First Disaster: Maji-Maji War
German
colonial policy aimed at securing Germany's status as a great power, securing
economic profit for German companies and German settlers and reducing the cost
of colonial administration. For the African populace that meant forced labour,
taxes and arbitrary use of power by the local authorities. On the other hand
the colonial rule also meant the end of the peoples' constant warring against
each other and of the slave hunts. But this was a benefit only for the
Wangoni's neighbours, not for the Wangoni themselves, because Wangoni economy
before colonization had partly relied on booty taken from their weaker
neighbours. The medicine man Kinjikitile brought a new message: Africans should
unite to fight the colonialists, his charmed medicine, water (in Swahili
"maji") mixed with certain ingredients, would protect them from the
German bullets. "Maji-Maji" was the battle cry of many African
peoples starting the war against the Germans in July, August and September
1905. 7 out of only 15 German victims were Missionary Benedictine monks and
sisters.
Murder and Destruction
Fr.
Cassian had been appointed the first bishop of the Benedictines' mission area
in 1902. In August 1905 he was travelling from the port of Kilwa to Peramiho,
where he intended to meet Abbot Norbert Weber of St.Ottilien who was performing
the canonical visitation there. Before setting out from Kilwa he received a
warning, but later information was reassuring. In the wilderness near Liwale,
at a place called Mikukuyumbu, the founder of Peramiho, two brothers, two
sisters and a young Anglican African were murdered on August 14th, 1905. The
other Africans accompanying them were able to escape or had already fled on the
day before. Through them the message of the missionaries' fate came to Peramiho
on 26th. On September 3rd Nkosi Mputa Gama had his war drums sounded, the
missionaries decided to flee to the neighbouring mission at Kigonsera. But the
parish priest, Fr. Franziskus Leuthner, refused to leave his flock. On
September 9th the Wangoni destroyed Peramiho, Fr.Franziskus was killed. So
Mputa had had his revenge, because two years earlier Fr.Franzikus hat forced
him in front of his followers to destroy a hut where offerings for the spirits
had been made. That had been a bad humiliation for the lord paramount.
War Crimes
African
spears were no match for the European machine guns. So the Africans switched to
guerilla warfare, but the Germans started to confiscate, to burn, to kill the
stocks, the fields and the cattle. This warfare against the civilian population
was a war crime also by the standards of the time. The Benedictines, especially
Fr. Johannes Häfliger, protested sharply, also the democratic parties in the
Reichstag (parliament) in Berlin uttered their criticism. But in those times of
monarchy the government was not a parliamentary one. About 100,000 Africans
fell victims to the machine guns and the hunger. The lords of the were taken
prisoners, if they could not escape like the legendary Chabruma. Fr. Johannes
was allowed to see them before their execution on February 27th, 1906. 31 out
of 48 captives accepted the baptism he offered them, among them the Nkosi,
Mputa Gama, who had ordered the execution of Fr. Franziskus. On that occasion
the photograph of the chained lords was taken.
A New Start
After
suffering defeat the Wangoni had to accept colonial rule. The missionaries did
their best to help the people during the famine after the war. Some of them,
like Fr. Johannes Häflinger, went very far in defending them against the
arbitrariness of the colonial authorities. So it was no wonder that the
zeitgeist was in favour of Christianity. Bishop Thomas Spreiter, who became
successor of the murdered Cassian Spiß in 1906, especially stressed the
establishment of schools. Many catechists were being trained and invested as
teachers in the so-called "bush schools". Zeitgeist and schools
didn't convert the people automatically. Nobody was baptized without applying
out of his own free will. Students were not baptized without parental consent. Indeed
most students were baptized some day, but not all of them.
Second Disaster: First World War
In
1913 the area of the Benedictines was divided into two parts, because the
number of missionaries and of Christians had grown considerably. The southern
part, including Peramiho, became the new Prefecture Apostolic of Lindi under
Fr. Willibrord Lay. Also for Peramiho and its three neighbouring missions
(Kigonsera established in 1899, Lituhi est. 1912, Litembo est. 1914) all
communication with Europe was through the port of Lindi. When in July and
August 1914 the Europeans started to kill each other, the Germans in the
colonies were cut off. Now the local Christians, especially the catechists had
their great hour. The catechist volunteered to continue on a very low pay, because
no European money was available. At the end of 1916 the British conquered the
area surrounding Peramiho. Luckily the German troops withdrew without much
resistance, so that the populace was spared the sufferings of the people in the
eastern part of our mission area, where the German commander continued futile
fighting until 1918. The British honoured the German resistance by calling it a
"gallant fight", thus showing that they were as ignorant of the
African suffering as the Germans
The Catechists' Hour
Although
the area of Peramiho had been largely spared the horrors of warfare, church and
people were badly affected by the deportation of all missionaries, even of the
nationals of neutal Switzerland, even of the sisters, of whom many were
committed to nursing the sick. Now the African Catechists were the ones to lead
the congregations without the help of a single priest. The merits of Cassian
Homahoma Gama at Lituhi, Petri Ndunguru at Litembo and Constantin Akitanda at
Matiri, an outstation of Kigonsera should not be forgotten. The British army
established a military hospital at Peramiho. Fr. Ambroise Fauconnier PA, a
Frenchman of the order of the White Fathers, who had been a missionary in
Malawi before becoming an army chaplain, was among the patients there. After
recovering in January 1918 he started pastoral care for the congregation of
Peramiho, leaving the army for that purpose. Other members of his order arrived
and assumed responsibility for the Christians in the area of Peramiho. The
statistics for 1916 counted 7,000 Christians, in 1922 there were 13,000.
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