At an unknown date he was baptised by Pastor Wolfgang Riedel.

He also worked at the mission and one of his first jobs there was as a rabbit catcher and, from 1912, he was a leader within the camel team there having been taught many of his skills primarily by cameleers Akbar Khan and Tom Davies; he did, however, have periodic contact with his father who shared his skills with his son. On this team he worked to make and repair saddles as well as leading the monthly supply journeys to pick up goods and drop off goods produced there, like