Thomson - 1883 - Jomvu (Rabai) - the station over which Rev. T. Wakefield presided [actually Ribe- CN] - the mission patriarch of EA; for be it known that Mr Wakefield has lived almost entirely about Mombasa since 1862, when he was despatched by the United Methodist Free Churches to this mission field ..... A lively companion boiling over with good spirits, full of hearty laughter, puns, and genial stories - in fact, the very prince of African good fellows ........ Would that there were more like him.

Was taught Kinyika by Krapf in Switzerland

Set up the mission at Ribe

Alex Abel, Thomas Wakefield, Old Africa Feb-Mar 2022 At three years of age, the family moved to Chester. Aged 16 Wakefield was  apprenticed to a printer in Nantwich and became a member of the Methodist Free Church.  He ended his apprenticeship aged 21 and became a full time Methodist preacher in Cornwall.

In 1861 he volunteered for missionary work in East Africa and in June that year went to Stuttgart, Germany, with Dr J L Krapf for training and to learn Ki-Nyika and Ki-Swahili. Wakefield set sail from Trieste, then in Austria, on 17 August 1861 with Dr Krapf and three other trainee missionaries. They travelled via the Suez Canal to Aden where they caught an Arab dhow bound for Mombasa on 12 November. They had an uncomfortable 56-day voyage on the rat-infested craft. They bypassed Mombasa and reached Zanzibar on 5 January 1862. Eventually they reached Mombasa with Dr Krapf on 24 March where Wakefield was struck down with his first go of malaria fever.

Dr Krapf chose Ribe, some 15 miles north of Mombasa, for their missionary station and bought 40 acres from a local Nyika chief. They erected an 'iron house' (presumably mabati) brought from England. Dr Krapf returned to Germany on the 7 October 1862 leaving Wakefield in charge. Life was lonely and fever attacks constant. Wakefield became chummy with the Rev J Rebmann and his wife who were CMS missionaries there.

Krapf,  following  earlier  missionary work among  the Abyssinian/Ethiopian 'Galla' (Oromo  speaking  people)  urged  Wakefield to direct his efforts to the 'Galla' of the north Kenya coastal area (the Orma and Wardai.) So Wakefield, accompanied by New, left Ribe in late July 1865 to walk the 150 miles north to the unexplored 'Galla' country. They remained among  the  'Galla'  until  November  before returning to Ribe. It appears these 'Galla' at that time were under constant stock theft attack from the Maasai and their main concern was to find a god who would protect them. They said if Wakefield's God would protect them from the Maasai they would agree to be Christians. Wakefield and New visited the following places on this foot safari: Goddoma; the Sabaki River; Badessa; Weichu Hill; Kafira; and Chaffa. (more)