Anderson’s House
WILLIAM HARRINGTON ANDERSON (1871-1950)
He came to Solusi in 1895 with his wife Norah and his daughter Naomi in the company of five other missionaries all the way from America. He was the longest serving pioneer in Solusi with eight years of service at Solusi. He and his family survived the malaria outbreak of 1898. After the death of George Tripp, the school superintendent, then became the acting principal of the Mission up to the arrival of Fred Mead. He encouraged his zealous student Jim Mayenza to sell books. In 1903, he went with Alvin Tshabangu, Mahlathini Mpofu, Andrew Nyakana, Philip Malomo, Jacob Deja Sibanda and others to open Rusango Mission station in Zambia. In 1919, he opened Kanye Mission in Botswana. In 1923 he went with J.D. Bakers to open the first Mission station in Angola at Lepi in Bengula District. It was first known as Bengula Mission, but later changed to Bongo Mission. He went to Congo and later to Cameroon before returning to America. Anderson school in Gweru, Zimbabwe, is named after him. He covered a total of 1600 kilometers on foot in Africa. His wife Norah died in South Africa and he later got married to Mary from America. On 25 June 1950, he celebrated his 80 th birthday. One morning while preparing to attend a General Conference Session, he was found dead in his bathroom.
