Translation

SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF FINLAND MR MARTTI AHTISAARI
AT THE FINNISH EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSION’S 140^TH ANNIVERSARY
IN HELSINKI 17.1.1999


"THE ROLE OF CHRISTIANITY AND MISSIONARY WORK IN CONSTRUCTING NATIONAL UNITY
- WHAT IS THE LESSON OF NAMIBIA"

National unity is a prerequisite of success for every nation. It guarantees a sense of national belonging regardless of political, ethnic or religious background. Tending national unity is particularly important when great changes or conflicts are faced by the nation. Unity is needed for restoring a peaceful life after a violent conflict. Our own country’s history is a good example of this.

In several countries, unity has been created by supporting equal and democratic participation for citizens, protecting the status of minorities and seeking just solutions for people’s livelihood. It is not an easy task. Resolving deep, nationally divisive conflicts demands decades of work.

In developing national unity, a nation’s fundamental values need to be considered as well. Although modern nations aim for religious neutrality, the religious values embraced by the majority are central to the life of the entire society. People often find in religion the answers to essential questions regarding life, death, human value and the meaning of living together.

Religion can be a destructive factor as well. War and devastation have also taken place in the name of religion and Christianity. Our continent’s history overflows with religious wars and wars fought in the name of Christianity. In recent history, the problems of Northern Ireland and the Balkans have also been connected to religious conflicts.

The significance of Christianity to western democracies has been a central shaping force in our continent’s values. The majority of Europeans affirm to be Christian and Christian values continue to influence the shape of our lives in many different ways. In the United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights, religious freedom is included as a fundamental right, to be tended and aided by each nation. Religious freedom includes the right to choose, change, proclaim and spread one’s religion, as well as practice it alone or in a community. Religious freedom therefore also includes the right to missionary work.

The history of Christianity in Europe and also in Finland is likewise the history of Christian missionary work. It brought Christianity to Europe as well as to our country.

The history of Finnish missionary work is a significant part of Finnish history. The founding of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission took place during the decades of last century’s national awakening. At the founding meeting of the Mission in 1859, essential figures in our nation’s history such as Elias Lönnrot and Zacharias Topelius were present.

In the economically poor Grand Duchy of Finland, missionary work offered an avenue for international contacts and responsibility, supported by the people and the revivalist movements. It was and remains a deeply Christian and simultaneously very community minded activity.


The importance of churches is emphasised through their proclamations and corresponding actions. The work of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission has in a broad sense strived to seek the best in people, not just by preaching the word of salvation but also by building the foundations of human dignity in their fields of activity. The strong spiritual and material support of the Mission in developing Namibian freedom and the Mission’s powerful stand in Finland in the campaign against apartheid are remembered here. In their day, these attitudes were divisive even within the church, but they were based on Christian ethics and fundamental human rights and are remembered with gratitude.

The work of the Mission in Namibia has from the beginning involved mediating. Tribal leaders sought support from the missionaries despite the threats of the colonisers. Martti Rautanen mediated both between Ovambo kings and between them and the German colonisers. He negotiated so skillfully that the north was spared from the German subjugation policies which in Central and Southern Namibia resulted in the deaths of approx. 80 000 Hereros and Namas, the loss of their pastures to the colonisers and the dramatic decline of the survivors’ living conditions. There was time for education, health care and developing the humane structures required for dignified life.

The people’s entitlement to greater autonomy in decisions concerning their own lives through the means of their own language, education and teachers was important. Missionaries emphasised the importance of tribal identity and native language. As a result, the related languages of e.g. Ndonga and Kwanyama each received their own Bible and written language. However, intertribal connections were simultaneously constructed. Already in the first decades of missiorary work, intertribal looting and war raids ceased, partly imposed by a shared external threat.

Among Namibian churches, national unity was also developed during the time when following the policies of South African apartheid, the country was divided into nominally independent homelands and cities were divided into segregated living areas.

The majority of civil servants in the central governing and administrative structures of independent Namibia are former students of the Mission’s priests, teachers and health care workers and developers. Through education and training, the seeds of freedom and independence were sowed in the youth. During the fight for freedom, young Namibians both within the country and in exile remembered with gratitude those with whom a shared road was once commenced.

Personally, I experienced the fruits of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission’s labour when, starting in 1977, I was in the position of Namibian Commissioner and later, the Special Representative of the United Nation’s Secretary General. We found it effortless to communicate with the Namibians. It was easy to communicate African style by first answering questions such as, "how is Marja Väisälä or how are Kirsti and Mikko Ihamäki and I wonder where Lahja Lehtonen or Ulla Nenonen are these days?". On my part, I was able to ask how Bishop Leonard Auala and Mrs Aina Auala were, or the goings on of Bishop Kleopas Dumeni and inquire after Nickey Iyambo’s health.

The role of the churches was important politically, but also as a spiritual strength to the nation in its transitional stages. The churches maintained the moral backbone of the nation. In many ways, they also inspired confidence and encouraged Namibians in their country and in faraway places. The churches were also visible in central places: the United Nations, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Council of Churches and as guests of individual governments. Information also travelled internally. Censorship and persecution could not eradicate the channels of influence.

The churches’ role was essential in implementing the UN Resolution 435 nine years ago, from March 1989 to the nation’s independence in March 1990. They supported and followed the UNTAG teams’ activities everywhere, they followed the actions of political parties, and they welcomed and looked after Namibians returning to their homeland after the long struggle for freedom. The churches fed, housed and mediated family reunions.

The church was also an important cooperative institution during my time as Special Representative of the UN’s Secretary General. In Ovambo, Bishop Kleopas and I chose the sauna for discussing the attitude of the church and its members to the alternatives of the independence process, as it was the only place where we could negotiate in peace, without a third party. There, while having a sauna, important issues were agreed to. At the same time, the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission was informed of the current situation regarding important questions.


Namibia is especially close to Finland, despite the large distance between us. We are happy that Namibia is now a sovereign nation among other nations. Namibia recently commenced its two year period as a member of the UN Security Council and the Foreign Minister of Namibia, Theo-Ben Gurirab has been elected as the Chairman of the UN’s 54^th General Assembly. Finland has a multifaceted and uncomplicated relationship with Namibia. These relations continue to be developed and we are grateful to the founders of this relationship and for the 140 years of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission’s work in Namibia.

The Mission would be nothing without its workers and their families. Many are those "suitcase children", now active within Finnish society and internationally, who spent several years of their youth in Namibia and other missionary fields. Today, many of them participate in the development of our international relations. Mission’s sewing and handicraft groups throughout the country can be delighted at the continued activity, productivity and success of the 140 year old Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission which has enriched our lives as well.


So what does Namibia teach us of the role of missions and Christianity in constructing national unity? Naturally, this question is best answered by Namibians themselves. We Finns are perhaps better equipped to assess development in the light of our own tradition and experiences.

In Namibia, Finnish missionary work and its interpretation of Christianity have become known for their lack of involvement with the colonial powers. Preaching, social work and foster work were seamlessly connected. The Finnish Mission had in addition to the church a boys’ and girls’ school as well as a clinic. Everyone was included in the circle of education. When gifted young Namibians were excluded from higher education by South Africa’s education policy, the significance of the Oshigambo secondary school in particular was central to people’s development. The school taught all subjects and created opportunities for further education. Simultaneously, national leaders were being brought up.

Finnish missionary workers in Namibia have seemingly used those materials of our democracy seeking traditions which developed Finnish independence and applied them to their own work. Christianity provided the foundations for treating people equally. It condemned apartheid. It also created a goal for a just and peaceful existence. In practice, popular education and health care created expectations of community life controlled by the people and democracy.

In the previous decades, there have also been critical discussions of the activities of churches and missions. Afterwards, there has been criticism of the earlier attempts to cooperate with the illegal South African administration. Nonetheless, it is important to remember that actions cannot be judged separately from prevailing circumstances as they also reflect the surrounding community. I have always valued the missionary workers’ purposeful involvement in everyday Namibian life, despite all the difficulties such as the blowing up of the printing houses. They often endangered their own lives and work while protecting the local population from the violence of the illegal administration. In this way, national unity has been permanently strengthened.

Namibia is now an independent state which despite its many difficulties is an encouraging example in Southern Africa. The nation’s peaceful development and attempts at reconciliation and national unity are vital.

Namibia has been an example of functioning democracy in Africa. The country has freedom of speech and it is politically, economically and societally on a relatively stable road in a time when global recession, uncertainty and weakening of spiritual values are being experienced also on this continent. Continued uncertainty and the wars in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo are being felt in Namibia as well. Therefore, the international community and churches should intensify their work in achieving peace in this area.

After Namibia’s independence, the significance of reconciliation as a foundation for national unity was emphasised. Churches can with reason claim the concepts of reconciliation and propitiation as central to church terminology. Although the Church emphasise reconciliation between God and man, churches together with earthly powers also emphasise reconciliation between people, population groups, races and nations.

Indeed, reconciliation and propitiation crystallise the message that Christianity and missionary work offer nations seeking national unity.