The Border Historical Society (BHS) has organized a day tour scheduled for August 27 of the mission sites and relics that prove the positive impact of missionary involvement in the Border region in the early 1800s.
The tour comes as a follow-up to the presentation and journal article entitled “Presbyterians in Xhosaland: From Lovedale to Tutura” delivered by Dr. Patrick Hutchison.
Hutchison’s research holds key findings that place the significance of missionary settlement in the Border region as pivotal to the trajectory of development in the area.
The tour will be departing at 6 am, to return by 5 pm.
The proposed itinerary will include an early start from East London (via the Draaibosch Memorial) to Emgwali Mission Station, on through Bolo and Gaikaford to the Mbulu/Paterson out-station, and then on to Upper Xolobe to try and locate Chistina Forsyth’s mission church.
The tour will be led by Dr. Hutchison.
The BHS believes the tour is important to undertake, given the pervasive ignorance regarding periods of missionary settlement.
The general framing of local history in the Border region has typically been dismissive of the role missionaries played in the early history and development of SA, and indeed Africa in general.
The BHS and Hutchison say the extraordinary range of the missionaries’ influence on numerous leaders throughout Africa – who led their respective independence movements – cannot be denied and this tour will introduce those who attend to the sites that bore witness to this.
The mission sites to be visited follow the impact of mission work enacted by the first waves of missionaries who arrived here.
Among their notable contributions are those that led to the development of various schools, mission stations, printing presses, and seminaries across the Border area.
Through the efforts of the Glasgow Missionary Society in 1796, the wave of mission settlement was enabled that led to significant contributions from people like Mrs. Christina Forsyth in 1886 who served the Xolobe community and started a school that ended up educating 170 pupils.
BHS chair William Martison says “any readers who would like to attend should be prepared for a long, informative, and interesting day out in the country, driving into remote areas”.
“All participants will be required to bring their own food and water, stout shoes, and sunhats. It is likely that the tour would leave at 6am and return before nightfall. We would choose a central meeting point as a departure point.”
Please RSVP to the BHS at border.historical.society@gmail.com
