Inanda Seminary

While called a "seminary," Inanda Seminary is actually a girls' boarding school for grades 8-12 which was founded by Congregational missionaries in 1869. It has quite a history, which can be found at: http://globalministries.org/africa/missionaries/Inanda-Seminary-its-history-and-significance.html

One of its distinctions which we heard repeated was that many African women currently in positions of leadership in South Africa were educated at Inanda. During apartheid, it was a place of resistance, where young women received a quality and global-minded education.

The morning after we arrived, we attended the morning chapel service, led by Rev. Susan Valiquette, who serves as the school's chaplain. Here is the chapel.

The girls sang hymns and praise songs in harmony with an amazing collective voice. The chancel seemed a bit odd, with names of the human body's systems all over it, but this was very much in keeping with the historic Congregational emphasis upon connecting religion and science, spirituality and the natural world, biblical learning and practical learning. They were studying the lymphatic system which Rev. Susan described as one of the ways God's love heals. Many of these girls are affected in one way or another by HIV/AIDS, as are most young people in South Africa, so the message seemed especially poignant.

It was a great start to the day.