F.P. MISSION, BEMBESI, MATABELELAND,
SOUTH AFRICA, 24th March, 1922.
MY DEAR MR. CAMERON,—I am glad to inform you that the Lovedale authorities have finished printing, in metre, the whole Book of Psalms, and five hundred copies have been sent to me here. They arrived yesterday. All our people will be very glad to hear the Psalms have arrived. They were always asking me when they would be completed.
The yearly returns of our five schools were sent to Mr. Foggin, Director of Education, Salisbury, at the end of the year; and in February £53 5s. (Fifty-three pounds five shillings) were sent to me by the Education Department as a yearly grant for the five schools. There were, at the end of the year, 320 children on the roll in the five schools for quarter ending 31st December—Ingwenya School, 116; Morven, 66; Induba, 50; Libeni, 46; and Bembesi, 42. I was obliged to send another teacher to Induba more qualified than Kiwa Mlahlo, who is only in the second standard, as the people were complaining that the children were not making any progress under him, and so some of the more advanced children left the Induba School. The Inspector of Schools said himself that Kiwa Mlahlo needed a little more education himself in order to teach efficiently. I fully agree with what the Inspector said. The boy I sent to Induba from the Ingwenya School was in the fifth standard. The attendances at Morven and Bembesi have increased. I am sorry the teacher at Morven has had to leave. He has gone to Tiger’s Kloof Institution, Bechuanaland, to complete his education. It is a London Missionary Institution. Two of our scholars went there this year, and three went to an industrial institution, Salisbury, Mashonaland. And so we had to send another teacher from Ingwenya to Morven. The people at Morven liked their teacher very much, and they were very sorry to part with him. He was also liked by the school children. We follow the same custom as in Ingwenya by giving a Bible to a scholar who has learned to read the native language fluently and correctly, and every now and then those who have learnt to read apply for Bibles. I visit all the out-stations every quarter and preach to our people, and the services are usually well attended. I think I told you that at Libeni our people have built a church there. The size of it is as big as our Ingwenya schoolroom. Services are held there every Sabbath by one of our men, and in my quarterly visits I always find the church crowded in every corner. The building seems to be too small to hold all the people comfortably, and it will need to be enlarged very soon. Paul Hlazo went to St. Matthew’s College in Cape Colony in February. I was very glad to hear that Mr. Tallach had consented to come to Matabeleland as a missionary of our Church. His presence with me here will be a great help to our cause and a great encouragement to me and our people here. They were all very glad when I told them of it. It is to be hoped that the Lord will spare him, and give him grace and strength, and make him, by His Holy Spirit, a vessel fit for the Master’s use. The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few. We need to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into His vineyard, who will faithfully preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, and tell sinners their great need of repentance towards God, and reconciliation through faith in the atonement made by our Lord Jesus Christ. I am also sending you the reports of the progress of our students in Lovedale.
Mr. Foggin, Director of Education, has again shown his kindness and consideration and friendly feeling towards our Church, and we highly appreciate his kindness and interest.—Yours sincerely,
J. B. RADASI.