page_title: Fritz Ramseyer
section_title: Missionary activities
hierarchical_section_title: Fritz Ramseyer / Work on the Gold Coast / Missionary activities
caption_attribution_description: English: A scanned digitised copy of a 19th century photo of the Ramseyer family while in captivity in the Asante empire. The identity of the photographer is unknown.
context_page_description: Friedrich Augustus Louis Ramseyer also Fritz Ramseyer was a Swiss-born Basel missionary, who was captured by the Asante in 1869 in colonial Ghana, together with his wife Rosa Louise Ramseyer, Basel mission technical staff, Johannes Kühne and French trader, Marie-Joseph Bonnat. Ramseyer was later released in 1874 and pioneered the Christian mission in Kumasi and the rest of Asante. Apart from his evangelism, Ramseyer was instrumental in the expansion of opportunities in the fields of education, artisan industry training, land acquisition for building design and manpower development in the Asante areas he lived and worked in.
context_section_description: Upon their release, the Ramseyers went back to Switzerland to rest. The Ramseyers wished to return to Kumasi in 1874 as liberated missionaries but the political climate was not favourable to foreigners, especially former political prisoners. Besides, the Home Committee wanted them to wait due to the political situation Fritz Ramseyer decided to create a mission post right outside the Asante jurisdiction.  The Ramseyers returned to the Gold Coast at the end of 1875 and initially settled at Kyebi in Akyem Abuakwa.  With the approval of the Home Committee, he selected the mountainous Abetifi, situated on the Kwahu Ridge at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level. He had also considered setting up the mission base in Obo Kwahu, about three hours from Abetifi. There were also rumours that Kwahu desired to leave the Asante confederacy due to Ashanti’s taxation policy of salt and gunpowder. Furthermore, Ramseyer did not want to another political imbroglio. The township was known for being hospitable to foreigners.  The Ramseyers were temporarily settled at the Kubasehene Yaw Preko’s house and fetish shrine under the auspices of the paramount chieftain of Abetifi, Nana Kofi Dankyi. Ramseyer had earlier stayed in this house as a captive on the march to Kumasi. Ramseyer started his school and fellowship in this same house, propagating the Gospel among the people. He sometimes held open-air vigils and religious revivals where many natives, including fetish priests, Agya Yaw Tawi and Otuo Kofi converted to Christianity. By 12 March 1877, the natives Ramseyer had baptised included Yaw Beeko and his wife, Buruwa, Otieku Kwadwo, Taetta and his wife, Ansaa, Jonathan Kofi Brebo and his wife, Akosua Angyie, Kwabena Gyane and his wife, Ansaa and Osei Yaw. They were first congregants at the church Ramseyer established at Abetifi. 
  Ramseyer asked the Abetifi traditional authorities for a parcel of land to build a mission station. This move was opposed by the local shamans who viewed Ramseyer as a threat to their livelihoods as many indigenes were abandoning the traditional religion in favour of the Christian faith. On 5 February 1876, Ramseyer bought a plot of land from the Kubeasehene, Yaw Preko at a cost of £110. Coordinating the logistics for a mission outpost was difficult as transportation access to the town was spotty in that period. As the nearest major locale to Kumasi, the Basel Mission Home Committee was eager to establish a mission station in Abetifi as a springboard for further evangelism in Asante.  It therefore imported hundred professional builders and labourers from Akropong in 1876 to build a mission house and chapel. Perched atop a hill, the two-storied eighteen-room structure built with limestone and solid timber, was consecrated in 1878.  The doors and windows were made of wood as were the shingles used for roofing. Rainstorm nearly damaged the building during construction, requiring reinforcement with wooden beams on the upper level using the architectural engineering, commonly found in Switzerland and Germany, distinct for English-style Tudor houses. The building is still in use by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and it underwent refurbishment in 1998–99. Ramseyer also considered nearby towns, Bompata and Petrensa as alternative towns to establish temporary mission station before the entry to Kumasi.  
  Ramseyer trained the native converts to become catechists to assist him in his missionary work. He tasked two native converts, Samuel K. Boateng and James Boama to oversee the operations of these two outposts. Today, catechists of the church are put-in-charge of congregations with no substantive ministers. The system helped in the numerical growth of the Presbyterian church of the Gold Coast. In August 1876, Ramseyer started the Kwahu Tafo mission station and later in December 1876, the outpost at Bokuruwa was established.
  Moreover, in the Kwahu area, Fritz Ramseyer met and worked with Peter Hall, the son of West Indian missionaries, John and Mary Hall, recruited by Danish minister, Andreas Riis and had arrived on the 
caption: Fritz and Rosa Ramseyer in Abetifi
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