CHINA MISSION WOMEN´S ASSOSIATION IN LYNGDAL

My oldest sister, Marie Opsahl (1923-2012)
shows here China mission old moneybox.

(This is primarily a google translation).

Grandmas great interest for the China Mission was wakened by the charismatic preacher Tormod Rettedal when he early 1900s, on a mission to attend the "Ekjowe Bedehus" (chapel) on Bergmoen, spoke about the personal obligation Jesus had placed on believers to make disciples of all nations and about the great distress and anguish it now ruled on the mission field in China.

Both grandmother and Malla in Norbakken was so moved by the speech that they immediately were joined by other interested parties and founded "Kinamissionens Kvinneforening in Aa Sogn". The minutes of the association's foundation was destroyed during a fire, so the year has been somewhat uncertain, but all indications are that it was in 1905.

"Ekjowe" is a very special name of a chapel in Lyngdal. It spelled with 'w' indicates that the name is neither Norwegian or biblical. The word then falls nor easy on the tongue, and it turns out to be a Norwegian "distortion" of the place name "Eshowe," the name of the oldest town in Zululand. That being said locally in South Africa that the name Eshowe's etymology is inspired by the sound of the wind in the forest, which shows that the Norwegian "EKJ" sound must be a linguistic antics.

Eshowe was the name of Lyngdal-man and missionary priest Ommund C. Oftebros mission in Zululand which he established in 1861. He came from Oftebro, then croft under Aa vicarage.
Why the name was changed from Eshowe to Ekjowe in Norway, we can only guess. The fear that it would be pronounced "Æsj-hove" (= dirt head) of irony tongues is stumbling close and then not long that chapeau people also would get the tag hanging on them.

The name was introduced in Lyngdal when Aa Sogn Mission Society bought a small use of Bergemoen * they called Ekjowe, where villagers met to volunteer; primarily potato setting and potato harvesting. Revenues from crops went to Oftebros mission in Zululand. Soon old houses on site where demolished and replaced by an new assembly house; Ekjowe Bedehus.

* There was a piece of land that was purchased by heirs after Martine Øygården, of the Mission Association in 1880, that was named Ekjowe. Poor Bertine froze to death the night of November 18, 1879 when her row boat grounded in the river between Grøndokka and Bringsjord Neset. She was not able to get the boat away from the ground, and nobody could have heard her sore cries for help.

When Alleen Bedehus was erected in 1910, was Ekjowe Bedehus moved to Dragon Land and renamed Drageland Bedehus. Interest in volunteer work dabbet of gradually, and in 1919 the farm was leased. Later it was listed a detached house which was made available to refugee committee.

When my oldest sister Marie Opsahl (1922-2012), who is named after my grandmother, in 1993 received municipal Culture prize "for her work on Lyngdal Missionary Museum" took Farsunds Avis this photo of her with China Mission Female Society old monny box.

"The women of the association gathered in turn in each other's living rooms, and when grandmother had union at his home, was this monny box placed on the table", she tells the newspaper, remembering when she as a little girl was allowed to be part of the association's meetings the grandmother's house.

"The first thing I remember is the smell of coffee which finishes against me when I came into the kitchen. And it was little wonder that it smelled so, for something later I went around and collected the small bags of ground coffee that each one brought with them to the meeting - and which was then emptied the boiler. All also had his own lunch, so they should not be to any load to the hostess. Otherwise, I sat on a stool by the door and knitted and listened to what they talked about, and what was read from the magazine "The Chinese man".

Female Associations made an enormous effort for the mission. In the early 1900s ¾ of mission companies' revenues from the country's women associations. Later the eagerness been declining, and the belief to succeed in making all nations disciples of Jesus is strongly decreasing.
But Malla and grandmother Marie was in this respect optimists, and they knew everything about giving from a good heart. On Lyngdal Missionary Museum you will find this solid shaker that was always open to the widow's mite.

Grandma and Mallas moneybox stands today among many others in a glass case
on Missjons museum in Lyngdal.