Surprise discovery of healing angel’s grave
By Kleopas Nghikefelwa /
Finally this morning I walked from Mondesa to the Swakopmund old grave house, where, to my delightful surprise, I discovered the shrine of the Onandjokwe “healing angel” Dr. Elsa Anni Melander, a Finnish missionary woman, a qualified medical doctor, who first practiced surgery service in Owambo and Northern Namibia in 1930-1940s.
Dr. Melander is also known as the first medical doctor to practice in Kavango region in the 1950s.
She was born on 31 March 1903 in Finland and died on 22 October 1957 in Swakopmund, Namibia, where she is buried in the old cemetery near the Swakop river.
Many a time we remember only Dr. Selma Rainio’s legacy, but we sometimes forget to remember Anni Melander, a humble lady who carried forward the healing touch of Dr. Selma Ranio, who died in 1939 and was buried in Oniipa.
Therefore, we need to document and promote the legacy of many early pioneers, like Dr. Elsa Anni Melander, who first promoted free health for all in Namibian society. Today better health service is getting expensive and unaffordable as many medical doctors want to be paid a lot of money.
It is the goal of Onandjokwe Medical Museum to promote the history and legacy of Onandjokwe medical pioneers, with life stories that may inspire our future children who are interested in medical health care, not to turn only medical health care for all into profit-making businesses but also to seriously serve poor people who are in need.
I am also appealing to all Namibian medical doctors and other specialists to come forward and support the Onandjokwe Medical Museum, which needs funding to document more Namibian medical history.
This is the only medical museum we have in Namibia, it needs your assistance.
On behalf of the Museum’s management, allow me to thank Dr. Tsali Ithete, Dr. Akutu Munyika Medical Practice, Dr. Petrus Mhata, Eben Ezer-Onandjokwe Retired Nurses Association, above all Prof. Fillemon Amaambo, Rev. Julius Mutileni, Rev. W. Hainane, Dr. Selma Rainio Medical Center, Embassy of Finland in Namibia, Museum Association of Namibia, and some few other individuals and groups, like Lieto Parish (in Finland).
All these have been very much committed to sponsoring and supporting this one and only medical museum in the whole of northern Namibia. Now we are appealing to others to do likewise and come forward and help the museum to continue documenting more of the Namibian medical history before this history is lost forever.
– Kleopas Nghikefelwa is an independent researcher on northern Namibia medical heritage and a volunteer curator for Onandjokwe Medical Museum. He can be reached at +264812755616 or at kleopasn@gmail.com
