Genome Duro, ein Galla-Mädchen aus Ost-Afrika: gestorben in Basel den 5. Januar 1874. Basel: C.F. Spittler, n.d. [probably 1874].
Short biography of Genome Duro
[ The following lines are mainly based on an article
in the Gemeindelexikon Riehen. ]
Genome Duro [Qubee: Ganamee (?)] was born in 1857 in what is now central Ethiopia. She belonged to the Karrayyuu, an Oromo subgroup. When she was about seven years old, she fell into the hands of human traffickers and was enslaved. The St. Chrischona missionary Eipperle bought Genome at the market in Metemma for 70 Maria Theresa Thalers. She served as his Oromo language assistant.
- The Eipperles planned to serve among the Oromo. Genome attended Theophilus Waldmeier‘s school in Gaffat, where she also received biblical lessons in Amharic. Since Emperor Tewodros II did not allow the Eipperles to move to the Oromo regions, they eventually returned to Metemma. (Genome Duro, p. 7)
- The journey of the Eipperles and Genome lasted from June to November 1865 (Baumann, Apostelstraße, p. 66).
Due to his poor health, the Eipperles returned to Basel in April 1868, bringing eleven-year-old Genome Duro with them. After arriving in Basel, Genome moved into the Klösterli household of Christian Friedrich Spittler, co-founder of the Basel Mission and the St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission. Spittler’s foster daughters, Anjama and Sette Spittler, also lived and worked there.
- It appears that Genome was not involved in Krapf’s efforts to translate the Bible into Oromo.
Genome Duro was baptized in the Basel suburb of Riehen on October 4, 1868. She attended the Münster (‘cathedral’) congregation’s school in Basel, and from 1872 onward, the Höhere Töchterschule (Girls’ High School).
- Genome was the first African woman to gain access to higher education in Switzerland.
A year later, she contracted tuberculosis and was taken to the infirmary of the Deaconess Community in Riehen for care. On January 5, 1874, Genome Duro died in Basel at the age of 17.
Notes
(1) Flad, Braune Perle, p. 9, reads:
“Taschamusch lernte nun mit noch einigen Mädchen, ebenfalls Kindern unserer Dienstboten, und einem befreiten Gallamädchen lesen, und zwar des Nachmittags, von dem amharischen Lehrer. […] Biblischen Unterricht hatten sie gemeinsam [i.e., boys and girls] vom Hausherrrn.”
- There is some evidence to suggest that Genome was the “freed Oromo girl” mentioned by Pauline Flad.
- Genome most likely received her biblical instruction from missionary Waldmeier, while she learned to read Amharic from Samani, a converted “Falasha” (Beta Israel), who studied at St. Chrischona from 1870 to 1872 (cf. Flad, Letter, July 1866; St. Chrischona Guestbook; Jahresbericht 1872, p. 6). Genome met him and other students from Ethiopia at their in St. Chrischona in 1873 (p. 11).
- Genome probably also knew Ruufoo (who was also redeemed by Eipperle). However, she was only about 12 years old when Ruufoo left St. Chrischona for Jerusalem in 1869.
(2) The commissioning of her compatriots so moved Genome that she decided to set aside a portion of her money each week to support the mission to the Oromo (Genome, p. 12). In the last weeks of her life, she thought about Ethiopia several times, where she had wanted to return. Ultimately, she was seeking a confirmation verse and settled on Rev. 3:20 (Genome, pp. 15f).
Bibliography
Baumann, Andreas. Die “Apostelstraße”: Eine außergewöhnliche Vision und ihre Verwirklichung. Gießen and Basel: Brunnen, 1999.
Cross-references
Flad, Pauline. Eine braune Perle: Erinnerungen aus dem Missionsleben in Abessinien. Neukirchen (Kreis Mörs): Missionsbuchhandlung Stursberg, 1908. [View online]
Ledderhose, Carl Friedrich. Pauline Fatme: First Fruits of the Gallas to Christ Jesus. Translated from the German by J. L. Krapf; revised by J. E. Dalton. London: W. H. Dalton, 1857. [View online]