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Church of Sweden: Musume Mission

Church of Sweden

Musume Mission

The Church of Sweden Mission (CSM) established Musume Mission in 1932 in Belingwe, Southern Rhodesia (now Mberengwa, Zimbabwe).  A teacher training school was relocated there in 1952.  Many of the first students from Chegato Mission, who passed the so-called Rhodesian Junior Certificate, were admitted to the teacher training school in 1958 as the first group to be trained for the Primary Teachers Higher Certificate.  The training school was closed in 1967 with the establishment of the United College of Education in Bulawayo (a joint ecumenical venture of several different churches).

There was internal debate as to whether to also open a Secondary School (High School) at the mission – some believing that education should be a secular vs. mission responsibility.  But at the prompting of the Ministry of Education, Musume was selected in 1954 as the location of the first secondary school in the Mberengwa area.  It shared temporary facilitates with the teacher training school, with Mr. A. Engdahl as the first headmaster.  The High School was later relocated to Mnene Mission.  The closure of the teacher training school in 1967 made it possible to re-open the High School where it remains today as a co-educational boarding school.  “A levels” were introduced in 2000.  The schools at Musume are now under the authority of the Central Diocese of the “Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe” (ELCZ).

Musume is also the site of the Musume Mission Hospital, which began in 1949.  Sister (nurse) Köhlquist took the lead at Musume until she was relieved by Sister Karin Svensson.  Musume did not receive its first doctor until in the late 1960s.

In addition to those mentioned above, CSM missionaries at Musume included Tor Sellström (author of Sweden and national liberation in Southern Africa); Miss Maila Dahl; K. T. Bergman; Mr. R. Stenlund; Miss S. Bergling and Mr. T. Holgersson.

References

Contributors
  • Mark Loomis

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