Mpungu

Mpungu is a settlement and a former mission station of the Finnish Missionary Society in the Mpungu Constituency in the Kavango West Region in Northern Namibia. It is located ca. 40 km south-west of Nkurenkuru and is inland as opposed to other former Finnish mission stations, which were located along the Kavango River. Today, a tarred highway from Ovamboland to Kavango connects Mpungu to other places in northern Namibia.

This article is about the settlement in Namibia. For the spirits of Palo, see Nkisi.
Mpungu
Mpungu
Location in Namibia
Coordinates: 17°40′1.20″S 18°13′58.80″E
Country Namibia
RegionKavango West
ConstituencyMpungu Constituency
Time zoneUTC+2 (South African Standard Time)
ClimateBSh

History of Mpungu

The mission station was founded in 1951 by Hellin Elomaa, a nurse, who also founded a small clinic there.[1]

In Mpungu, the Finnish missionaries were also in touch with the local San population.[1]

Infrastructure

Today there is still a health centre in Mpungu, as well as the Himarwa Iithete Senior Secondary School. Mpungu is situated on the B15 national road that connects to Angola via the Katwitwi settlement and border post to the north, and to Tsintsabis and Tsumeb to the south.[2] It also connects to Okongo via the C45.

References
  1. Peltola, Matti (1958). Sata vuotta suomalaista lähetystyötä 1859–1959. II: Suomen Lähetysseuran Afrikan työn historia [A hundred years of Finnish missionary work 1859–1959. II: The history of the Finnish Missionary Society in Africa]. Helsinki: Suomen Lähetysseura (The Finnish Missionary Society). p. 240.
  2. Itamalo, Marx (20 July 2016). "The forgotten settlement of Tsintsabis". The Namibian. p. 6.


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