Back in Europe, Segesser, who was employed as a "travel nurse" from 1925-1940, used the pictures to talk about India and the work of the Basel Mission there. In this way, she documented the activities and successes of the mission in the communities - and in this way also solicited new support. Sea and man: Margrit Segesser captured the theme in the picture - the teacher Emilie Kaundinya, 30 years earlier, in the text.
Camping vacations by the sea
Emilie Kaundinya was the daughter of a Württemberger and a converted Brahmin who had been trained as a missionary in Basel. From 1897 to 1903 she taught at the girls' school in Meer and Mensch Mangalore, in southwest India. Like the missionaries, Emilie had to report her work in writing to Basel every three months. In the summer of 1902, she wrote an unusual report. The missionaries were on a camping vacation by the sea! Precisely and in detail she describes the experiences of these days at the sea. The joy of the completely new experience speaks from every line, her admiration for the sea reads like simple poetry:
"But even better we admired the sea spread out before us in its changing splendor, be it in the morning, when a crowd of large & small sailboats (...) swept through its blue waters, be it at noon when it shimmered in the bright sunshine or in the evening when the fresh sea breeze rippled its surface & studded the green waters with little white foams, or when the moon showered it with its silver shine & even the bright stars refreshed themselves in the wavy waters & gave it a reflection of their tropical glow. But the most wonderful sight was probably then, when over us deep dark night, in the waters rushing at our feet it began to glow & to glow & the rolling waves broke in white glowing foam on the land hissing & the shore line resembled a mobile light snake scurrying away, when it glowed secretly in the damp sand & with every step it sprayed as of thousand sparks. On such evenings we often sat long outside hard by the seashore, absorbed in the glorious sight, our hearts full of awe & wonder at the glory & power of God revealed in His creation, conscious of our own inability, our humbling nothingness, but also blessedly aware that this almighty, mighty Creator is our Father, who counts the hairs of our head, who knows us & loves us."
Text: Andrea Rhyn,
Historian and research assistant in the Mission 21 archive
