Ingwenya Mission, Bembesi, 15th March 1926.—My Dear Mr Cameron,—Although in my report to your Committee this year you will find no departure from the ordinary routine work of the Mission, yet I trust that there will not be lacking evidences of a steady progress and work among the people here.
At the outset I may remind you that all figures quoted below have reference to the year ending 1925.
The communions were held at the usual times, and so far as numbers were concerned, these have been very encouraging. At our communion held here last December we had the largest gathering I have seen here. The great heat made it impossible to hold the services in the open, and I was sorry that a good number of people, mostly young men, had to go away from the last service for want of room. The fear that this may discourage the people from coming to these services is natural, and we hope to provide an overflow service for these in the future.
In August we held a day of thanksgiving for the goodness of the Most High in Providence. This service was well attended. The yearly day of prayer and confession of sin was held in October, and at this service also the people turned out to a good number. In both these services I have followed the lines upon which Mr Radasi conducted them. The form differs somewhat from that which holds in like occasions at home, the people freely give expression to their thanks in a very practical way. The service having come to a close, each member of the congregation rises in turn and intimates a sum which he wishes to give as thank-offering. The names of those promising are noted, as also the amounts promised, and during the next fortnight these moneys are taken to the Mission. The sums vary from three pence to a pound, according to the condition of the giver. I must say that this spontaneous and practical way of showing thanks appealed to me very much. The day of prayer for the Holy Spirit and confession of sin was to my mind solemn indeed. Here again the service was more spiritual than formal. After the minister has concluded prayer and reading of a suitable portion of the Truth, he calls upon the elders present to address the people. This they do for about twenty minutes each. In their address they point out freely any noticeable evils or check any back-sliding among the people which has been observed dur-
ing the year. After the elders have finished, all the men who ordinarily pray in public are called upon to pray. Their prayers take the form of confessing the evils pointed out to the people, and pleading for the forgiveness of these. The service is a long one, but, so far as one can judge, the people enter into the spirit of it all through. I do not know where our dear brother, Mr Radasi, got the idea, but the whole seems to breathe of one of the Old Testament prophets, or of one of the Scotch Reformers.
During the first two months of summer we had very little rain, and there was every expectation of a famine year. The people came to me and asked to hold prayer meetings for rain. This we did on two occasions. The week following the rain came, and has continued so well since that the crops in this district are not only saved, but there is every sign of the people reaping a record harvest. The people themselves proposed a day of thanksgiving for the Lord’s goodness in hearing and answering prayer, and such a day I was only too pleased to hold.
The report of Shangani sent to you last year must stand for 1925. I expect, D.V., to return there before this report is in your hands, and will send you in due course an account of our doings in that part of the Mission.
The number of members on the roll this year is 107. This is an addition of 24 over last year. The majority of that number were converted under the preaching of the late Mr Radasi. “They rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.” In examination of those intending membership, we are as thorough as possible. At a meeting lately held for this purpose we began the work at 11 a.m., and continued until 4 p.m., and I think that the length of time given on this occasion to this very serious work is an index of our thoroughness in the matter. The elders generally ask questions, which are intended to bring out the amount of knowledge which the candidate has attained to, while I confine myself to questions dealing with their experience of God’s Word. In going through this work one feels that one moves among the miracles of the Holy Spirit. So far as mere human power is concerned, the man who casts his seed upon the bare rocks around the sea-shore is in a more hopeful case of reaping a harvest than is the case of the preacher of the Gospel here. What they bring with them into life here, what awaits them, and what they are in life, would appear to wither the good seed even before it falls. A superstition which is as natural to
them as the drawing of the breath, drunkenness and adultery which have support in their religious beliefs, the satanical wisdom of that system into which they are born, and in which they live, all constitute a mystery of iniquity. The mystery of their emancipation from these has its only solution in the words of the Psalmist—”This is the doing of the Lord, and wondrous in our eyes.”
I am slowly adding to the number of Psalms sung in public worship, although the people have had the whole of the Psalms printed, they have only been able to sing a certain number in public. This is owing to the fact that a good number cannot read, and that they had only the first twenty-four up till 1922. Through repetition of the same Psalms they get these memorised. My plan has been to get the children in the school to learn each year so many Psalms by memory. Then when they are able to sing these from memory, I introduce them into public worship. Those not able to read are thus instructed through hearing the children sing at home, and also through the volume of their voices in church. Last year in this way the people have learned the 72nd, the 103rd, and the 121st. This year we hope to add the 51st and the 96th.
The collections were lifted during the year at the usual times. The whole amounted to £32 0s 3d. From this amount we have paid different expenses in connection with the demands of the year. These included the building of a good meeting-place at Induba, the repairing of the meeting-house at Lebeni, the cost of transportation of the missionaries’ family and goods to Shangani, waggon hire on two other occasions, and communion expenses. The system of collections among most missions here is that of compulsory contributions. All our collections are in keeping with Presbyterian principles—that is, they are voluntary.
During the year we have had two calls to begin mission stations in other parts. In both cases the people were very keen to have schools and preaching. The people lived on farms, however. In the case of the first, the owner of the farm wrote me to the effect that, as all natives on the farm were soon to be cleared off, it was no use beginning a station there. In connection with the second application, I travelled a distance of 40 miles to interview the farmer on the matter. In this case the owner of the farm was a woman. She would not hear of the proposal, as she was against the natives receiving education. My only consolation was that the woman was not a Scotch woman. “The Son of man hath nowhere to lay his head.”
SCHOOLS.—The total number of children attending our schools here is 366. In detail the figures show:—Ingwenya, 120; Morven, 29; Induba, 32, Lebeni, 68; Bembesi, 53; Shangani, 64. All round, there is an advance of 30 above last year. The Government grant this year amounted to £65 5s. This was £10 over last year. The increase is owing to the inclusion of Shangani School as a Government-aided school. The sum of £23 was lifted among the people as school fees. This sum was spent on erection of a teacher’s hut here and augmentation of teachers’ salaries. Last year we had only one student studying at Lovedale. All students on entry to these institutions undergo a test, and usually are put back a standard. He underwent a test, but was thought good enough to proceed without any further preparation. The result was the work was too much for him, and he failed. I trust that he will do better this year.
At Ingwenya here I have changed the school hours. There used to be a two-hour morning school for children herding cattle, and again a three-hour school in the forenoon. The same children did not come to both schools. I have still retained the two-hour school in the morning, but I have made the second school a five-hours’ school. This is for those who have time to attend and who wish to be prepared for higher education. Three times a week my wife teaches the girls knitting, and they have made remarkable progress. They are naturally clever, and neat at work of this kind.
Books are expensive in this part, and in order to save the parents the costs of store-bought books, I have myself purchased these wholesale. The result is that I can sell a 6d book for 3d, and a book for which they used to pay 1s 9d I sell to them for 1s. In connection with English readers we had trouble, as the children would turn up one with one kind of reader and another with another kind. This was owing to storemen running out of the kinds required. I have purchased readers for standards I. to IV. (all, of course, of a series). These I retain as church property. They will be gathered in at end of each session, and will continue as part of our equipment. A blackboard for Shangani School and one for Lebeni; some clock faces and cardboard coins complete our list of additional acquirements for school use for this year.
The Convener has already approached the Educational Department here on the question of having the school at Ingwenya raised to a second-class school. We have every hope of this being realised. There will be a
greater call on the home people, as, particularly at the beginning there will be some expense above the ordinary, but we trust that all ministers and congregations will make it a matter of conscience to do their best. If it is a work of God it should be supported at all costs. I think that the men who were responsible for the rise and progress of our Church at home must have often been encouraged with the thought that they stood on and for truth. The same encouragement I believe stands for our mission here, and when we remember the extraordinary growth of the home church, in congregations, buildings, and in spiritual life we have an added incentive to go on here. Be it that the Provider of the Free Presbyterian Church at home is also the Provider of its missions, we have every reason to expect Him to do as great things abroad in this respect as He has done at home. I have given your request regarding clothing for natives my mature consideration. The best plan is to provide the cloth, and has an advantage of giving an opportunity to the people to learn needlework for themselves. This will be all the more true if (D.V.) our school here is raised in status. The buying of material at home has the double advantage of being cheaper, even after all freight and customs are paid and ensuring our having better material than can be got out here. Three yards of material will make a garment. At certain times of the year the ladies of the church take advantage of sales to purchase material for their own use. I would suggest that all who are interested in the mission should be encouraged to buy pieces of material for the mission at these seasons. If any such scheme is set afoot and approved of by the committee, on being informed I shall send particulars of cloth required and some other directions.
The medical side of the mission work goes on as usual. There are not so many patients as last year. This is owing to the dryness of the summer this year and the abundance of crops last year. I may here state that medical missionaries (doctor missionaries) are likely to receive (according to a recommendation before Government at present) a good part of their salary paid and a free medical mission equipment. This is worth while being kept in mind by the committee as well as by any friends in the medical line who may have a mind for mission work. The field in this respect is very, very wide, there being only three medical missionaries in S. Rhodesia.
I am sorry that I am not able to pay as much attention to the language as I would like. I regularly pray twice on Sabbath in Xosa, and am able to conduct the prayer meeting alone.
I cannot close this report without some kind of appeal to the young men of our church. It should always be remembered by them that I did not come here to fill Mr Radasi’s place, but to help him. His place is not yet filled. It is therefore the duty of all in the ministry, as well as those intending it, to include this charge as worthy of their attention as any other. Although there can be no comparison between the physical difficulties and inconveniences encountered by early missionaries and those which we have to meet with, yet there are difficulties and inconveniences which shall always be peculiar to missionary life. The missionary is still teacher and preacher, landworker and builder, doctor and nurse. He must still be content with nights on the open velt or in native kraals. Above all, there is still the very sore burden, if isolated responsibility is to be borne. But over all this one hears on the one hand the clamour of souls who are already lost for all eternity, the cries of the Hellwards in the death grip of the Devil, and on the other hand the still small voice of Him who says, “Son go work in my vineyard to-day” and “Lo, I am with you always to the end of the world.” Through the midst of thronging difficulties there is a hand stretched out to meet our weakness, and even its touch much less its grip is laden with encouragement.
My wife joins me in thanking the committee and all our ministers and people at home for their prayerful interest in us. May we be enabled to be daily worthy of a continuance of their interest, and may they be enabled to continue it.
“The Lord of us has been mindful, and he will bless us still.”—Yours very sincerely, JOHN TALLACH.