Camp life in Holota, Ethiopia, 1928

Adolf Müller between two tents at a campfire holding a cooking pot. To the left Hermann Grabe mending a saddle, Herrmann Bahlburg is holding a gun. cf. picture no. ELM/AE/Fotos - 68. -- The picture was taken on the first mission caravan to Aira. -- Hermann Bahlburg (1892-1962) was the leader of the Galla [Oromo] mission of the Hermannsburg mission in Ethiopia from 1927 until his internment in 1941. He was based mostly in Addis Abeba, where he promoted the founding of a German school and church. He was part of the first caravan to Aira and undertook several journeys to the newly established mission stations in Aira and Bedele. From 1941 to 1948 he was interned by the British occupying forces. Afterwards he returned to Germany, where he continued his work as missionary until he was banned by the leadership of the Hermannsburger Missionsanstalt. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 2007. -- Hermann Grabe (1901-1984) was a ship carpenter and deacon. He was a missionary of the Hermannsburg mission in Ethiopia from 1927 to 1935. -- Adolf Müller (1905-1936) was a mission artisan of the Hermannsburg mission. He started his work as a missionary in Ethiopia in 1927. From 1928 he served in Aira, later in Bedele. He was married to Minna, née Nottorf. In may 1936 he left Bedele with his wife and baby to flee to Addis Abeba. He was killed on the way in an attack on the caravan.