|
|
Namibia: Historic Museum Receives Big Donation
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
New Era (Windhoek)
6 May 2008
Posted to the web 6 May 2008
Frederick Philander
Windhoek
Last week the Finnish Embassy donated an amount of N$463 000 for the upgrading of the tourist facilities at the Nakambale Ecological Tourist Camp in the north.
According to the project manager of the Finnish Embassy, Elise Heikkinen, one of the first Finnish mission stations in Owamboland was founded at Olukonda in 1871.
"It was then referred to as 'the Capital of the North'. From 1880, Olukonda was the home of the Finnish missionary Martti Rautanen [who was called 'Nakambale' (basket), referring to the hat he was wearing] until his death in 1926. He and his family are buried at the Olukonda cemetery. In 1889 Nakambale was built. The first building at Olukonda was the church and then the mission house was built in 1893," Heikkinen said.
The Government of Finland provided funding for renovation of the church in 1992 and the mission house in 1995.
"In 1995, the Olukonda Museum was opened officially and it was called Nakambale Museum. The aim of opening the museum was to introduce to the public the history of the church, mission and also the local cultures of the north, with respect to both the past and the present.
"At Nakambale Museum one can also visit an Ndonga homestead to see how a traditional homestead looked like in the old days. At Nakambale Museum one can also find a craft shop that sells high quality Owambo crafts," she said of the camping site offering comfortable camping, accommodation and self-catering facilities.
The aim of the grant is to enhance Nakambale as a tourist destination in Namibia where visitors can experience the Owambo cultural traditions.
"The Namibian tourism industy is fast growing and the Finnish Embassy foresees that the Olukonda community at large will be able to benefit from the upgrading of the facilities," she said.
The grant was handed over to the curator of the Nakambale Museum, Magdalena Kaanante, by the Finnish Chargé d'Affaires, Seija Kinni-Huttunen.
|
The Olukonda Councillor, Hon Fillemon Ndjambula, the Nakmabale board members, staff, members of ELCIN (Evangelican Lutheran Church in Namibia) and members of the Olukonda community witnessed the event.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 New Era. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
