Albin Savola (26 July 1867,

Sulkava Sulkava is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Juva, Puumala, R ...

- 8 December 1934,

Forssa Forssa is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located almost in the centre of a triangle defined by the three largest major cities in Finland (Helsinki, Turku and Tampere), in the Tavastia Proper region, and which is crossed by Highway 2 ...

) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

priest and missionary, who served as one of the first Finnish missionaries 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 parts of ...

and published literature in the

Oshindonga Ndonga, also called Oshindonga, is a Bantu dialect spoken in Namibia and parts of Angola. It is a standardized dialect of the Ovambo language, and is mutually intelligible with Kwanyama, the other Ovambo dialect with a standard written form. Wi ...

language.

Life stages

Savola was born in Sulkava Kaipola village in a miller's family. The father was Abraham Popoff and mother Leena Kaisa Karppinen. Albin Savola started the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission missionary school in 1890. From the school he was sent mission field, where he arrived in 1893. As a layman, Savola was assigned the task of developing cotton cultivation in Ovamboland and fabric production. Savola worked at the

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 ...

missionary station. Albin Savola became engaged to Eedla Nikkinen. The fiancée to Ovamboland in 1896. The couple were married immediately upon arrival in Namibia. After the death of his wife, Savola returned to Finland in 1900. In Finland, he also married his late wife's sister Maria Nikkinen. Savola returned with his wife to Ovamboland where they had three children. During his second term in Ovamboland, Savola set up the first printing house in Ovamboland, starting the publication of the Journal Osondaha on 15 October 1901. He also wrote the first biography of Martti Rautanen while staying in Ovamboland. In 1908, Savola transferred to the, where he served as pastor of the Finnish Lutheran church in Michigan Covington. From there he returned to Finland in 1912. In Finland, he performed at the University of Theology degree and eventually work Forssa parish vicar until the end of his life.

Major works

*Skoglund, GM & Alb. Savola (1903). Omahokololo gom 'Ombibeli: ga ńoolua. Helsinki. *Savola, Alb. (1908). Ošindongan grammar. Helsinki. *Savola, Alb. et al. (1914). Omahokololo gooramata pasindonga. Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, Helsinki. *Savola, Alb. (1916). Ham's tents, or in ondonga and its people. Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, Helsinki. *Savola, Alb. (1917). The black child's life for the children. Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, Helsinki. *Savola, Alb. (1924). Ovamboland and its people. 2nd edition. Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, Helsinki. *Savola, Alb. (1927). Martti Rautanen. Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, Helsinki. *Savola, Alb. (1927). Martin Rautanen. Transl. Marta A. Renvall. Helsinki.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* Forsius, Arno
Selma Rainio (1873–1939) – A Finnish Medical Missionary.

* Halmetoja, Henriikka Suvi-Tuuli
Medical Missionary Selma Rainio As A Representative of Western Culture and Medicine in Ovamboland in 1908–1938.
2008.
Vantaa City Museum: Kuku Selma Rainio (1873–1939).

When Selma Founded A Hospital.
''Vantaan Lauri'', 15 January 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Savola, Albin 1867 births 1934 deaths People from Sulkava People from Mikkeli Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Missionaries of the Finnish Missionary Society Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Lutheran missionaries in Namibia Christian medical missionaries Finnish expatriates in Namibia