Matias Shikondomboro (born in Kavango,

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 ea ...

) was the first Kavango native to be ordained a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

. Shikondomboro came to the Finnish mission station of

Nkurenkuru Nkurenkuru (1.093 m above sea level) is a town on the south-western banks of the Kavango River. It is the capital of the Kavango West Region of northern Namibia, located west of Rundu. It is also a former Mission (station), mission station of the ...

in early 1930 to work as an assistant in the mission kitchen under the leadership of

Aatu Järvineva Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in vari ...

. He converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

a few years later, and in 1935 he was sent to the seminary 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 ...

, Ovamboland, where he studied to become a teacher. Having finished the teacher training, he returned to Kavango, and worked as a teacher and

evangelist Evangelist may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...

. In 1942, he was

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 va ...

into priesthood, after which he continued to work in Kavango.Peltola 1958, p. 224. Shikondomboro is known to have visited

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

on at least one occasion. He is the author of the book ''Ken kulkee hän näkee. Noidan pojasta papiksi'' (‘Who travels, he sees. From the son of a witch to a pastor’), published in

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 ...

in 1965.

References

Sources

* Namibian Lutheran clergy Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission People from Kavango Region {{Africa-reli-bio-stub