Dafaa Jammoo (Rev)

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Life and ministry

Dafaa Jammoo was born in Kannawo, Wollega, in 1910. As a teenager, he was employed by German Hermannsburg missionaries in Aira. In addition, he received pedagogical and ministerial training.

This includes education in Addis Ababa for two years (arranged by Rev P. Stjärne of the Swedish Evangelical Mission)

After the beginning of school and confirmation classes as well as church services in 1932, Dafaa became the key assistant to the Revs Dietrich Wassmann and Friedrich Bock. Dafaa Jammoo was confirmed in Aira in 1935 and got married in 1936. In 1941, he was ordained (as the first Lutheran pastor born in Ethiopia). Rev. Dafaa had learned some basic medical treatment from the Germans and gave first-aid to many, especially during the Italian occupation.

In the 1940s, Protestant congregations in Wellega began to organize themselves as a national church unit (Gimbii Board).

Rev. Dafaa Jammoo served as

President of the “Gimbii Board” (later: Western [Wellega] Synod) from 1949 to 1971.
He visited Europe for several weeks in 1952 (LWF Commission on World Mission, etc.).
The Western Wellega Synod was the unit with the largest membership in the newly founded Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus in 1959.
Superintendent of the Aira District from 1971 to 1978 (retirement)

Rev. Dafaa Jammoo wrote numerous Oromo manuscripts on linguistic, cultural and religious issues, of which only 6 were published during his life-time.

He passed away in 2002.

Quotes

Arén (1999), Envoys of the Gospel, p. 452:

“[p. 452] Daffa objected strongly against the word farsa, which Onesimos used for hymn [See hymnal]. Daffa maintained that the real meaning of farsa was dirge, a song of wailing over someone who recently had died. After two years at the mission he was so far advanced in the German language that he could assist his tutor in revising Onesimos’ hymnbook.”

Kanatu Karorsa (2024), Rev. Daffa Jammo and I, p. 20:

“When the time came for the missionaries to leave, my husband and Reverend Wassmann had already translated Luther’s Catechism, the Lord’s Prayer, Order of Holy Communion, the Apostles’ Creed, Divine Service Setting, and songs into Afaan Oromo. The first song my husband translated was Dafaatii gara Yesuus kottaa [Come to Jesus quickly], and after that, he translated so many more songs.”

p. 23: “We [Rev. Dafaa & Kanatu] split our tasks between the two of us to make things easier. My husband built the churches and taught the gospel. I taught reading, writing, songs, scriptures, handcrafts, and gardening”

p. 33: “What has amazed me all my life is that those people [in Qaana’o] memorized the songs and the scriptures by heart so fast, specifically the Western religious songs with all their harmony. We did not have any problem teaching them because I already learned how to teach well while I was in Dambii Dolloo [with the American missionaries]. I also taught others to teach. Thanks to God Almighty for letting Pastor Wassmann teach my husband how to teach others very well, indeed. He and my husband translated the German religious songs to Affaan Oromo.”

p. 38: “After I finished feeding the family and our guests every night, there was always a Bible study and singing.”

Lyrics

Rev. Dafaa Jammoo wrote two hymns in Oromo that were translated into German:

(1) Gott gebühren alle Ehren [All honours are due to God] and
(2) Der wahre Weg [The true way].

» Read lyrics

Rev. Dafaa’s hymn Der wahre Weg was sung at the Hermannsburg Mission Festival in 1952.

Songs in hymn book

Oromo hymns (ed. Rev Dietrich Wassmann, 1930s)

No. 7 (Dafaatii gara Yesuus kottaa; transl. from German)
Rev. Dafaa was probably also involved in the translation of the other songs in the duplicated hymnal.

Sagallee Lubbuu Galata Waaqayyof (ed. Rev Lamessa Bato, 1970)