They did a lot to impact the social and economic lives of Africans. Despite the skills and opportunities mission schooling afforded, many Africans were not willing to pay the price. However the superficial motivations and ideologies have changed, at the most basic level both contemporary Northern charities and nineteenth century missionaries share the belief that the North must come and save the suffering natives, which in the case of the missionaries, has been proven to have inflicted more harm than provided relief. Amma Darko In this essay on the impact of Christian missionary activities on Ghanaian society, we shall examine the role of the missionaries in the development of Ghana and the rest of Africa. New missionary societies (the LMS, the CMS, the Holy Ghost Fathers, the White Fathers, etc.) The study traces the his tory of colonial education and the tremendous contributions of missionaries in the establishment of formal education in the region. Initially,. Volunteers and donors to organizations such as Compassion Canada believe that they are being humanitarian when they build schools in Africa, volunteer as teachers or help in other ways to improve the quality of education in African nations, yet missionaries and colonial governments were similarly lauded as performing a great work of humanity (Beck 1966:117) and likewise believed that they were helping their African pupils. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. education was an important means for mission evangelization. Christianity in northern Nigeria. The lead was followed by other missionaries, notably the Roman Catholic, whose first higher institution was St Edwards Secondary School in Freetown. Johannes Zimmermann wrote a grammar of the Ga language, and in 1874 the Rev. For this reason, missionaries believed they were doing their students a favour by discouraging traditional practices and promoting Western ones. Longman Publishing Group, 1980. In Ghana, for instance, they persuaded their converts to reject polygamy and human sacrifice. Wed love to get to know you and discuss how God is calling you. Debrunner, Hans Werner. A tiny act of kindness is remembered by a young man in need. Today almost all of the population is Presbyterian, although the ancestral royal cult and many spirit cults still flourish. Now, with the burgeoning Cocoa industry, the expansion of commercial activity, the development of gold mines and the building of roads and railways disturbed the traditional lifestyle. The achievement of the purpose of these Christian Missions came with some costs. Also, the traditional doctors more often than not could not diagnose illness accurately. The vast majority of the people of The Gambia are Moslems; but a sizeable percentage of the population, especially in and around the capital Banjul, are Christians. In addition to teaching, he served as national spiritual director of the Ghana Sacred Heart Enthronement Centre and spiritual director of the Accra Diocesan Sacred Heart Centre. Groundless fears that the converts would become contaminated with paganism led some of the Christian missionaries, notably the Presbyterians, to separate the Christians from the rest of the township. And yet this was what earlier missionaries in pagan Europe had done when, for example, they had changed the Sabbath to suit the pagan Sun Day (hence Sunday), and had also adopted the dates of the pagan festivals to celebrate Christmas Day and the Easter festival. The high temperatures coupled with high rainfall patterns in some parts of the country experienced during the daytime, made the missionaries stay indoors, which slowed down their activities. In this respect the Christian religion therefore differed from the traditional religions of West Africa, which along with an acceptance of one Supreme Being worshipped a hierarchy of gods. senior high school economics The CMS began to work in the freed slave villages in Sierra Leone in 1804 and the Methodist in 1811. Like the Methodists, the Roman Catholic missionaries spread the faith notably in the interior, which later became Protectorate. After a time the idea becomes ingrained -it is heathen and unchristian to be an African culturally (Awori cited in Berman 1974:536). Moreover, the Islamic religion was also being introduced to the southern section of the country by Muslim immigrants from the north of the colony. The blessings which Christianity has brought to West Africa are many. Bamgboye & Company Press, 1976. However, the motivation behind teaching Africans basic literacy and mathematics might not have been a cause for concern if not for the fact that the religious motivation curtailed education. History books tended to exaggerate in achievements of Europeans, making no reference to Africans own great past. This single problem made the missionary work very difficult. Hastings, Adrian. Ekechi, Felix K. Colonialism and Christianity in West Africa: The Igbo Case, 19001915. The Journal of African History 12, no. One method of discouraging traditional practices was to give students a fully Western education. Longman Nigeria Plc., 1994, Boahen, A.A. et al Tropics in West Africa History. Porter, Andrew. Therefore, considering that the impact of mission education continues to have serious repercussions today, one must question whether the First World should continue to interfere in African education. In 1989-90, the government banned the activities of several religious organizations, including the Church. In many instances, they made their converts rebel against traditional rulers and other spiritual leaders. One of them, Philip Quaque, returned in 1765 as an ordained priest. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. Early missions conducted by Roman Catholics were short-lived. In fact, most of the norms opposed by missionaries concerned gender relationships. The problems created by the white missionaries themselves arose largely from a misconception of what Africa represented. The academic education purposely did not train Africans for the higher level positions of colonial administrations, which were mostly reserved for Europeans (Ayandele 1966:295; Sheffield 1973:42), a practise which created dependency on the colonizers, as without them the colony did not have qualified administrators. ABWE first began work in Ghana with a goal to reach unchurched Ghanaians in the Volta Region with the gospel and then to expand evangelism efforts to other parts of the country. A special memorial Mass was celebrated at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra, Ghana, on Oct. 9. homework help Textbooks were heavily biased towards western ideas and values. Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. The Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican missions all made a major contribution to education in Ghana and Africa as a whole. At the time of its inception, however, there was no publication that systematically or comprehensively addressed the enormous problems that characterized the education of Blacks in the United States and elsewhere. Their personal and family choices influenced the expansion speed of missionary education. His viewing and wake service took place on Sept. 26 at the chapel in the Divine Word Residence at Techny. In 1902 the Methodists opened a clinic at Igbo-Ora. wassce literature questions. The copies of letters received, 1890-1927, mention the plan from 1914 to gain control of future Ashanti Chiefs using education. It would be wrong, however, to blame all these ills on the Christian missionaries alone. They include Sierra Leone 1900-1933; Ghana 1903; Cape Verde 1904-1910; and St Vincent 1907-1912. The missionaries seemed to have concentrated much of their effort on the production of export crops. Two other training colleges opened by the missionaries, in the early days, were the Wesley College in Kumasi (1922) and the Roman Catholic Training College at Amisano, near Elmina (1931) which in 1936 moved to the campus of the newly founded secondary school, St Augustines College at Cape Coast. He also blogs at BloggingtotheMax.com. Please read our privacy policy to find out more. While the protestant evangelical movements were gaining ground in West Africa, similar movements were being promoted by the Roman Catholic Church in Europe. Some of the missionaries came with them (549 years ago) but many died from the cruel tropical weather of forested West Africa. The Methodists founded Mfantsipim (1876) for boys and Wesley Girls High School (1884). Moreover, speaking through interpreters is a defective means of communicating ones thoughts to ones audience. Help those suffering in Turkey and Syria. *You can also browse our support articles here >. If a government fails to regulate schools at all, they have no right to complain that the education in their colony is poor. The effort of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Evans Brothers, Ltd. London. In short, the impact of teaching in the vernacular was more negative than positive, as it reinforced colonial rule and no doubt did very little to preserve native cultural identities, seeing as missionaries promoted European languages as superior and only used the vernacular because conversion and religious instruction were such high priorities. In conclusion, the educational enterprise of the Christian missionaries in the British and Italian colonies of Africa during the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries was primarily negative for the African pupils. One is led to ask, why this sudden development? This allowed me to estimate the impact of mission schooling directly. Yes! Again, the missionaries persuaded Africans to abandon the practice of tribal marks. And traditionally polygamous societies would have higher educational outcomes today. 2: Trans-Saharan Trade. Thank you for supporting this project. By using postcolonial theory as a framework for analysis, it is evident that the Western formal education introduced to the people of the Gold Coast by the Christian missionaries and the British Colonial government did not serve the indigenous population well. Missionaries and the intellectual history of Africa: a historical survey. Itinerario 7, no. The others included the Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African peoples. Even when governments discouraged domestic industries, graduates of vocational schools contributed to the economy of the colonies -and therefore indirectly the mother countrys as well. All the three secondary schools in Cape Coast were mission institutions. African poetry These missionary societies laid the foundations of the Roman Catholic Church in West Africa, which lasted through to the independence period when African clergy replaced the white pastors. Crampton, Edmund Patrick Thurman. Then share it on your favourite social media platform for the benefit of others you care about. Consequently, they couldnt do much to promote the cultivation of food crops like maize, cassava, cocoyam and plantain. CUP Archive, 1979. While living at the Divine Word Residence in Bordentown, N.J., he often visited parishes and schools to talk about missionary work. endstream endobj 504 0 obj <>>>/Lang(en)/MarkInfo<>/Metadata 55 0 R/Outlines 135 0 R/Pages 498 0 R/StructTreeRoot 142 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences<>>> endobj 505 0 obj <>/MediaBox[0 0 612 792]/Parent 499 0 R/Resources<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> endobj 506 0 obj <>stream Some of these new crops were grapes coffee, mango, ginger, and olives. mock tests Hundreds of believers were baptized, branches organized, and a mission established. Amidst much honest missionary activity in the country for two centuries, prosperity gospel teachers have also gained influence, and numerous indigenous cults have arisen with distinct appeal and just enough truth to create confusion and syncretism. Unsurprisingly, the level of education increased as one moved closer to the missionaries. S.J. And yet the Asafo provided most of the services which a community needed: protection against military attacks, communal services, etc. Although there were many disagreements between European missionaries and African populations, antagonising polygamy is probably the best-documented norm conflict. It started first among the Yoruba recaptives who had embraced the Christian faith while in Sierra Leone (freed from slave trading ships by the British Royal Naval Squadron), and who returned home between 1839 and 1845. 3 (2002): 555-584. A notable example, in Ghana, was the Methodist experimental farm near Cape Coast whose crops included cotton, coffee, black pepper, mango, ginger, cinnamon and olive trees. In Fanteland, the Methodists and Roman Catholics pioneered similar works. Copyright 2003 - 2023 - UKEssays is a trading name of Business Bliss Consultants FZE, a company registered in United Arab Emirates. Johannes Zimmermann, for example, produced a Ga dictionary, Ga bible and grammar book. primarily purposed to outline the contributions of religion and education to national development in Ghana. The story of the planting of Christianity in Nigeria would be incomplete without a mention of the Italian Roman Catholic priest, Father Berghero. 2236624), The beginning of Africanisation : the dawn of the missionary motive in Gold Coast education, Early colonial and missionary records from West Africa, West Indies material in the archives of the USPG, 1710-1950. The early missionaries set up craft centres as part of their educational programmes. Thus by training Africans to fill only the lower levels of the colonial administration and providing skilled workers from the vocational and agricultural schools who contributed to the economy and were less likely to question colonial rule than more educated Africans, mission schools helped to strengthen colonial rule. I found that while educational outcomes are generally better in places that were exposed to Christian missions in the colonial era, traditionally polygamous societies benefited less. He had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Hugh Goldie and William Anderson. This was a bitter pill for the Basel Mission to swallow after 19 years of devoted service in the mission field in the Gold Coast but they were not dismayed when they considered that in education and agriculture and artisan training and in the development of commerce, and medical services and concern for social welfare of the people, the name Basel by the time of expulsion of the mission from the country, had become a treasured word in the minds of the people. university courses Lewis, Donald M., ed. I wanted to buy a smartphone for him, but when he got to know the price of the cell phone, he humbly declined. This conditioning was focused on norms that missionaries deemed incompatible with a Christian way of life. Today, human sacrifice is generally frowned upon and considered an abomination. Africa Christian Press, 1996. On the opposite side, the coming of the Christian missionaries brought in its wake certain negative developments like disregard for African culture and rebellion against traditional authority. Another contribution of missionaries to the development of Ghana was their pioneering role in writing many local languages. One of the missions most important contributions to the colonial regimes was their role in educating the native Africans. Schools were deemed important. In 1892, the Church Missionary Society opened the Iyi Enu Hospital in Onitsha which is today a leading hospital in Anambra state. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UKEssays.com. Other Roman Catholic hospitals were built in all the nine regions of the country; including those at Asikuma and Foso (Central Region), Akyem Swedru (Eastern Region), Berekum (BrongAhafo), Maase (Asante Region) and Anfoega (Volta Region). Joseph Dunwell. They impressed it upon their converts not to have anything to do with these traditional practices. Within a short time the missionaries spread their activities inland. It was difficult for the European missionaries to communicate freely with the local people. The greatest problem faced by the early European Christian missionaries was, the tropical climate and health Hazards. It was not until the nineteenth century, that the new religion was really established in West Africa. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in the name of Father Burke can be made for the care of elderly and infirm missionaries and sent to The Rector, Divine Word Residence, 1901 Waukegan Road, P.O. In the later 19th century, the immense African interior remained the principal object of the Catholic Priests, and from 1867 until his death in November 1892 Cardinal Lavigerie planned the planting of churches in Africa South of the Sahara. Samuel Adu-Gyamfi And Benjamin Kye Ampadu, Ajayi, J..F.A and Michael Crowder History of West Africa. James Fieldhouse, produced a Wolof Grammar in 1876. The country has diverse geography, people groups, and languageswith English as the common language, and more than 11 others with state recognition. Some observers have argued that the Europeans used the Christian bible to justify the practice of slavery and the slave trade. A large body of studies show that missionaries had a lasting impact beyond their early years. Hope Waddell of the Church of Scotland had opened a school at Duke Town, Calabar. They discovered that the holy book did not clearly prescribe monogamy, and contained several examples of renowned Christian polygamists. By focusing on the African demand for education, I showed that Africans were not just passive recipients of mission schooling. famous poems student life Ghana sits on West Africas coastline along the Gulf of Guinea, bordered by the Ivory Coast and Togo to the west and east and Burkina Faso to the north. hbbd```b``vd d"e ] DrI`5 d"(/ Ghana continued to call. In the Gambia, as happened in other territories, the Christian missionaries did not confine their work to the spread of the Gospel alone. Earlier in 1846, the Rev. Henry Townsend who went from Sierra Leone to Badagry in 1842 in his company was the Rev Ajayi Crowther. Later that year, in recognition of his service to the Ghanaian people, President John Dramani Mahama bestowed the honor of Officer of the Order of Volta upon him. When he arrived in Nkwatia-Kwahu to teach English at St. Peters Secondary School, the town had yet to benefit from electricity and running water. Among the early Protestant evangelical societies founded in Great Britain were the Baptist Missionary Society, the Church Missionary Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Wesleyan Missionary Society and what became known as the Presbyterian Missionary Society of the Church of Scotland. Father Vincent Burke SVD, 83, recipient of Ghanas Officer of the Order of Volta Award, passed away at Techny, Ill., on Sept. 21. It is interesting to note that while in many ways missionaries sought to isolate students from their cultures, missionaries often insisted in teaching in the native languages. Find below a list of mission schools that still exist in Ghana today. Being able to speak and write in the colonisers language was considered a privilege. The city of Akuropong capital of the Akan state of Akuapem in Ghana, has known the Christian presence during the last 186 years, initially centered on the Basel Mission, then on the Free Church of Scotland, and now on the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. The reservation of high-level positions in the colonial administrations for Europeans and the corresponding mission education that provided education fit only for lower positions meant that the withdrawal of European rule could cause serious political instability in the newly independent colonies. Although most people are Presbyterians, they can also go to spirit and other cults, mostly Christian and Pentecostal movements, to find cures for disease and lack of success in this world. In 2011 at age 77, he retired from teaching and returned to the United States. Indeed, in some situations the converts were taught to feel that they were absolved from obeying their own traditional rulers and certain laws of the state. church were founded in south-eastern Nigeria, the chief centres being Bonny and Brass. He told me that that amount of money could pay for school fees for five students in secondary school in Ghana.. His immigrant Irish-born parents instilled faith and a firm work ethic in their sons. In addition to contributing to fluctuating educational standards across the colony, inter-denominational rivalry caused a disparity in access to education. The Ghana Education Decentralization Project (GEDP), launched in 2010 and ended in 2012, has increased the influence of local authorities over management . They relied very much on their home churches for their funds. Furthermore, mission schools discouraged traditional ways of life outside of the classroom. First, I looked at how educational outcomes depended on the distance to historical missions. It was not until 1909 that the government opened a teacher training college and a technical school in Accra. As much as the governments liked to assign blame to the missions, they were also accountable for the poor education through their educational policies. Furthermore, they were skilled farmers that could grow cash crops to be consumed back in the mother country, such as cocoa from Ghana (Foster 1965: 153). We must not lose sight of the fact that the colonial government in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa relied on the activities of the missionaries to help them achieve the objectives of colonial rule. A large percentage of Ghanas 30 million people are nominally Christian (more than 70% as of the last census), and 28% consider themselves evangelical believers. past questions Metadata. Andreas Riis, assisted by a team of West Indian evangelists, laid the foundations of the Basel Missionary Church in the country. Another important missionary doctor was J. R. Stephen who for many years headed a missionary hospital at Ilesha. Meanwhile, the Scottish missionary, Mary Slessor, had established a reputation in the Cross River area as a nurse. The study examines the historical foundations of Western education in Meru and factors that influenced its development. The impact of Christianity on West African society has persisted to this day. All rights reserved. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. Let's look in-depth into these scholarships. By 1914 there were barely thirty schools in that vast area. This post may contain affiliate links. Then lets begin straightaway. Among several others, the native Bishop Ajayi Crowther produced the first translation of the Bible in Yoruba. These missions significantly influenced the systematic educational development in the Gold Coast. They were followed in turn by the Methodists and the Roman Catholics. Success followed the efforts of the pioneer missionaries. The third, St Nicholas Grammar School (now Adisadel College), was founded by the Anglican Church in 1910. This thesis discusses and assesses contribution of Christian Missionaries to education in Meru from 1908 to 1963. In 1925 the Governor introduced measures which helped the efforts of the missionaries. From the second half of the eighteenth century, a fervent wave of evangelical spirit developed in the United Kingdom, Europe and the New World which inspired men and women with the missionary fervour to found religious societies whose members would go out to Africa and the other lands. Vol. Ralph teaches English for Academic Purposes (EAP) online. The Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican missions all made a major contribution to education in Ghana and Africa as a whole. Other difficulties the early Christians faced were the problems of the many languages and dialects and their ignorance of the true meaning of the various cultures, beliefs, values and ways of life of the people whom they set out to convert to Christianity. Mission schools were popular because of the new skills and opportunities they offered. senior high school government The colonial Eritrean government ensured that native Eritreans received poor education by permitting them to only attend school up to the fourth grade (Miran 2002:127). It is important for several reasons. The education and skill development of the people is the highest, most potent agent of national development that the Church imparts to its output of students, scholars, and professionals who perform various precious roles in the various sectors of the national economy for national development,' he stated. The Portuguese were the first to introduce the Christian faith into West Africa but following their departure from the West Coast in the mid-seventeenth century, the Christian religion survived only in Upper Guinea where a bishop was maintained in the Cape Verde Islands serving also a part of the mainland. However, by the turn of the Nineteenth Century there was systematic efforts by churches of Christian Europe, namely: Anglicans, Methodists, and Baptists who were active in Sierra Leone and, with Presbyterians, in Nigeria, while Methodists also set up missions in Ghana, Gambia, and Dahomey. Ayandele (1966:283), writing in the 1960s, says, By their [the missions] efforts the main languages of Nigeria have been preserved as a lasting legacy to the Ibo, Yoruba, Efik, Nupe and Hausa. However, this practice was in fact probably more due to stereotypes of African ignorance than an interest in being culturally respectful: missionaries may have believed that it would take too long to teach a superior European language to the unintelligent natives when the natives souls were in such desperate need of saving. To apply, students simply fill out a quick form. Therefore the period for the rise of Christianizing Missions in the late Nineteenth Century has been considered as reprise. After completing that assignment, Father Burkes superiors asked him to teach English as a second language (ESL) to Divine Word missionaries who did not know the language. He worked zealously as an evangelist and schoolmaster in the Castle School until his death in 1816. These contradictions are surprisingly absent from contemporary research. 26. For instance, on 2nd October 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society was formed followed by the interdenominational London Missionary Society which was established in 1795. In the case of Ghana, like other nations, the impact . It is possible to hear the tune of this missionary hymn. Almost all the missions in West Africa faced financial problems in the early stages of their missionary work. In fact, the Christian missionaries encouraged Ghanaians to reject African names and choose Christian names instead. The people received the message with indifference. This chapter traces the origins and long-term development of African mass education in colonial sub-Saharan Africa. Not only did mission education strengthen colonial rule, but it also weakened traditional societies and implemented poor standards of Western education. The late Eighteenth Century witnessed the rise of Christian groups in Europe that resorted to the evangelization of Africa. It included the opening up of Africa to forces of change namely commerce (legitimate commerce, i.e. Other difficulties they faced were the problems of the many languages and dialects and their ignorance of the true meaning of the various cultures, beliefs, values and ways of life of the people whom they set out to convert to Christianity. The first batch, who came out between 1804 and 1806, included pioneer missionaries like Renner and Nylander. The most momentous discovery in western Africa came in 1471, when Portuguese captains first reached the coast of modern Ghana between the mouths of the Ankobra and Volta rivers. Father Tetteh also took note of Father Burkes humility and devotion to his students. The others include the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804, which was tasked with the responsibility of promoting the translation and printing of the Holy Bible. 522 0 obj <>stream