The current leadership of the St. Mary's Odibo Mission consists of the Mission Director and Mission Administrator assisted by three Heads of Department; namely: The Matron, The Principal and The Rector.
Mission Director
Mission Administrator
Acting Matron of St. Mary's Odibo
Health Centre
Acting Principal of St. Mary's Odibo
High School
Rector of St. Mary's Parish
However, over the years, since its establishment in 1924, many Anglicans have served as Mission Directors of St. Mary's Odibo Mission. For the next 6 months we would like to honour and highlight the contributions of the following randomly selected former Mission Directors:
The late Reverend Phillip Shilongo was a Mission Director during the heat of the war of liberation – throughout the 1970s and 1980s, where trauma, kidnapping and death was the order of the day. The late Reverend Shilongo was gifted with exceptional powers of leadership, enormous physical resilience and was the longest Mission Director, serving from 1971 until his death in 1990.
Retired Bishop Shihala Hamupembe served as the Mission Director before he was a Bishop, from 1993 to 1997. As a Mission Director and during his time as the Diocesan Bishop, the Rt. Revd. Shihala Hamupembe was instrumental in obtaining funds from the Namibian Ministry of Education for the renovations of the whole St Mary's Odibo High School after the school has been relocated from Onekwaya back to Odibo.
The late Bishop Shannon Mallory was one of the youngest Mission Directors, served during the 1950s, even before he was ordained to the priesthood. As a Mission Director, the late Rt. Revd. Shannon Mallory oversaw major developments and expansion of the Mission infrastructure. It was under his leadership that the earth dam was constructed in 1958 as a major water reservoir.
Canon Popieni Hilukiluah served as a Mission Director from 2017 to 2024. She was one of the few female Mission Directors and oversaw recent developments and expansion of the St Mary's Odibo Mission including redefining and fencing off, as well as registering, the Mission land. Newer infrastructure such as the Host Shop and Maternal Shelter were constructed under the leadership of Canon Hilukiluah.
