Ingula, Josef (Joseph) * ?, ? † . Former student of Augustineum who went with Tjindimbue alias Lapp and Christoph Muhongo to start the missionwork of RMS in Ovamboland (RMS missionaries: Meisenholl, Bernsmann and Wulfhorst). Joseph Ingula was expelled from the Augustineum by Brinckner, but later again admitted by Viehe. (No further details given at this source.)1 Viehe writes: "Der andere Omukunyama (sic) Joseph Ingula macht mir dagegen (sic) viel Freude."2 "Von nicht unwesentlichem Werte für die beiden Brüder Wulfhorst und Meisenholl ist es, daß sie drei Ovambojünglinge, Josef, Christoph und Lappland, bei sich haben,[...] Er [Josef] leistet den Brüdern bei allmählicher Bewältigung der Ovakuanjamasprache gute Dienste. Über diese junge [sic] Leute schreibt Bruder Wulfhorst: Josef ist der tüchtigste von den Dreien. Von ihm darf man hoffen, daß er, wenn Gott Gnade giebt, noch in mancher Hinsicht der Missionsarbeit hier wird nütze sein können. Er hat uns beim Erlernen der Sprache und im Dolmetschen bisher viel genützt. Auch hat er seit letzten Sonntag begonnen, selber frei zu den Leuten zu sprechen. Die Gefahr für ihn ist hier nicht gering, denn hier in der Nähe der Häuptlingswerft giebt es viele Versuchung. Innerlich scheint er, soweit wir Menschen es beurteilen können, recht zu stehen. Christoph ist, was Schulbildung angeht, schwach. Er hat uns bisher durch seine Kochkunst am meisten genützt. Wenn er auch in Berlin kochen gelernt hat, so läßt er doch manches zu wünschen übrig, und oft stieg doch ein leiser Seufzer auf, wenn er uns sein Machwerk brachte. Immerhin ist er uns eine Hülfe, namentlich da er willig ist. Was sein inneres Leben angeht, so glaube ich, daß er unter der Zucht Gottes steht. Für die eigentliche Missionsarbeit wird er aber wohl schwerlich zu gebrauchen sein, da er die hiesige Sprache kaum wird ordentlich lernen können. Der dritte, Lappland, ist beschränkt, sonst aber willig und ordentlich. Er hat uns durch seine Bereitwilligkeit, trotzdem im Hererolande die Pockenkrankheit war, die Post dorthin zu bringen, Freude gemacht. Überhaupt zeigt er sich recht anhänglich. Wir konnten ihn bisher am besten als Hirten gebrauchen. Im Hererolande war er nicht getauft, drängt aber jetzt sehr, getauft zu werden. Sein Verlangen nach der Taufe scheint uns aufrichtig zu sein. Er wird übrigens schwerlich anders als zu äußeren Arbeiten zu gebrauchen sein."3 In 1891 Bernsmann would give the sermon in Herero and Josef would translate, on one recorded occasion, Josef also spoke to the congregation at the end of the service.4 "Josef, indigener Mitarbeiter aus dem Owamboland, Zögling des Augustineums, 1891 zusammen mit Bernsmann, Meisenholl und Wulfhorst Begründer der Owambomission, dort vor allem betraut mit Übersetzungsdiensten für die Missionare, die die lokale Owambosprache, das Ovakuanjama, erlernen."5 The organized attempt to use Evangelists for the establishing of a new mission field amongst the Kwanyama in Ovamboland was unsuccessful. It was Brincker's private initiative that he accommodated two Kwanyama boys in the Augustineum on his own cost. He used the time with the two boys for an intensive exchange in their language. Within two years Brincker had gathered enough knowledge of Okwanyama from Joseph Ingula and Lappland Heinrich Tjindimbue, that he dared to publish a book on the grammar of Okwanyama together with a German - Okwanyama dictionary. Brincker's motivation for this daring task was stirred by the long hedged wish of Herero missionaries to open a new mission field among the biggest population group of the Ovambos in the North of Namibia. After many years of mission work amongst the Nama, Oorlam and Herero without favourable results, the RMS dreamed about a mission field with a non-nomadic, agrarian population. Brincker's efforts to make the first written material in Okwanyama available and to train Joseph Ingula and Lappland Heinrich Tjindimbue as Evangelists for Ovamboland, must be seen on this background. It was only due to Brincker's influence that the two (plus Christoph Muhongo, who happened to understand and speak Okwanyama) finally joined the first missionaries to Ovamboland, since both Joseph Ingula and Lappland Heinrich Tjindimbue were expelled from the Augustineum because of their misconduct, only two months after Viehe had taken over from Brincker as the principal of the Augustineum. It must have been the desperate demand for interpreters that convinced Meisenholl and Wulfhorst to take the two along to Ovamboland, as trainees had actually disqualified themselves in the eyes of the missionaries for such a responsible task as the opening of a new mission field. As the background of the two lads were well known, Meisenholl had the special instruction from Barmen to handle Joseph Ingula and Lappland Heinrich Tjindimbue with strict discipline and supervision. This might have been possible in the restricted domain of a RMS mission station where the missionary had the absolute sovereignty, but it proofed to be impossible in the surrounding of the "heathen land" where the missionary was totally dependent on the goodwill of his guides and interpreters. Unwilling to follow the strict mission concept of the missionaries, the three "champions" (as Meisenholl called them ironically) "cut their own path", joined the chiefs company and "ran with the pack". Soon, all of them have one of the locals as a girlfriend (Meisenholl calls her a "bower"), with whom they live in the vicinity of the new mission settlement without being married. As all this arose the disapproval of the missionaries, conflicts between the two parties were inevitable. It was only the distress of the missionaries which forced them to make further use of their companions. As Lappland Heinrich Tjindimbue showed the biggest affection to his missionaries, he managed to stay in contact with the mission station and was later also used as a substitute for the missionaries. After baptisme, Lappland Heinrich Tjindimbue's new name was Heinrich. In January 1893, Meisenholl wrote, that Lappland Heinrich Tjindimbue returned to Ondjiva with a wife from Ondonga and settled in the vicinity of the mission station. He cultivated a piece of land. Joseph Ingula was appointed repeatedly by Wulfhorst, in spite of Meisenholl's intervention. Christoph Muhongo planned to move to "Humbi". No further information traced about the three Evangelists of Kwanyama. (all information compiled from two letters by Meisenholl to the "Deputation", dated 05.01.1893 and 27.06.1893 in RMG 1.536a:38 + 77). Married: Children: Education: Other family members connected to RMS: Mission Stations: History with the RMS: 1 RMG 1.603c:14r. 2 RMG 1.602c:16r. 3 BRMG 1892:75. 4 BRMG 1892:74. 5 Altena 2001:457. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------