Since their early days in German East Africa, the Missionary Benedictines focused exclusively on establishing Roman Catholicism among African communities.
The work of the missionary-monks, which included the creation of parishes, schools, and hospitals, did not allow for a concerted effort in recruiting African monastic vocations.
Fr Severin Hofbauer, who had created a minor seminary in 1926, attempted to recruit those seminarians who expressed an interest in monastic life.
By 1948, Hofbauer's successor, Fr Otmar Morger, knew of several young men interested in joining the monastic community at Peramiho.
Therefore, Spiess chose to create a foundation separate from these abbeys, a monastery that would allow African monks the opportunity to adapt the Rule of Benedict to their own cultural circumstances.
"[3] Further, Spiess hoped that the size of the monastic community would be rather small, in order that it would not run into what he perceived to be some of the downsides of larger monasteries, including a lack of flexibility and adaptability.
Such large numbers presented difficulties for the early community, and made it challenging to match the ideal of a small, independent African monastery as had been envisioned by Abbot-Bishop Eberhard Spiess.
Self-sufficiency in these populous, culturally European monasteries was characterized by large-scale agricultural operations, artisanal work, and the practice of sophisticated trades.
[6] Quickly, Hanga evolved into a large monastic complex, including a secondary school for candidates of male religious institutes, extensive agricultural operations, and various workshops.
Further, the monks began to administer a secondary school for pupils from Hanga village; youth work would be one of the community's primary apostolates.