It began about 150 years ago when a young man, Wilhelm Drewes, aged 30, fell under the spell of the great revivalist preacher of the Lüneburger Heath, Rev Louis Harms. He felt called to take the gospel to the heathens in faraway countries, so entered the mission seminary in Hermannsburg in 1862. Four years later he landed in Natal, but left for Matlare, a mission station near the Botswana border, to learn Tswana as he was destined for the Tswana Mission. His bride-to-be arrived from Germany and they were married in 1868. Their son, Heinrich, was born in early 1869. Towards the end of the year, Wilhelm became seriously ill and was brought down to the Hermannsburg Mission House in the hopes that the milder climate would help him, but he died on the way in Greytown. His grave is the third eldest in the old Hermannsburg cemetery.

By Dawn Drewes