HISTORY OF THE GLOBAL EVANGELICAL CHURCH LET'S KNOW WHO WE ARE PART III

Mission Work At Keta

After the collapse of the mission work at Peki, Dauble, Plessing and Brutschin lived in Accra to plan thier next strategy, namely, to restart their work from the coast of eweland. Specifically, they decided on Keta, because of the port or landing facilities at neighboring Dzelukorpe, from where they could easily receive supplies from Europe.

They set sail from Accra sometime in August 1853. The boat in which they travelled from Accra to Dzelukorpe had the inscription, "Mawu nye lorlor" (God is love). Brutschin was sick, so had to be left behind. Time was not on thier side to wait for the recovery of their colleague.

They arrived at Dzelukorpe on September 2, 1853 in a heavy rainfall. But far from considering this as a hindrance, the missionaries considered this as "showers of blessing". Dzelukorpe was a flourishing market town with quite populous villages within walking distance. On the contrary, Keta was a very small place consisting of Fort Prizenstein with a garrison of not more than thirty men, a factory or warehouse belonging to the commandant of the Fort, and few African huts not more than five in number. Since they had come to evangelize people and there were very few people at that place it was doubtful if they made a good choice by picking on Keta. They were received by the authorities of the Fort who have them accommodation. The commandant of the Fort promised that he was going to build keta into a big township.
As soon as they settled down, the missionaries started building a huge mission house on a plot of land given by the local government. The building was different from other buildings at Keta. Its walls were 18 inches thick. It became necessary for the Missionaries to do many things for themselves, because the natives knew pretty little about the building of modern houses. However, the Missionaries received great helps from the few faithful Africans who were "aliens" at Keta. Peter Papo and Ababio were from Peki; Quao was a very competent carpenter who had been baptized at Cape coast and John Wright, their chief interpreter and greatest African helper.
Apart from those people, a few men were hired as labourers on the huge mission house project.
Wilhelm Dauble did not last long at Keta. On December 7, 1853, he had a splitting headache, which confined him to bed. The pains were so unbearable that his friends expected the worst. At midnight, he was given Holy Communion, and at dawn, he died. Before his death, he said, "I am willing to die if that is the will of the Lord." He was buried in the "hot and of Keta" on December 26, 1853 (Boxing day). In fact, he was the first of the over twenty missionaries who lost their lives in the service of the Lord at Keta, and whose bones still lie buried there.
Grief for Dauble made the lonely Plessing seriously sick, and he also prepared himself for death. He put his keys on his table with the instructions that as soon as he breathed his last, they should be given to the commandant of the Fort. As soon as gave these instructions, messengers came with the good news that his colleague, Brutschin, whom he had left in Accra because of sickness, had just arrived. Plessing's joy on hearing the news was more than medicine for him and he recovered miraculously. Therefore work at the mission station received a new lease of life.

.................to be continued

From:
Protocol Department - GESAM-UHAS
Bible Studies Department - GESAM - UHAS