Microsoft Word - PhD Thesis Final.pdf - University of Limpopo ...

Blacks did not excel in this field before the arrival of the missionaries. Blacks
had extensive knowledge of medicines which they were using to treat
different ailments long before the arrival of missionaries. The missionaries
added to the Blacks’ knowledge in the field of medicine as they brought new
ideas in this area. Equally speaking, the missionaries’ medical knowledge
was expanded and enriched by the vast knowledge of Blacks in this field.
Both sides enriched each other and communities benefited as a result.
Although all the missionaries who worked in the Blouberg-Makgabeng area
from the second half of the nineteenth century brought cures of certain
ailments among the local people, it was missionary Robert Franz and his
wife, Helene, whose medical knowledge and skills left an indelible legacy in
the field of medicine. The western health aspect appeared in the
Makgabeng as early as the appearance of the first missionary in that area.
The earliest missionaries brought with them their ways and methods in
health issues as demonstrated by Sack who had, for instance, begun to dig
a big well, “so that they [missionary and his family] would not be forced to
use the contaminated drinking water from the fountain used by the heathen,
which often caused illnesses” 344 . Although this appeared to be a hyegenic
consideration, it was actually a racist attitude of the missionaries as they did
not want to share drinking sources with Black communities.
344 Rev. Sack, Berliner Missionberichte, p. 3.
196