TALAGOUGA, SAMKITA AND NGOMO MISSIONS

In the vicinity of Lambaréné, one can still see the remains of several missions that played a decisive role in the region, both religiously and economically. The pastors were very active here and the evangelization mission extended to the surrounding villages, thanks to catechists who stayed there when the welcome was warm. Thus, several annexes to these protestant missions were built with the help of a few workers at the end of the 19th century.

The mission of Ngomo, founded in 1898 by the Alsatian pastors Haug Ernest and Octave Abrezole, experienced an intense activity driven by the SAIO (Agricultural and Industrial Society of Gabon) in the 1910s. At that time, a sawmill and a brick factory employed about thirty people, and a school of carpentry and joinery was opened. It was thanks to this training that the region was able to distinguish itself by its remarkable architecture, in hardwood or brick. The world crisis of 1936 cut the momentum of these successful initiatives. Nowadays, the mission tries to keep the dispensary, the school and the church in operation.

There have been two missions in Talagouga, whose name means "the rock of misfortunes". The first one, founded in 1882 by the American pastor Nasseau, was devastated in 1893 by a flood of the Ogooué. It was rebuilt by Pastor Felix Faure in 1902 on another site, an island in the Ogooué 3 km upstream from the first mission.