The early beginnings...
The Moravian Church (originated in 1457 in Moravia, today part of Slovakia) had a particular zeal for mission and in 1737 the young bachelor missionary Georg Schmidt was sent to the Cape. Many thought that mission work among the Khoi (Hottentots) was attempting the impossible, but in spite of this Schmidt settled on 23 April 1738 in Baviaans Kloof (Ravine of the Baboon) in the Riveirsonderend Valley.
Schmidt became acquainted with an impoverished and dispersed Khoi people who were practically on the threshold of complete extinction. Apart from the few kraals, which still remained, there were already thirteen farms in the vicinity of Baviaans Kloof. Within a short while Schmidt formed a small Christian congregation. He taught the Khoi to read and write, but when he began to baptize his converts there was great dissatisfaction among the Cape Dutch Reformed clergy. According to them, Schmidt was not an ordained minister and as such, was not permitted to administer the sacraments. Consequently he had to abandon his work, and in 1744, after seven years at Baviaans Kloof, he left the country.