Tsandi

History

The Finnish missionaries, who arrived in Ovamboland in 1870, visited the west of the area towards the end of the following year, visiting e.g. Uukwaluudhi, but the visit to that tribe did not have any tangible results at the time. In 1909, the leadership of the Finnish Missionary Society in Finland considered that missionary work should be begun also in the west of Ovamboland, and in particular among the Uukwaluudhi tribe. The local head of the mission, Martti Rautanen, together with some of his colleagues, went in July and August 1909 to Uukwaluudhi to select a site for a new mission station. They chose a place called Tsandi, and a month later the missionary August Hänninen began the construction work at the site. The Finns came to the site at the invitation of King Iita, but he died already at the end of the same year. However, his successor Mwala Nashilongo was also friendly with the Finns, and likewise his people, too. They were not suspicious of the Finns, and the locals turned to them when they were ill. However, they did not show much interest to the preaching activities, and the local congregation consisted mainly of people who have moved there from Ondonga. The first local to be baptized in 1912 was an Uukwaluudhi man, and his three children were also baptized at the same time. The total number of people baptized on that day was 12. Hänninen soon noticed that conducting divine services and running a school outside, under a local tree, was difficult, so he encouraged his congregation members to build a proper church, built of bricks. Hänninen himself promised to acquire nails and other items and windows for the building, and teacher Aini Packalén promised to pay for the door, and the parish members made the bricks. Each man produced 500 bricks. The…

Geography

Tsandi is situated on the main road MR123 (Outapi - Tsandi - Okahao). It is the residential place of the Uukwaluudhi royal homestead. It is also the trade center for the whole constituency and one of the oldest villages in the Uukwaluudhi kingdom. Tsandi Lodge is away from the town in the direction of Outapi.

Most-observed species

• Pied Crow

  Corvus albus Statius Muller, 1776 · Aves
  3
• Fork-tailed Drongo

  Dicrurus adsimilis (Bechstein, 1794) · Aves
  3
• African Palm-Swift

  Cypsiurus parvus (M.H.K.Lichtenstein, 1823) · Aves
  2
• Cape Starling

  Lamprotornis nitens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2
• White-tailed Shrike

  Lanioturdus torquatus Waterhouse, 1838 · Aves
  2
• Namaqua Dove

  Oena capensis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2
• Ring-necked Dove

  Streptopelia capicola (Sundevall, 1857) · Aves
  2
• Ceropegia floriparva Bruyns

  Ceropegia floriparva Bruyns · Magnoliopsida
  2