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Ulla Nenonen
Ulla Nenonen
Born	October 31, 1933; Loviisa, Finland
Died	March 9, 2018 (aged 84); Tampere, Finland
Nationality	Finnish
Education	Candidate of theology
Occupation	Missionary in Namibia
Years active	1961–2015
	Theological work
Language	Finnish, Oshiwambo, Dhimba
Tradition or movement	Lutheran

Ulla Pirkko Nenonen (born October 31, 1933, in Loviisa, Finland^[1]^[2] – 9 March 2018, in Tampere, Finland^[3]) was a Finnish theologian, missionary with the Finnish Missionary Society and Bible translator, who served in missionary work in Namibia during a 54-year span. Of Finnish missionaries, only Martti Rautanen and his wife Frieda and daughter Johanna have served longer in the mission field.^[4]

Nenonen spent most of her childhood in Kuusankoski, but she graduated from high school in Imatra in 1954. She obtained a degree in theology from the University of Helsinki in 1960. Soon after this she departed for Ovamboland.^[1]^[2]

Career as a teacher in Ovamboland

Ulla Nenonen arrived to Ovamboland, one of the mission fields of the Finnish Missionary Society, in 1961, and began by studying Afrikaans and Oshindonga.^[1]^[5] At first she worked at the Oniipa Printing Press, but soon she was transferred to Okahao, to work the local women’s teacher training seminary, and she soon became the principal of the seminary. She later also taught as a teacher in the local secondary school. At that time, the government had no schools in the north of Namibia, so the mission schools were the only possibility for the locals to get education. Life in Ovamboland was peaceful, until the aspirations of the SWAPO to achieve independence for the country turned into guerrilla warfare. “I had to make the decision of whether my life was more valuable that the life of someone else. I came to the conclusion that it certainly wasn’t,” she said the Finnish Broadcasting corporation Yle in an interview in 2011. Once she defied the night time curfew established by South Africa and drove a patient to a government hospital, since she could not expect that a local driver could be assumed to undertake such a task. She was stopped by the authorities and was given a strenuous interrogation, but in the end she was allowed to proceed.^[6]

During 1980–83 Nenonen worked as the vice-rector of the Oshigambo High School. During 1983–93 she acted as the head of the mission in Oniipa. She was there in one of the most important places with regard to the independence process of Namibia. She hosted the Secretary-General of the United Nations, various emissaries, ministers and presidents from different countries, among them Martti Ahtisaari, who was overseeing the transfer from South African to Namibian rule. Nenonen was able to provide these people with accurate information on what was going on in the country.^[1]

Work as a Bible translator during retirement

After retiring from the FMS, Nenonen did not return to Finland, as other missionaries had done, as she was invited by Bishop Kleopas Dumeni of the Ovambo-Kavango Church to assist in Bible translation to the Dhimba language in Opuwo, Kunene Province, where she worked until 2015.^[1] Dhimba is closely related to the Herero language and somewhat more distantly related to the Ovambo language. Her collaborator in this work was the Dhimba pastor Johannes Tolu, the only Dhimba to have studied to become a pastor. At the time, the Dhimba language did not have a writing system, so their first task was to devise one. The work was supported by the Lutheran Bible Translators from the United States, the United Bible Societies and a Finnish association called Support for the Namibian Church. The work of Pastor Tolu was supported by the Tampere Cathedral Congregation. The New Testament was completed in 2011, but due to difficulties in its printing, it appeared only in January 2014. After that the team began to translate the Old Testament. Study of the Dhimba language has also been a part of the project, as well as collecting of stories and songs, and the team has also produces primers, reading books, songbooks, and put out Compact Cassettes, which contain texts from both the Old and the New Testament read aloud in Dhimba. One aspect of the work has been the development of the Dhimba language with a view toward its preservation and a literacy programme.^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]

Even after her return to Finland in 2015, Nenonen assisted the Dhimba translation team via e-mail, and proof read translations and helped in compiling a dictionary of the language.^[10]

Yle has made a television documentary of the Dhimba Bible translation programme with the title “Dhimba translators”. It was broadcast on YLE 1 in 2003.^[12]

The work of Ulla Nenonen has received attention from e.g. President Martti Ahtisaari, when he spoke in the 140th anniversary festivities of the Finnish Missionary Society in 1999.^[13]

Place	Years	Tasks
Ulla Nenonen’s tasks in Namibia
Oniipa	1961–62	Printing press
Okahao	1963–74	Teacher at women’s seminary and secondary school
Okahao	1974–79	Rector at women’s seminary and secondary school
Oshigambo	1980–82	Vice rector of high school
Oniipa	1983–93	Superior of the mission field
Opuwo	1993–2015	Bible translation

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Kalliokoski, Seppo (2018-05-05). "Ulla Nenonen 1933–2018. Peloton lähetystyöntekijä" [‘Ulla Nenonen 1933–2018. A Fearless missionary’]. Helsingin Sanomat. Sanoma. p. C 24. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
^ ^a ^b Suomen teologit, Teologer i Finland, 1999 [‘Finnish theologicians 1999’]. Suomen kirkon pappisliitto (Union of Finnish clergy). 1999. p. 422. ISBN 952-91-0905-9.
^ Lähetysseniorit (Mission seniors). "Vuonna 2018 kuolleet lähetysseniorit" [‘Mission seniors deceased in 2018’]. www.lahetysseniorit.fi. Lähetysseniorit. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
^ Eriksson, Olle (2018-03-09). "Olle Eriksson's facebook timeline". Facebook (in Finnish). Retrieved 2018-03-14.
^ Kaikkeen maailmaan. Suomen Lähetysseuran vuosikirja 1964. Kertomus Suomen Lähetysseuran toiminnasta vuonna 1963 [‘Into all the world. Yearbook of the Finnish Missionary Society 1964. An account of the activities of the society in 1963.’]. The Finnish Missionary Society. 1964. p. 78.
^ Yle Kymenlaakso (2011-05-13). "Namibialle viisikymmentä vuotta elämää" [’50 years of her life for Namibia’]. yle.fi. Yle. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
^ "Embassy of Finland in Windhoek - Suomen suurlähetystö Windhoekissa". Embassy of Finland in Windhoek. 2013-04-23. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
^ "Dhimba juhlamatka Namibiaan 19. – 30.1.2014" [‘A trip to the Dhimba festivities in Namibia, January 19–30, 2014’]. Koonono Travels. 2013-11-13. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
^ "Tampereen tuomiokirkkoseurakunta: Ystävyysseurakunnat" [‘Tampere Cathedral Congregation: Friendship Parishes’]. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
^ ^a ^b Lehtipuu, Olli (2014-03-05). "Jumala puhuu minun kielelläni" [‘God speaks in my language’]. Tampere Evangelical Lutheran Congregations. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
^ "Paikallisen Yhteistyön Määrärahoilla saadaan alkuperäisväestön äänet kuuluviin" [‘Local cooperation budget allows the native population to have their voices heard’]. Embassy of Finland in Windhoek. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
^ Saarinen, Vesa (2003-04-21). "Arkistodokumentteja, jakso 56: Dhimban kääntäjät" [‘Archive documents, episode 56: Dhimba translators’]. Yle. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
^ ""Kristinuskon ja lähetystyön rooli kansallisen eheyden rakentajana — mitä Namibia opettaa." Tasavallan presidentti Martti Ahtisaari Suomen Lähetysseuran 140-vuotisjuhlassa 17.1.1999" [‘The role of Christianity of missionary work in building national unity — what Namibia can teach. The speech of President Martti Ahtisaari in the 140th anniversary festivities of the Finnish Missionary Society.’]. 1999-01-17. Retrieved 2018-03-14.