Namibia Calling: Reiner and Gillian Stommel's long journey to Otjikondo School, by Michael Schnurr

Namibia Calling: Reiner and Gillian Stommel's long journey to Otjikondo School, by Michael Schnurr. Sipplingen, Germany 2011. ISBN 9783941602618 / ISBN 978-3-941602-61-8

Namibia Calling: Reiner and Gillian Stommel's long journey to Otjikondo School, by Michael Schnurr. Sipplingen, Germany 2011. ISBN 9783941602618 / ISBN 978-3-941602-61-8

A look inside: Namibia Calling: Reiner and Gillian Stommel's long journey to Otjikondo School, by Michael Schnurr.

A look inside: Namibia Calling: Reiner and Gillian Stommel's long journey to Otjikondo School, by Michael Schnurr.

The following extract is taken from the book Namibia Calling: Reiner and Gillian Stommel's long journey to Otjikondo School, written by Michael Schnurr. This is the touching story of the development of the well known farm school in Northern Namibia and its founders.

Michael Schnurr  

The Meeting

During Reiner Stommel's first years in South West Africa the Garden Route in neighbouring South Africa seems nearly as far away as his home country Germany. Holidays are virtually non-existent for missionaries, and members of the Order have to submit their private lives to spartan rules. This only changes in 1968 making life completely different for the thirty-five year old missionary. However, the story actually begins a few months earlier in autumn 1967. Brother Stommel is able to sell his cattle, the so-called Simmentaler to the South Africans at a very good price. Because the missionaries only wear the typical habits of the Order during Holy Mass, or on special occasions, the South African buyers are not aware that they are dealing with a missionary and assume Brother Stommel is working on his own account. Based on his negotiating ability they think of him as an up and coming farmer with a strong business sense. On discovering that he has never been south of Windhoek or even to the Cape Republic they invite him to visit South Africa: "After all you must come and see what has become of your splendid animals," one of them comments. Brother Stommel thanks them kindly for the invi tation but in view of his own financial position he knows that will be unable to accept, but as so often in Reiner Stommel's life, coincidence comes to bis aid. For a time he has been in the habit of stopping off at the Outjo bakery when in town. There he meets the farmers of the region to catch up over coffee the country's latest news. Outjo lies on a crossroads running from North to South and West to East. While all vehicles driving from Windhoek to Etosha and further on to the Angolan Border are required to pass through Outjo, the same applies to travellers coming from the coast heading towards the Okavango or vice versa. The bakery is an ideal place to exchange news of all sorts and to this day the German baker's cakes enjoy a legendary reputation. On one of these visits Brother Stommel meets Gert Schmittinger, the master baker's son. He studies in the South African town of Kimberley not far from Johannesburg and is visiting his parents' home. When Gert hears about the South African farmers' invitation he does not hesitate to say to Reiner: "Why don't you join me when I drive back to South Africa in January, at the end of my holiday? It won't cost you anything and I will enjoy having an excellent companion for the journey." A few weeks later, at the beginning of January 1968, Brother Stommel is on his way to the South African Republic in the passenger seat of a VW Beetle. He is going to the Mission Station of the Order of the Oblates in Pretoria. Now thirty-six year old Reiner has covered great distances since the age of twenty and has lived nearly 10,000 kilometres away from his parents' home yet he knows little of the wider world. His experiences are essentially limited to life in the Namibian bush and the mission station. Long drives by car and bus or long-distance train journeys are as unfamiliar to him as overnight stays in hotels or guest houses. He has only 45 Rand and, although friends provide him with extra money, he has no experience of the cost of such a trip - nor is it clear to him what he intends doing in South Africa. [...]

This is an extract from the book Namibia Calling: Reiner and Gillian Stommel's long journey to Otjikondo School.

Book title: Namibia Calling
Subtitle: Reiner and Gillian Stommel's long journey to Otjikondo School
Author: Michael Schnurr
Genre: Biography
Publisher: Produktionsbüro Michael Schnurr
Sipplingen, Germany 2011
ISBN 9783941602618 / ISBN 978-3-941602-61-8
Softcover, 14 x 21 cm, 173 pages, numerous b/w Fotos

Schnurr, Michael im Namibiana-Buchangebot

Namibia Calling: Reiner and Gillian Stommel's long journey to Otjikondo School

Namibia Calling: Reiner and Gillian Stommel's long journey to Otjikondo School

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