Cleared wood, Ethiopia, 1929

Cleared wood, in the foreground a fast running river and an Ethiopian. The picture was taken on Hermann Bahlburg's second return trip. -- 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.