Yakusu
Encyclopedia
Yakusu was a mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
, on the Congo River
just west and downstream of Kisangani
.
The Stanley Falls zone consisted of strips of land 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) deep along both banks of the Congo between Stanley Falls and Isangi
.
It was declared a free trade zone, where the state abandoned its interests to private enterprise.
The people of the region included the Lokele
, Turumbu
, Bakumu, Wagenya, Bamanga and Tovoke.
The mission embarked on a program of educating local people, who in turn became teachers in village schools.
With high demand, often the education of the teachers had to be rushed.
By 1905 the mission had 3,200 pupils at 70 rural schools in the zone.
Initially, the mission was on good terms with the authorities.
However, as their influence grew there were rumours that the British planned to take over the region.
In January 1907 the governor-general Albert Lantonnois ordered the district commissioner of the Orientale Province to take vigorous measures to counter the influence of the protestants.
During the colonial era from the 1930s to the 1960s Yakuso was a center of missionary and medical activity.
Nurses were trained as both evangelists and health assistants.
In the early 1930s the local Mbole people began to be pressed into working on plantations and building roads. The Yakusu doctors were no longer allowed to use porters, and instead took to motorbikes, while the nurses used bicyles.
There was a leprosarium across the river at Yalisombo.
was involved in teaching throughout his missionary career in Yakusu, where he worked between 1938 and 1950.
He found that the local Kele people
were communicating via drums. Each village had an expert drummer and everyone could understand drum language, which echoes the rhythms of the spoken Kele language.
Carrington published The Talking Drums of Africa in 1949.
The movie The Nun's story
with Audrey Hepburn
was shot at Yakusu in 1958.
|title=Wellcome Library for the History of Medicine & Understanding
|publisher=Leprosy History
|accessdate=2011-10-25}}
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, on the Congo River
Congo River
The Congo River is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of . It is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, though it has only one-fifth the volume of the world's largest river, the Amazon...
just west and downstream of Kisangani
Kisangani
Kisangani is the capital of Orientale Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the 3rd largest urbanized city in the country and the largest of the cities that lie in the tropical woodlands of the Congo....
.
History
The BMS Mission was established between 1895 and 1896 at the highest navigable point of the Congo, just below the Stanley Falls.The Stanley Falls zone consisted of strips of land 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) deep along both banks of the Congo between Stanley Falls and Isangi
Isangi
Isangi is a territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located in the Tshopo District to the west of Kisangani, and mostly to the south of the Congo River.The largest community is Yangambi...
.
It was declared a free trade zone, where the state abandoned its interests to private enterprise.
The people of the region included the Lokele
Kele people (Congo)
The Kele people are a Bantu ethnic group of about 160,000 people, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.They mainly live on the south bank of the Congo River between Kisangani and Isangi....
, Turumbu
Turumbu people
The Turumbu people live in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, mostly in the Isangi Territory of the Tshopo District on both sides of the Congo River. They speak the Lombo language...
, Bakumu, Wagenya, Bamanga and Tovoke.
The mission embarked on a program of educating local people, who in turn became teachers in village schools.
With high demand, often the education of the teachers had to be rushed.
By 1905 the mission had 3,200 pupils at 70 rural schools in the zone.
Initially, the mission was on good terms with the authorities.
However, as their influence grew there were rumours that the British planned to take over the region.
In January 1907 the governor-general Albert Lantonnois ordered the district commissioner of the Orientale Province to take vigorous measures to counter the influence of the protestants.
During the colonial era from the 1930s to the 1960s Yakuso was a center of missionary and medical activity.
Nurses were trained as both evangelists and health assistants.
In the early 1930s the local Mbole people began to be pressed into working on plantations and building roads. The Yakusu doctors were no longer allowed to use porters, and instead took to motorbikes, while the nurses used bicyles.
There was a leprosarium across the river at Yalisombo.
Miscellaneous
John F. CarringtonJohn F. Carrington
John F. Carrington was an English missionary who spent large part of his life in the Belgian Congo.He became fluent in the Kele language and in the related drum language, and wrote a book on the subject.-Career:...
was involved in teaching throughout his missionary career in Yakusu, where he worked between 1938 and 1950.
He found that the local Kele people
Kele people (Congo)
The Kele people are a Bantu ethnic group of about 160,000 people, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.They mainly live on the south bank of the Congo River between Kisangani and Isangi....
were communicating via drums. Each village had an expert drummer and everyone could understand drum language, which echoes the rhythms of the spoken Kele language.
Carrington published The Talking Drums of Africa in 1949.
The movie The Nun's story
The Nun's Story (film)
The Nun's Story is a 1959 Warner Brothers film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Audrey Hepburn. Based upon the 1956 novel of the same title by Kathryn Hulme, the story tells of the life of Sister Luke , a young Belgian woman who decides to enter a convent and make the many sacrifices...
with Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
was shot at Yakusu in 1958.
Sources
|url=http://www.leprosyhistory.org/cgi-bin/showdetails.pl?ID=91&type=Archive|title=Wellcome Library for the History of Medicine & Understanding
|publisher=Leprosy History
|accessdate=2011-10-25}}