Brethren Blohm and J. Silinga, Baziya, South Africa East, 1933-12-10

"Baziya. Geschw. Blohm und J. Silinga. Im Hintergund die Kirche" ("Baziya. Brethren Blohm and J. Silinga. In the background the church"). Three persons standing: On the left Wilhelm Blohm, wearing a suit, a coat and a light coloured hat. In the middle his wife Marie Blohm, wearing a long dress, a headdress and holding an umbrella and a little bag in her left hand. On the right side another man, Johnson Silinga, wearing a suit, a coat and a hat. Behind them a fence, trees and a building (the church). Wilhelm Friedrich Karl Blohm, born in 1884 in Keffenbrinck (Germany), was a carpenter. In 1911 he married Marie Bürger. He started his missionary work in 1911 in Unyamwezi (East Africa). After being imprisoned by the Belgians from 1916 till 1917 he returned to Germany. From 1922 till 1945 he worked as a missionary in Baziya (South Africa). He died in Baziya in 1945.--Marie Karoline Bürger, born in 1876 in Lünen / Westphalia (Germany), was a deaconess. In 1911 she married Wilhelm Blohm. She started her missionary work in Unyamwezi (East Africa). After being imprisoned by the Belgians from 1916 till 1917 she returned to Germany in 1918. She continued her missionary work in South Africa East from 1922 onwards and died in Mvenyane in 1970.--Johnson W. Silinga, born in Baziya (South Africa East) in 1893, was an indigenous brother of the Moravian Church. He was a mission assistant from 1927 onwards.--Paul Albert Theile, born in 1908 in Niesky (Germany), was a theologian and preacher. He was no missionary in Africa, but went on an educational journey to East Africa in 1933 and to South Africa in 1934. He was a mission deputy in Montmirail (France) from 1934 till 1938. In 1948 he married Susette Schmidt. After 1962 he was director of the Moravian Church in Switzerland. He died in 1995 in Birsfelden (near Basel / Switzerland). c.f. pictures no. IMP-HRN-BOX-SAO-6-09498, -09501.