Lögberg-Heimskringla - 13.12.1996, Blaðsíða 19

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 13, desember 1996 • 19
Obituary
In Celebration of the Life of Thorbjorg Orr
(nee Sigurdsson)
Thora Orr was bom in 1898 in
Husavíck (near Gimli), Mani-
toba to Icelandic immigrant
parents, Sigurdur Sigurdsson and
Jarngerður Eriksdóttir. Thora was one of
nine children, six of whom survived:
Helga, Björn, Thorbjörg, Thórun,
Kristjan, and John. John is the only
remaining member of the family.
Thora taught in a one room school
house for a few years before moving in
1920 to Califomia, U.S.A. In 1924 she
married Archibald Charles Orr who began
a house building career in San Diego.
Thora’s only child, Archie Jr. was
born in 1931. The Orrs settled in
Vancouver (S. Burnaby) in 1933. After
weathering the depression years, Archie
resumed his custom-home building
career.
While in Vancouver, Thora devoted
a good deal of time to Sólskin, an
Icelandic charitable organization. Thora
acted as their President and vice
secretary for a number of years. Thora
maintained a strong association with
Icelanders and the Icelandic culture. She
spoke Icelandic fluently and was well
versed in Icelandic literature. Thora’s
family enjoyed all the Icelandic specialty
foods.
Archie and Thora moved to Calgary,
Alberta in 1958 to live with Jr. who was
working in the oil industry. In 1960 Jr.
married Agnes Frood in Calgary, and
shortly thereafter they moved to
Edmonton, Alberta. Archie and Thora
followed them to Edmonton where
Archie Jr. and Agnes had three children:
Geoffrey, Andrew and Deborah.
Archie died in 1964, after which
Thora moved in 1969 to Maple Ridge,
B.C. to live with her widowed sister,
Thomn.
After Thoran’s death, Thora lived in
an apartment for a few years and then in
1993 moved into an intermediate care
home in Sidney, B.C., close to her son’s
retirement residence. She received
excellent care and remained comfortable
during her last years.
Thora was a kind and considerate
lady who asked little of anyone, and
managed to maintain her financial
independence. She took great pride in her
family, and enjoyed following the
happenings of her son’s family. Since
Thora lost most of her memory capability
during her last three years, she was not
able to comprehend completely her great-
grandchildren Mathew, Jason, and
Samantha, children of Geoff and Susan.Q
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The Icelandic
Borana Man
Continued from page 20
“The idea is that I direct the work of
making necessary changes to Holton’s
translation for use in Ethiopia. It could
possibly be published at the tum of the
century.”
What is the importance of this
translation for the Oromo people and for
the church?
“I consider it nonsense to build up a
church without having the Bible in the
people’s language. The church is not
limited in time it will be there for all
future-.”
“We can consider what importance it
had for Iceland when we received the N.T.
translated by Oddur Gottskálksson in
1541 and the whole Bible in 1584. In
comparison we can mention that Nor-
wegians did not receive the Bible in their
language until in this century.
“This has great importance for the
culture. This is the first major book in the
language. And we hear people saying that
we are ruining the people’s culture! Some
Borana leaders have asked us: ‘What are
you working on?’ Some people answer
them and say: ‘We are working on
developmental projects, supplying
drinking water, assisting with cultivat-
ion.’ They say, ‘no, bless you, that is of
course good, but what wisdom do you
bring? You must bring the good news, that
is what can save our nation and our culture,
by becoming Evangelical Christians.’
They don’t say it to please me. They mean
it. They don’t only say this to me, but also
to their own people.
“I have encouraged people to write
down folk tales and other stories, and
record every thing they can in order to keep
their cultural heritage.
“Mistakes happen, of course, but what
remains is that the mission work is
exceptional.
“I have leamed much from the Borana
people. They have accepted me very well
and adopted me into their tribe. This was
done without my knowledge. I was able
to speak their language. The tribe is
divided into groups, ‘gosa’ and people are
entered into ‘gosa.’ When they meet they
ask each other which ‘gosa’ they belong
to. When I was jokingly asked which
‘gosa’ I belónged to I began claiming to
be a Magarri. I got ill in 1974 and had to
leave Borana for 5-6 months. When I
retumed and travelled around, people told
me that I was a Magarri. I agreed. Then I
began hearing again and again that I was
a son of Gujoga. I began listening and
asking about this. I was told that while I
was away they had agreed to adopt me into
the tribe. When I was working for the
Relief Mission I met a man who wanted
to adopt me. I took the name Haro. I have
used it often as a short signature. An old
man by the name of Berrisja Dambi
suggested this name for me. Now I am
invited to meetings in my ‘gosa’ when
they are held.
“While travelling with a friend one
time we met a woman and my co-worker
asked her. ‘Do you know who this is?’
‘No,’ she answered. ‘Can you guess?’
‘No.’ ‘This is Haro.’ ‘No,’ said the
woman. ‘Why not?’ ‘This man is white.
Haro is a Borana.’
Obviously the Borana people have
appreciated what you have done for them.
“I am the first missionary who has
travelled all through the Borana land. I
have visited every village in the Borana
land. I have spoken to people in the whole
area and worked on three relief missions.
That has a great effect on peoples’ lives. I
have tried to support the Borana people
and challenge them. People sometimes
travel long distances to see me. At one
time I received visitors who had walked
two days to see me. They said: ‘You speak
like us and you understand what we say.’”
“It has meant a great deal to me to be
adopted as a Borana man. I think my first
year with the Relief Work was the most
important. Our preachers worked with us
on the relief. They spoke to the people
about the kingdom of God and Jesus
Christ. Everyone got what they needed,
whether they were heathen or Islam or
something else. Then people came to me
and asked: ‘Why did you come to us? We
did not ask you to come. Why did you
come when we were in this trouble?’
These questions were discussed around the
fire in the evening all through the Borana
land. The explanation was that this was
part of God’s love which he had shown us
and which we had a duty to show to others.
This made people curious and they began
thinking that perhaps these people had
something which ápplied to them.
In closing: how do you manage to
keep in touch with your native land and
the language?
“Often a long time passes without my
having a chance to speak Icelandic, even
a year, but I think mainly in Icelandic. I
would have liked visiting Iceland more
often, but it is expensive. My visits have
been very enjoyable, especially when I
have been able to do some work in Iceland.
I have kept in contact with many old
friends and mission society friends, mainly
through cards and letters at Christmas. I
enjoy receiving news from people at that
time and what is happening — not just
Merry Christmas. I am very happy with
the Christmas greetings I receive.
Where is “home”?
“Iceland is home.” □
Translated by Gunnur Isfeld
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