The webshop here was created under the name "Ms. Rose" in 2022 and was renamed Mission Afrika Genbrug in 2024 - to gain closer affiliation with our 50+ thrift stores.
"Miss Rose" refers to "Dagmar Rose" - the nurse from Copenhagen who traveled to Nigeria in 1913 as a pioneer missionary for the Sudan Mission. Her life and work are surrounded by a certain mystery. She was the heroine in the shadows, and we delve into her story here.
A few months after the medical couple Margaret and Niels Høgh Brønnum (30 years old) were accepted as the Sudan Mission's first missionaries in April 1912, Dagmar Rose was also hired. She was 31 years old and a nurse from Copenhagen. The three of them were sent to England together to study the Hausa language, which is spoken in northeastern Nigeria. On January 8, 1913, a magnificent missionary service was held in Our Lady's Church in Aalborg. The next day, the trip went back to England, where the traveling companions sailed from Liverpool south towards the Gulf of Guinea on January 22. Just under three weeks later, the large steamship arrived in the Niger Delta and Nigeria.
Then the journey went north up the Niger River on river barges. The first stop was the town and trading post of Lokoja, where they could rest and buy provisions. Then they sailed up the Benue River for three days to Rumasha, a larger town with a Sudan United Mission (SUM) mission station. The town was bustling and filled with many different peoples and nationalities and was a home for freed slaves.
Here the three missionaries stayed for a few months. They contributed locally with their medical expertise and even borrowed a hut to open a small clinic. Here they improved their Hausa knowledge, learned to tell simple Bible stories and teach the local children. The pale-skinned northerners also encountered the intense heat that is in Nigeria in March and April; and they learned to keep a watchful eye on snakes, scorpions and other wild animals.
Sadness and disappointment
They were looking forward to continuing their journey, but in May Margaret Brønnum, who was heavily pregnant, fell ill with malaria and dysentery. She initially managed to recover, but in June the birth of her and Niels Brønnum's son began prematurely, and the malaria flared up again. On June 13, the new mother died – a tragic event for the small family and a serious setback for further missionary work. The boy was christened Holger, after Brønnum's brother, and out of concern for his life and well-being, it was agreed that Dagmar Rose would make the long trip back to Europe with him on June 15 and deliver him to Margaret's parents in their home province of Scotland. It must have been something of an unexpected and even disappointing turn in nurse Rose's life.
The very next day, Brønnum sailed further up the Benue River in a canoe. From the town of Ibi, he boarded a river steamer on September 24, which took him to Yola. Sailing in a canoe, he arrived on October 5 at the village of Numan, where his work of establishing a health clinic, and later a church, began.
Dagmar Rose returns
Early in 1914, Miss Rose was back in Nigeria. However, she had to work from Ibi for a few months because she had to wait for the British colonial masters to open up further missionary presence in the Numan area. In April, five new missionaries, two men and three women, also arrived from Denmark in Ibi. They were sent to assist Dr. Brønnum in the missionary work. In July, the men joined Brønnum in Numan, while the women arrived later.
In 1915, both Niels Brønnum and Dagmar Rose traveled home to Denmark on leave, where they were warmly received, and their stories were devoured by those interested in missions around the country.
Back home in Denmark, Brønnum became engaged to Albertha Tholle, who later traveled to join him in Nigeria in 1916, where they were married. Ms. Rose now replaced the missionaries in Numan with the Brønnum couple, so that they could also come home on leave.
There was always more to learn and more to do. She threw herself into learning both Bachama and Fulani, since most people in the area did not speak Hausa.
A close connection to the children and women
In her letters home to Denmark, she expresses the joy of going into the village after work to tell Bible stories and sing the small handful of Christian songs that were available in bachama. She was an important part of the Sunday school work and was happy when the children had understood enough to begin to answer questions. Rose also saw early on the value of the connection that female missionaries could have with the local women. She taught a small group of village women to read and write and reported that several of them were solid and capable women who would be an asset to the work of faith in the area.
It wasn't long before people in the surrounding villages also got wind of the good skills of the doctors and nurses in Numan, and sick people flocked to the two primitive huts that made up the clinic. At one point, the huts collapsed during the heavy rain, and the village chief was urged to send men who could build more and stronger huts. Now the clinic was expanded to 6 huts, so there was more space for the sickest patients to stay overnight.
In 1918 there were nine missionaries stationed in Numan. Dagmar Rose was now one of the seasoned workers. While several others suffered terribly from the climate and illness, it seems as if Miss Rose was less affected and inhibited in her work.
Alternative methods
During the periods when there was no doctor at the small hospital in Numan, Dagmar Rose and the other nurses had a great responsibility and strenuous work. Faith and prayer, along with medical treatment, were essential components of the missionary work.
Together with Pastor Peter Jensen, who had arrived as a missionary in 1915, Dagmar Rose began studying auto-suggestion (self-influence). The concept originated in the latter half of the 19th century, when researchers studied why hypnosis worked and why some people seemed to be more susceptible than others. It suggested that through positive confessions, hypnosis and meditation techniques, one could improve one's own mental and physical health. Ms. Rose and Pastor Jensen saw these techniques as good means together with prayer.
Photo: Dagmar Rose and other missionaries depart from Liverpool for Africa on the steamship SS Elmina, January 22, 1913.
Conflicted ending
The other missionaries felt that this was a slippery slope to tread. The villagers could easily mistake the techniques for witchcraft. However, the two experienced missionaries did not believe that they were doing anything wrong. A conflict was brewing, and in October 1924 a general meeting was called to discuss the issue. However, Rose and Jensen did not want to attend, and the conference ended with the two pioneer missionaries being asked to resign. It was a huge blow to them, so Rose and Jensen went to Ibi to await the decision of the central board in Denmark.
Chairman Anton Pedersen, priest and founder of the mission, supported Dagmar Rose, but the board's position was that she could only return to work in Numan if she repented and abstained from her previous practices. Even Niels Brønnum was sent down to the area to mediate. However, the wounds and divisions were too deep for reconciliation to take place. In 1925, Anton Pedersen resigned as chairman of the board, and Dagmar Rose sought employment with another mission company. She traveled to Ethiopia, where she worked as a nurse until her untimely death at the age of 47 in 1928.
Regardless of the sad ending, Dagmar Rose must be recognized for her crucial role in the successful beginning of the mission.
