Mpungu is a settlement and a former mission station of the

Finnish Missionary Society The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (''FELM'', formerly ''The Finnish Missionary Society''; fi, Suomen Lähetysseura ry; sv, Finska Missionssällskapet rf) is a Lutheran missionary society formed on January 19, 1859, in Helsinki, Finland. ...

in the

Mpungu Constituency Mpungu is a constituency in the Kavango West region of Namibia. It had a population of 20,787 in 2011, up from 18,660 in 2001, and 9,121 registered voters in 2020, up from 8,924 in 2004. The settlements of Mpungu and Mukekete are situated in th ...

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 The Okavango River (formerly spelled Okovango or Okovanggo), Also known as the Cubango River, is a river in southwest Africa. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa, running southeastward for . It begins at an elevation of in ...

. Today, a tarred highway from Ovamboland to Kavango connects Mpungu to other places in northern Namibia.

History of Mpungu

The mission station was founded in 1951 by Hellin Elomaa, a nurse, who also founded a small clinic there. In Mpungu, the Finnish missionaries were also in touch with the local San population.

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 Katwitwi is a border crossing in the Kavango West region in the north of Namibia, approximately 35 km northwest of the town of Nkurenkuru. The settlement was granted in 2016

settlement and border post to the north, and to

Tsintsabis Tsintsabis is a settlement of about 4,000 inhabitants in the Oshikoto Region of Namibia. It is situated northeast of Tsumeb and belongs to the Guinas electoral constituency. The settlement features a clinic and a police station. Tsintsabis is n ...

and Tsumeb to the south. It also connects to

Okongo Okongo is a village in the Ohangwena Region of northern Namibia. It is situated about east of Eenhana on the tarred road to Nkurenkuru. It is the district capital of Okongo Constituency. History Okongo was first settled by the San people in the ...

via the C45.

References

Populated places in Kavango West Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission mission stations in Kavango {{Namibia-geo-stub