Onandjokwe Medical Museum

Historical museum specializing in displaying medical equipment used in the Oshikoto Region of Northern Namibia, where it has a photographic collection dating back to the early 20th century.
Onandjokwe Medical Museum
Image Source: Oniipa Town Council
Type: Medical Museum
Country:
Namibia
Establishment: 2013

The Onandjokwe Medical Museum is a historical museum specializing in displaying medical equipment used in the Oshikoto Region of Northern Namibia, where it has a photographic collection dating back to the early 20th century.

History

The museum is located in one of the oldest hospitals in the northern part of Namibia and was established by Dr. Selma Rainio after travels to Africa in 1908 following missions by the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission in Ovambo Territories.[1]

The museum was opened in March 2013 after cooperation between the Museums Association of Namibia and the Ministry of Health following contributions of old medical material donated by the Swakopmund Museum and additionally two exhibits on the establishment of the Onandjokwe Hospital as well as the State of the Country's Health System during the decolonization efforts in Namibia.[2]

In April 2023, the museum organized commemorative exhibitions with contributions from Kuku Selma Gwanandjokwe Shejavali, Namibian community leader as well as spokeperson of the royal family of Ondonga about the work of Dr. Rainio as well as the relations between Namibia and Finland.[3]

Onandjokwe Medical Museum - Newspaper Clip
Article from a local newspaper written in Ndombe about the Museum History (2018) - Photo by Kleopas Kondjela Ekoka-family via Facebook

Additionally the museum contains a stone sculpture made by artist Alpheus Mvula as a Gwanandjokwe memorial depicting a black goose known as "Ondjokwi" to locals, symbolizing the history of the Christianization of Health Services. The history of the establishment of the hospital starts during the Nehale LyaMpingana Reign who ruled part of the Eastern sections of Ondonga, where the royal family gave the authorization for several plots of land to be used for the construction of the hospital, the site was previously used as a meeting point by several traditional healers of the Ovambo communities.[4]

Collections

The museum has a collection of photographs as well as drawings of medical equipment such as microscopes and old nurses' uniforms.[5] Part of the collections date back to 1908, additionally the museum received donations of medicinal plants collected by the traditional healer Helena Shifeleni, this donation includes more than 40 types of native plants between Namibia and Angola.[6]

Onandjokwe Medical Museum - Image A
Old Medical Equipment (2023) - Image by NBC Digital News
Onandjokwe Medical Museum - Image B
Blood Pressure Monitor (2020) - Image by Museums Association of Namibia

References

  1. "Namibia's First Medical Museum to Open At Onandjokwe" (2013-03-14) The Namibian via AllAfrica.

  2. "Medical museum opens at Onandjokwe" (2013-03-15) Namibia Economist

  3. Nghikefelwa, K. (2023-04-19). "Edalo ‘laGwanandjokwe’ la dimbulukiwa pOnandjokwe." New Era Live. (in Ndombe)

  4. Kaapanda, S. (2021-07-07). "GwaNandjokwe: Delving into the Archives of Ondonga Empire" Omutumwa News Online.

  5. Löytty, M. (2018). Art of the intangible history: Negotiating the possibilities of arts-based research for learning processes in Finnish-Namibian Museums.

  6. Schmidt, W. (2020-11-05). Oniipa—Namibian medical history. Allgemeine Zeitung.

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