Kantiba Gebru Desta enabled the German Hermannsburg Mission to establish a mission station in Aira in 1928:
(1) English translation (excerpt)
5.4 The Difficult Search for a Field of Work
[p. 152] […] On Sunday, March 18, 1928, “a German-speaking Abyssinian” attended the worship service (Wassmann, Pionierdienst, p. 4). It was Kentiba Gebru Desta. After the service, the missionaries spoke with him and explained their needs. He then offered them a plot of land located in the province of Wallagga, inhabited by the Oromo, in the western part of the country. Although he was originally from the northwestern part of Ethiopia, which is not inhabited by the Oromo, he had once had the opportunity to purchase a plot of land in the west.
Bahlburg had already heard of the Kentiba. In a letter to [Deputy Director of the Hermannburg Mission] Wickert dated February 17, 1928, he had written: “This morning I heard that Kanteba Gebru, the inspector of all Abyssinian ministries—who was trained at Chrischona forty years ago—also wishes to join our German Evangelical Lutheran congregation.” It is unclear what Bahlburg meant by “inspector of all Abyssinian ministries.” There is no mention anywhere that he actually joined the German congregation. In any case, on March 18, he attended the German church service with his son and a nephew and was subsequently invited to lunch. Wassmann reported on his conversation with Bahlburg:
“We told him that we had been offered a place in Kaffa that morning. He warned us not to set out for there at that time. And it’s already becoming clear just how right he was. He suggested that we go to his homeland, on the northern shore of Lake Tana, so that the Gospel might also be brought to his own people. He had already expressed this wish to us once before. But we were unable to grant it because we had been commissioned to begin our work among the pagan [Oromo] of the West. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I own two gasha (400 Morgen) there—very good, water-rich land. The area is healthy; my land is situated on a mountain. I can give that to you.’ We brought out the map and had him show us the location, and then it was decided that the contract would be signed once we had inspected the land and determined that it was suitable for a mission station. Deeply moved and with hearts full of gratitude to God, we shook hands with this man, who would go on to be a great help to us.” (Hermannsburger Missionblatt 1928, p. 168; emphases added)
5.6 The First Caravan Journey to Aira [in 1928]
[p. 163] […] None of them spoke the local language. That is why it was a great help that the Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM) was able to provide them with a teacher who spoke English. He was from Boojji and had been a student of the pioneer missionary Karl Cederqvist. Bahlburg records his name as “Terafa.” Gustav Arén, Emanuel Abraham, and Pastor Dafaa Jammoo call him Tarfa Danki.*
- [footnote 46:] Aren, Envoys, pp. 419 and 428; Emmanuel Abraham, Reminiscences, p. 16; Dafaa Jammoo, Report presented at the Hermannsburg Mission’s Annual Conference in 1968/1969, ELM Archives, AE 2.3000, Appendix 2.
[…] Dafaa reports that even after the caravan arrived in Aira, he continued to assist the Hermannsburg missionaries as a translator and language teacher. Another Ethiopian joined the journey: Gudetta Desta, a servant of Kantiba Gebru—not an Oromo, but a man from northwestern Ethiopia. […] He stayed in Aira, got married, and worked at the Aira mission station until he was old.
(2) German original
Further reading
Wassmann, Dietrich (senior). Pionierdienst unter den Galla in Westabessinien. Hermannsburg: Missionshandlung, 1938.