Saadani Graveyard

I have written before about a lonely graveyard in what was once the British Empire - here - and it doesn't seem too inappropriate on November 11th to remember other people who gave their lives for a higher cause.

This neglected graveyard - in such contrast to the immaculately kept graveyards of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission - is on the coast of Tanzania, in the Saadani National Park, close to the beach in a village which may be called Buyuni.

It contains several graves. The first is of a man who gave his life to the cause of empire. This is the grave of Waldemar Siege. He was a 'zollamptassisten II Klasse', a customshouse assistant, who was born in 1871 and died in 1900.  He would have been working in German East Africa, later Tanganyika, and the grave suggests that this small village might, in those days, have been a little more active and have had some import-export trade passing through it - it is located almost opposite Zanzibar which, in those days, was a major trading hub.

Another is the grave of James H Redman, a 'missionary of the CMS' (Church Missionary Society) who was 'appointed to Mamboia' and 'died at Ndumi February 29th 1892 aged 43 years'. It finishes, 'Ready to preach the gospel Rom 1 15. Ready also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus'.

Mamboya, where James started his work, is in Tanzania, about 50km inland (in a straight line) from Saadani. James died at Ndumi, but the only reference to an Ndumi is near Tanga, many miles to the north. Perhaps the village in which he lies, Buyuni, was once called Ndumi.

Considering their age, the graves are in remarkably good condition, and stand as monuments to two of the driving forces of empire - Christianity and trade.