The early missionaries who travelled to the interior became adventurers in their own right. Not only did one require a considerable amount of courage and faith, but an immense will to survive in a land where little was known of the area or the indigenous people. 

Through incredible sacrifice, these intrepid believers did much to ‘open up’ this thirsty land. With the aid of enthusiastic work parties, they built homes, churches and schools. Following this came the task of conversion of the Nama people from the age-old practices such as polygamy, ancestral worship and life spirits to those of Christianity. 

Today, there are still a number of mission stations operating in Namakwa. Settlements such as Pella, with its cathedral surrounded by date palms, Leliefontein, Komaggas, Matjieskloof, Concordia and Steinkopf, each with their own unique history of endurance, love and perseverance, still thrive. The mission stations are however, not only restricted to Namakwa, with the Moffat Mission Station (pictured above) in Kuruman being one of the most visited and historically significant in the Northern Cape.