Ndanda Abbey

Ndanda Abbey

Location within Tanzania
Monastery information
Other names	Our Lady Help of Christians Abbey
Order	Congregation of Missionary Benedictines of Saint Ottilien, Order of Saint Benedict
Established	December 2, 1906
Mother house	St. Ottilien Archabbey
Dedicated to	Our Lady Help of Christians
Diocese	Roman Catholic Diocese of Mtwara
Abbot	Placidus Mtunguja
Prior	Silvanus Kessy
Site
Location	Ndanda, Mtwara, Tanzania
Coordinates	10°30′8″S 39°1′44″E / 10.50222°S 39.02889°E / -10.50222; 39.02889Coordinates: 10°30′8″S 39°1′44″E / 10.50222°S 39.02889°E / -10.50222; 39.02889

The Abbey of Our Lady Help of Christians, Ndanda, Tanzania, is a Benedictine monastery of the Congregation of the Missionary Benedictines of Saint Ottilien. Established in 1906 as a mission station in German East Africa, the monastery is currently home to 71 monks. On 4 July 2015 the community elected Fr. Placidus Mtunguja OSB its 5th Abbot.

The first Missionary Benedictines arrived in German East Africa in 1887, following the creation of the Prefecture Apostolic of South Zanzibar. A first mission, established at Pugu near Dar-es-Salaam, ended in disaster, as three missionaries were killed and four kidnapped during the anti-colonial Bushiri uprising. Efforts at evangelization continued, with mission stations being opened throughout southeast German East Africa.

With the expansion of the indigenous Christian population, the territory was raised to an apostolic vicariate in 1902. However, the 1905 Maji Maji uprising dealt the Missionary Benedictines a further blow: many missionaries, including the vicariate's bishop, Cassian Spiß, were killed.

In 1906, the Missionary Benedictines chose Ndanda as the site of a new mission. Located in southern Tanzania, 100 km from the Indian Ocean, the station would serve a population previously cared for by the missions of Nyangao and Lukuledi.

In the early days of the mission, education was one of the main focuses of the Benedictines. Aided by indigenous catechists, missionaries successfully built a number of schools throughout the area, and proceeded to instruct young boarders. This service not only endeared the missionaries to the local community, but also contributed to the growth of the Christian population.

Working in concert with the Missionary Benedictines of Saint Ottilien, the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing endeavored to make the mission station of Ndanda a source of health care, in spite of the fact that many of the missionaries themselves succumbed to tropical diseases like malaria and black water fever. The sisters managed a dispensary and a hospital to care for the local population, created a leprosarium, and eventually established an accredited nursing school.