi — Tsandi — Okahao). I ...

. When Iihuhua had been ordained, he was joined by the Finn

Heikki Saari Heikki Saari (alias "Mörkö", "kermis" or "kmn") (born on 8 September 1984 and originating from Veteli, Finland) is the current drummer for Whorion and Finntroll. He is also the live drummer for Tuoni and former drummer of Norther and Amberian ...

in Ombalantu, at the mission station of

Nakayale Nakayale, also known as Nakayale Keengulu is a village in northern Namibia near Outapi in Omusati Region situated 86km northwest of Oshakati and 4km from Outapi. It is in Anamulenge Constituency. History of the mission station An auxiliary mission ...

. Iihuhua then worked from 1925 to 1976 in

, and he was described as a “great pillar of his own parish”. Elias Pentti wrote in 1958 of him, that “in spite of his age, he had remained surprisingly active and still had a burning desire to serve the cause of the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

.”Elias Pentti, p. 114. The Sakeus Iihuhua Primary School in the

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 ...

is named after him.

References

Sources

* * * Namibian Lutheran clergy Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission People from Omusati Region {{Lutheran-stub