E Caird y la unidad que fundamenta la distinción entre sujeto y objeto

The Seventh-day Adventist Mission in Rwanda started in difficult times after World War I; as mentioned, by an Adventist Belgian soldier, D. Elie Delhove. from a small village (Marchienne-Docherie) in the French-speaking region of Wallonia (Belgium), and who was born on June 9, 1882 from a simple peasant Protestant family. After primary school, he graduated from secondary school at Jumet. Before he entered military service like other young people in his country, he owned a shoe shop in order to earn money to survive.

Delhove came into contact with the Adventist message when he received a box sent by a relative in Canada, containing evangelical tracts printed by Adventists. He studied them but only learned about the SDA Church much later from Joseph Curdy, an evangelist from Switzerland who conducted a campaign at Liege. He decided to be baptized in the SDA in 1906 (Delhove L 1984:2). This decision attracted difficulties from his own family who attempted to cause him to alter his

views but his faith in Adventism was strong and firm. After his marriage (April 22, 1909) to Virginie, he promised God that he would be a missionary overseas and began to prepare himself accordingly. He went to England to study English and attended Stanborough College. He was also a nurse, which he thought would help him to take care of Africans. When he felt ready, he applied and prayed that God would help him to find a place in Africa. After one year, he received two calls. One was from South Africa, and another from Central Africa. He immediately accepted the latter because he was interested in that part of Africa. In the letter, he was assigned to work with Arthur Asa Carscallen in opening a school at Kamagambo (Kenya).

Delhove was ready to leave when SDA church leaders in Europe told him that he could not take his family with him because conditions of life in Africa were harsh, therefore, he left alone in 1913. Certainly, he was not discouraged because he went where he was needed the most and was enthusiastic to begin the work.

Arriving at the mission station, they began to erect the station and the school. Time passed by quickly as they were absorbed by the work. Meanwhile, his hopes were shattered because the First World War broke out in August 1914, and Germany invaded Belgium. The Delhoves found themselves in the occupied area. During that time, communication between him and his family was interrupted.

As a soldier, Delhove was obliged by his country to return home and participate in the war. However, instead of doing so, he decided to write and ask to serve in the African countries because he knew that he would experience more religious liberty in Africa than in his own country. The authorities granted him permission; hence he abandoned his mission for four years.

According to his daughter L Delhove (1984:8), it was while he was involved in the war that he arrived in Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern Congo. He served as a spy

chief, a tax collector, a recruiter for the army, and was put in charge of logistics. The question that arose was whether it is acceptable for the SDA members to be involved in any wars. The answer to this question is provided by Bert Beach (2000:51), a retired Secretary General of the International Religious Liberty Association and Director of the Department of Public Affairs of the General Conference of SDA: “…Adventists, as loyal citizens, their position is to serve in army as a non-combatant capacity, that is, not to bear arms (saving life and not taking life). Their involvement is basically humanitarian because they believe that killing people is a sin even during the war”. Delhove L (1984:8) further wrote about her father: “…he never carried a gun. When he had occasion to use one, it was to shoot game for food”. However we can observe that his involvement constituted more than that because the purposes of all these activities were not only to save lives. For example, as a spy his responsibilities were known to be dangerous and sometimes required a life to be taken.

When Delhove was crossing and scouting the countries of Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern Congo, during the war, he learned the local languages and identified the sites where mission stations would be located. These two elements were helpful to him when he restarted the missionary work. During wartime, he never forgot that he was a missionary.

After five years of separation from his family, he was granted a furlough to England where he stayed until his country was liberated from the German occupation. In great joy, he reached his family in December 1918.

While in England, Elie Delhove met Henri Monnier, a young Swiss married to an English lady. He interested them in missionary work and they agreed to return to Africa with him as missionaries.

In March 1919, the two families left England and reached the estuary of the Congo River five months later. From this place they traveled by riverboat, railway, truck, and by foot through the vast Congo. Finally they arrived at Kibuye

(Rwanda) on the Eastern shore of Lake Kivu on August 4, 1919 (Delhove, L 1984:17).

The two missionaries separated; Henri Monnier went to Remera mission station while Elie Delhove took care of Kirinda. They refurbished houses, taught the peasants how to cultivate, planted trees around the mission station, and preached the Adventist doctrines, which had not been heard before. They introduced the keeping of the Seventh-day Sabbath instead of Sunday, the abstinence from alcoholic beverages, paying tithes etcetera (Segatwa 1958:2). The former Protestant Christians of these abandoned mission stations were confused by these new teachings, which they accepted rather passively. The resistance was internal.

Delhove and his colleague stayed for twenty months, waiting for final permission to be granted to occupy these mission stations permanently. Unfortunately, the District Commissioner informed them that they were required to leave Remera and Kirinda and hand them over to their former proprietors. They were, however, permitted to open their own SDA stations within the country.