As promised, some images from a trip to Ohio I undertook in May and June courtesy of the Association of Independent Publishers (AIP) of South Africa funded by the American State Department.
The idea was to network small publishers in South Africa with small publishers in the United States, and this was a remarkable idea which I believe had a positive effect on both the South Africans and the Americans.
But this update is really to focus on the story about Ohio University and how it is linked to South Africa.
The first professor, and the man who started this university was Jacob Lindley, whose son Daniel was ordained as a minister and then sent to South Africa to join Mzilikazi Khumalo. He arrived at Mosega, Mzilikazi’s homestead in 1835, but less than two years later was forced to flee when the Boers raided.
After this he had a choice. Stay behind and possibly be killed by Mzilikazi in revenge for the attack, or leave his mission.
He decided to leave the mission. After this time, he ended up in Port Natal.
It’s his formative years in Athens, Ohio, that made a deep impression on the boy from the backwoods of America and who took these lessons to South Africa.
The Bell tower.
A selection of the thousands of books and manuscripts from Ohio University — the African connection is obvious.
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