Ondjiva

The Ondjiva mission station was established first in 1891 by Friedrich Meisenholl and August Wulfhorst of the Rhenish Mission Society, and with the help of Friedrich Bernsmann and with the permission of King Weyulu Hedimbi. They thought that Ondjiva would have been in the territory of German South West Africa, which later turned out not to be the case. The following year they established the mission station of Omupanda.

Meisenholl stayed in Ondjiva for some four years, before he had to leave due to a serious illness. Wilhelm Stahlhut came to replace him in the mid-1890s. Stahlhut’s three children died in Africa, and finally he himself fell ill with blackwater fever and died in Outjo on 1 May 1900. His widow stayed for many years, first in Oukwanyama and then in Hereroland.

In August 1915, King Mandume had the mission station burned, and the Germans had to flee to Ondonga in South West Africa.[4]

Ondjiva later became a Catholic mission and the see of the bishop of the Ondjiva Diocese. Fernando Guimaraes Kevanu was the bishop until 2011, and he was to be succeeded by Rev. Pio Hipunyati.[5]

Ondjiva was largely destroyed during the Angolan Civil War. The administration of the city operated from Huíla Province, and in theory ruled Cunene Province in exile. Most of the population left the city by 1989, and by 1999 was home to fewer than 5,000 residents. Reconstruction efforts began after the advent of peace in 2002. Ondjiva initially experienced slow population growth but saw a significant return of its residents and new migration from other regions of Angola, notably from Huíla Province from 1998 and 2000.[6]

Ondjiva consists of 12 neighborhoods, or bairros.[3]

• Pioneiro Zeca I
• Pioneiro Zeca II
• Bangula I
• Bangula II
• Kafito I
• Kafito II
• Kachila I
• Kachila II
• Naipalala I
• Naipalala II
• Castilhos
• Kakuluvale