THE following is the Report of the South African Mission received by the Convener, Rev. Neil Cameron, and read at the Meeting of Synod:—
C/o NATIVE COMMISSIONER, BEMBESI,
MATABELELAND, SOUTH AFRICA, 6th June, 1912.
MY DEAR MR. CAMERON,—I received your letter of the 27th of April, and was very glad to hear from you again. The Bibles also arrived all right from Johannesburg, and I was very glad to get them. It is also very gratifying to hear from your letter that the Lovedale authorities intended to proceed with the translation and printing of the Psalms with as little delay as possible. Our people here will also be very glad to hear that, as they are always asking me what progress is being made with the Psalms. I was also very pleased to hear that something had been sent to Mr. Bokwe and the other man. It will show them our appreciation of their efforts in so good and noble a cause. We have reason to be much thankful to the Lord for having opened up a way for the Psalms to be printed in metre in the Kafir language, when, to the human eye, it seemed almost impossible that we should ever get anyone to undertake the work, as we had at first received several disappointments. You will remember that some years ago our Church first wrote to the Bible Society, and they could not undertake the work; and then I wrote to the late Dr. Stewart, who said he would try and find someone, but shortly afterwards he got sick and died, before he had succeeded in finding anyone. And then I wrote to the Rev. Mr. Bokwe, asking him to undertake the work, and he replied to the effect that he had neither time nor ability to undertake so laborious a task. It then seemed almost impossible that we should ever get the Psalms into Kafir metre. After that Mr. Mackay came over here, and then wrote to Mr. Henderson of Lovedale, who replied favourably, and was also able to get Mr. Bokwe to assist in the work. The Lord then, in
His own good time, just easily opened up a way, as there is nothing impossible with Him; only we need the grace of patiently waiting upon Him for everything.
We have reason to be thankful, too, for the preservation of the Shorter Catechism in Kafir, and it was very good of the Lovedale authorities to reprint it again. I have also given away a good number of the Shorter Catechisms, not only to my scholars, but also to grown-up people who can read, and they seem to like it. People from other Churches have also asked for them.
It is also to be hoped that the Lord will, in His own good time, open up a way that we may have a larger and a more substantial building to worship in. This one is now too small. It is usually crowded on Sabbath days, and on Communion Sabbaths some people have to sit outside. It is a small building, only thirty feet long and fourteen feet broad. People from the outside stations come here during the Communion, and it seems a disappointment to them to have to sit outside or go away again, because there is not sufficient room for them. Besides its smallness, the wood-work is rotting and giving way, and the four corners are all cracked. Plastering and re-thatching will not help anything now, since the poles are giving way. It is impossible for it to last any length of time now, and I sometimes fear, when these high winds are blowing, that the building might collapse with the school children in it. It cannot stand the next rainy season—which usually begins in November—should it survive these high winds which we are now having in this month of June.
We have also opened another preaching place on a farm. The chief of that kraal sent for me, and asked me if I would not open a Mission in his kraal. He said that he had spoken to the farmer and that he had consented. The chief and I then went to Mr. Lanning, the Magistrate and Native Commissioner, and Mr. Lanning was only too glad that the farmer had consented. He said he was perfectly willing that we should open a Mission there, provided the farmer was agreeable. The farmer then showed us where to build the hut for the Church, and said we could open a school too if we liked, and that I could go and preach to those people at any time I wished. Of course, I explained that I could not always come myself, but that I would send one of our men every Sabbath to go there; and so one of our men preaches there every Sabbath. We have also opened a school there, and there are over thirty children attending it, besides evening scholars. I have sent one of our young men, who used to go to school here, to go and teach the children and also keep an evening school. He stays on the farm, and we pay the farmer £1 a year for allowing him to live on the farm. All male natives living on farms pay a poll tax of £1 a year to the farmer. He is a teacher only and does not preach. We send one of our preachers there every Sabbath. The teacher is a member of our Church. The hut that we built there is now too small to hold all the people, and steps are being taken to build a larger one.
Another chief, also living on a farm, wished me to open a Mission in his kraal; and as he knew the day that I would call, I found that he had gathered a good number of people, and so I preached to them. After that he said, “I sent for you because I wish you to open a Mission here. Other chiefs have already Missions and schools. I have not got one, and my children are growing up in ignorance. I have spoken to the farmer and he has consented, and if you are willing, I shall go and ask the Native Commissioner, Mr. Lanning, to allow me to have a Mission and a school in my kraal.” After further conversation with the chief I found that one of the ministers of the London Missionary Society had visited this chief years ago, and that he had promised to put up a Mission there many years before I came to this country, but has never done so. I told the chief that we did not wish to open up Missions in other people’s places. The chief then said: “They only promised me, but they never fulfilled their promise. You see now I am a grown-up man, and the promise was made when I was a little boy. Had they fulfilled their promise, I would have been an educated man and know how to read; but now I know nothing, and my children know nothing. I do not consider myself to be under them at all. The minister that promised me has been in this country for thirty years. What has he done for us all this time? It seems to me that he only wanted to keep other ministers away from coming to preach and to teach us. He will never come.” The chief then said he would go and see this London missionary, and speak to him about the matter.
Although there is much to be thankful for, yet we have our discouragements as well, some of which I have mentioned in my previous letters.
It is gratifying to see that those who profess faith in Christ have some regard for the Sabbath day. I may here mention the case of one of our members, a native woman. Her husband had bought some clothes for the children on the Sabbath day, but his wife, who is a godly woman, said that her children would not put on these clothes at all, as they were bought on the Sabbath day, that she would not have her children put on clothes bought on the Lord’s day, and that her husband was to return the clothes to the shopkeeper the following day. As the woman was determined, the husband was obliged to return the clothes, and then the clothes were bought in a different shop altogether; she would no longer support that shop.
A missionary in this country must do a lot of travelling. It is necessary for me to visit these out-stations occasionally, and I am glad to say that I am permitted to visit these places at any time, even during week-days, and give them a service.
I must now conclude, with kindest regards to you all.—Yours sincerely,
J. B. RADASI.