(1) Excerpts from secondary literature
1.1 Debrunner, Africans (1979), p. 309
“At Khartoum mission station a number of liberated slaves became the nucleus of a little school attached to the mission trading station. […] Toni, a Russian employed by the Egyptians, had brought from the interior an African boy called Ambilla. When the Russian died, Ambilla came under the care of M. [should be: W.(ilhelm)] Duisberg, who instructed him and baptised him by the name of Willy. Duisberg took him along to Europe in 1867, where he stayed for six years in Stuttgart with a family Eberbach, going to school at the gymnasium [i.e., “high school”]. In order to learn French, Willy was sent by Duisberg to a boarding school in the French part of Switzerland. There he was afflicted with tuberculosis; he died at Riehen near Basel in the Deaconesses Hospital in 1873.” [Emphasis added]
- The information that Willy was sent to boarding school to learn French is not explicitly mentioned in Duisberg’s memoirs. It is unclear where Debrunner obtained this information.
1.2 Debrunner, Afrikanerin (1982), p. 33–34
1.2.1 English translation
“Five Africans were buried in Riehen, four of whom had died of tuberculosis: […] on January 11, 1873, Willy Ambilla, former slave from Sudan, 18-year-old missionary student at St. Chrischona; […]”
- New information highlighted in bold.
1.2.2 German text
“Fünf Afrikaner wurden in Riehen beerdigt, vier davon waren an der Tuberkulose gestorben: [1] am 14. September 1855 Pauline Johanne Fathme, eine ehemalige Sklavin aus dem Oromo- (Galla) Land, Patenkind Christian Friedrich Spittlers, verstorben mit 24 Jahren; [2] am 5. August 1871 Samuel Entoro, ein 15jähriger Exsklave aus dem Sudan; [3] am [p. 34] 22. Juli 1872 der 17jährige Missionszögling Wailu [should be: Hailu] Wosan aus Äthiopien; [4] am 11. Januar 1873 Willy Ambilla, ehemaliger Sklave aus dem Sudan, 18jähriger Missionsschüler auf St. Chrischona; [5] im April 1895 Henriette Alexander, eine Mulattin aus Württemberg.”
1.3 Firla, Exotisch (2001), p. 75
1.3.1 English translation
“An employee of the Egyptian Trading Company had brought Ambilla, an Oromo from Ethiopia, to Khartoum and, shortly before his death, entrusted him to Wilhelm Duisberg, a missionary merchant with the Basel Mission [should be: St. Chrischona Pilgermission]. Duisberg had him baptized and took him to his hometown of Stuttgart in 1867, where he lived for six years with the Eberbach family, who were friends of Duisberg’s, and enjoyed the love of [his foster] parents and siblings. He also attended high school, but contracted tuberculosis and died of it in 1873 in Riehen near Basel.”
- New information highlighted bold. The last sentence is misleading, as it could be understood to mean that Willy contracted tuberculosis in Stuttgart.
1.3.2 German text
“Ein Angestellter der Ägyptischen Handelsgesellschaft hatte Ambilla, ein Oromo aus Äthiopien, nach Khartum gebracht und kurz vor seinem Tod dem Missionskaufmann der Basler Mission, Wilhelm Duisberg, anvertraut. Dieser ließ ihn taufen und brachte ihn 1867 in seine Heimatstadt Stuttgart, wo er bei der befreundeten Familie Eberbach sechs Jahre lang ein trautes Heim hatte und völlige elterliche und geschwisterliche Liebe genoß. Er besuchte auch das Gymnasium, steckte sich jedoch an und starb 1873 in Riehen bei Basel an Lungentuberkulose.”
(2) Discussion
2.1 Was Willy Ambilla an Oromo from Ethiopia?
Firla, Exotisch (2001) is the only publication stating that Willy Ambilla is an Oromo from Ethiopia. However, Firla provides no sources for this particular statement.
- Firla researched former enslaved people from Ethiopia, such as Aman Gonda. A significant proportion of the slaves sold abroad from Ethiopia were Oromo. Knowing that missionary organizations were interested in reaching the Oromo, Firla may have assumed that Duisberg brought an Oromo teenager to Stuttgart.
Ludwig Krapf, who was eagerly searching for resource persons to work with him on translating the Bible into Oromo, lived near Stuttgart. Duisberg and Krapf knew each other. Since Krapf did not attempt to work with Willy Ambilla, it is very likely that the teenager did not have a sufficient command of Oromo. The name “Ambilla” also suggests that the teenager was not an Oromo, but rather came from (South?) Sudan.
2.2 Did Willy Ambilla study at the St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission’s institute?
Only the second publication by Debrunner (Afrikanerin, p. 34) mentions that Willy Ambilla studied at St. Chrischona.
The Pilgrims’ Missions’ 1872 and 1873 annual reports do not mention Willy Ambilla. This does not rule out the possibility that he was in St. Chrischona since September 1872, the beginning of the academic year. People who attended the seminary for only a short time are generally not mentioned.
The question can only be answered after reviewing the guestbook and the minutes of the mission’s committee meetings.
2.3 What could have been the reason for Willy Ambilla to move to the French speaking part of Switzerland?
Duisberg, who had been working in the Holy Land since 1870, was not in Willy Ambilla’s vicinity when he graduated from high school in Stuttgart and went to French-speaking Switzerland in 1872. Other people, such as his foster family, probably also played a role in this decision.
Krapf and others envisioned that Christianizing the Oromo would open the doors for missionary work in inner Africa. If Willy Ambilla came from the White Nile or the areas east of it, the desire may have arisen for him to work there.
Since the St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission had closed its station in Khartoum and was short of funds, those close to Willy Ambilla may have been looking for another missionary society.
- Quite likely, this brought the emerging mission of the Free Protestant Church of the Swiss state of Vaud [Mission Vaudoise] into focus, to which Krapf had wanted to introduce Ruufoo in 1870.
- Other Protestant circles were also interested in missionary work in Africa. For example, at the request of the Geneva industrialist Théodore Necker, the missionary Lavanchy brought a Nubian boy and prospective evangelist, Samuel Ali Hiseen, to a boarding school in Peseux (near Neuchâtel) in 1873.
Further reading
(1) Publications
Baumann, Andreas. Die “Apostelstraße”: Eine außergewöhnliche Vision und ihre Verwirklichung. Gießen and Basel: Brunnen, 1999. [For information on the mission station in Khartoum, see p. 67–74.]
Debrunner. Hans Werner. Presence and Prestige: Africans in Europe; a History of Africans in Europe before 1918. Basel: Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 1979. [See p. 309; view online]
⸻. “Eine Afrikanerin in Riehen – Susanna Luise Anjama (1846–1882),” Jahrbuch z’Rieche 1982, p. 32–47. [View online]
Duisberg, Wilhelm. Allerlei Bilder aus meinem Leben auf lose Blätter gezeichnet. Basel: Basler Missionsbuchhandlung, 1896. [Google Books]
- The 2nd edition was published as Lose Blätter aus den Aufzeichnungen eines alten Missionskaufmannes. Basel: Basler Missionsbuchhandlung, 1912.
Firla, Monika, ed. Exotisch – höfisch – bürgerlich: Afrikaner in Württemberg vom 15. bis 19. Jahrhundert; Katalog zur Ausstellung des Hauptstaatsarchivs Stuttgart. Stuttgart: Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart, 2001. [See p. 75]
Frutiger, Hans Hermann, and Jakob Eisler. Johannes Frutiger (1836-1899): Ein Schweizer Bankier in Jerusalem. Cologne, etc.: Böhlau, 2008.
Harries, Patrick. Butterflies & Barbarians: Swiss Missionaries & Systems of Knowledge in South-East Africa. Oxford: James Currey; Athens: Ohio Univ. Press; et al., 2009. [Google Books]
(2) Dissertations
Lauche, Gerald. “The Development of the ‘Sudan Pionier Mission’ into a Mission among the Nile Nubians (1900‒1966).” D.Th. dissertation in missiology. Pretoria: UNISA, 2015. [For Samuel Ali Hissein’s education in Switzerland, see pp. 173‒75; view online]
Sauer, Christof. “Reaching the Unreached Sudan-Belt: Guinness, Kumm and the Sudan-Pionier-Mission.” D.Th. dissertation in missiology. Pretoria: UNISA, 2001. [On Necker and Lavanchy, see pp. 129‒30; view online]
(3) Archival materiaI
3.1 Library and Archive at St. Chrischona Theological Seminary
? Entries in the “Guest Book” and the Mission Committee’s minutes?
It appears that Willy Ambilla is not mentioned in the St. Chrischona periodicals (such as Mittheilungen)
3.2 Archiv Kommunität Diakonissenhaus Riehen
All diaries, notebooks, letters, manuscripts, travel reports, and monthly reports of the leader of the local deaconesses from 1853 to 1879, Sr. Trinette Bindschedler, are available in the archives of the Deaconess House Community in Riehen (near Basel).
- These documents could provide information on other individuals who had serious health issues and were cared for in Riehen, such as Pauline Fatme and Genome Duro (and possibly Haylu Wossen and even Ruufoo).
3.3 Staatsarchiv des Kantons Basel-Stadt
Letters of [the leading deaconess] Sr. Trinette Bindschedler, 1852‒65.
Ref. Code: PA 653a L. 1.1
3.4 Archives Cantonales Vaudoises (located in Chavannes-près-Renens)
History of the [Protestant] mission in French-speaking Switzerland.
Ref. Code: PP 1002 O 1