II.
(Continued from p. 134).
If you were to enter a Kraal school what would be your impressions? Well for one thing I think that you would be surprised at the number of children who can be crammed into a building so small. Usually Kraal schools are more or less crowded. Your next impression would be that these African children are different from what you expected them to be. You expected to find at least a number of them naked, but look here are 160 children and all of them are clothed. Look again, and you will notice that the clothes some of them wear are far too large for them. Some Canadian friends provided this shirt, and that frock was sent from Glasgow. The time is past when any parent will send a child to school naked. Misfits and old fashions notwithstanding, all are clothed. At times, in the case say of a widow, we have to rig out the whole family. At another time the mother may be a Christian and the father a heathen and unsympathetic. We must help her out somehow. The pains which Christian mothers make to have their children clothed, baptised and kept in school would of themselves fill a book. But there they are. They are all clothed. Look here is a boy with patched trousers. Some mother cares; some mother has gone to a labour which no heathen mother would, some mother has learned to sew. In Africa, civilization progresses more through the agency of the humble needle, than by all the swords ever forged. Then look again. They are not very dirty are they? Hygiene lessons are often very practical, half a dozen boys sent to the river to wash before they are permitted to sit in the class; another lot sent outside to clean up their nails. Hygiene by habit, as well as by head, is the rule. Here and there as you pass a child you get the smell of soap, and you may even find something more. A scent of cheap perfume. It is “amafuta,” a cheap ointment made up for the natives. Some kind of ointment is needed to protect the skin from the sun. Without it an African’s skin resembles nothing so much as a dusty spider’s web. In the old days all natives used fat of some kind, only then it was often smelly and rancid. Your questions now will be:—”What is their home life like? What is at the back of their minds in school and out of it?” Well, a number of them come from homes which are completely heathen, and an increasingly large number live in kraals which have no religion, the forward surge of civilization has swamped the old beliefs and has left the people with nothing. Some others have Christianity at home to the extent of one believing parent, and a small number have not only both parents but also Christian brothers and sisters.
Parents may not find supernatural beliefs so necessary to them as children do and although the old beliefs are fast passing away there remains a mass of superstitions and the children are loaded with them. Being mainly concerned with things of everyday life these beliefs meet the children at so many points that he can hardly stir without the danger of bringing some evil on himself or others. For the most part these beliefs are childish and any breach of them does not weigh very seriously on the child. But their danger lies in their taking up a position so large and so strong in the child’s mind and heart. They are the themes of endless conversations and the causes of many quarrels. Here are a few examples. If a camelion crosses a child’s path someone is sure to die. The boy watching the milk on the fire must be very careful not to let it boil over, this is sure to bring sickness to the cow. A girl gathering tufts of grass to kindle the fire, must be very careful that not even one guinea fowl’s feather is burnt with the grass. If this happens a big family quarrel is sure to follow. Not as much as one red thread must be worn during a thunder storm. The wearer will be sure to be struck by lightning. Then there are varieties of ghosts—some are active wherever there are graves (and graves are everywhere in Africa) others prowl at night and another kind live in rivers. These spirits do evil only. They take different forms in different districts, but one is always amazed at the number of them filling the child’s mind. The good seed of the kingdom has much to contend with when it falls into hearts so well sown with the tares of the Evil One.
My visit comes to a close with a period of Bible questions and a short talk. If the inspection of other subjects is disappointing the Bible inspection generally gives one a lift up. There are times when even it, is just a little disappointing. Somehow one never gets out of the habit of expecting too much of native teachers. The questions are simple but fundamental. Here are a few along with their answers. “In God’s sight are the people of this world good or bad?” “Well, except for those who are washed in the blood of Jesus they are all bad.” “What kind of hearts have people?” “Everyone has a bad heart.” “White people?” “All people.” “Even your missionary?” A pause then, “Yes, he too has a bad heart.” “Are children good or bad or simply without any goodness or badness?” “Children are born bad.” “But see how babies love their mothers, can they really be bad?” “We are born with bad hearts and although our faces are towards our mothers as children our backs are towards God.” To a question, “Who died for our sins?” I received the usual number of good answers but one boy replied with great emphasis, “It was GOD who died for our sins.” “Yes, I know that God died for our sins but has He not some other name?” I asked. “Oh, yes,” He is called, “The Shepherd,” “the Redeemer” and “Jesus” but it was God who died for our sins.” So strong was his assertion of this truth that it ran through my mind for many days afterwards. “But it was God who died.” And so for half an hour we go over together the truth about God, Sin, and Salvation. Then a short talk: the singing of a Psalm, a short prayer and with a “Salani kuhle abantwana” and their parting greeting in our ears we mount the car and make for another school to be visited tomorrow.
What becomes of these children after they grow up? No question weighs so heavily on missionaries as this one. The economic conditions here demand that many of the boys will require to seek employment in towns, farms, and mines. Of the girls, a small number go to act as nurses for white children. A small portion remain in the district and continue their connection with the Mission while a few go to Boarding Schools for higher education. The number of our children who come from Kraal schools to Ingwenya is increasing and as this is desirable from every point of view I do all I can to encourage it. But this fact of so many children going from under our care in Kraal schools is a serious one, and I confess that for a time I felt quite depressed by it. But, of late, I have come to feel differently about the matter. I am now convinced that during the four or five years that these children attend a Kraal school a good number of them receive something from the Lord which never really leaves them. On leaving school many of them throw all Bible teaching behind their backs and while, not actually living as heathens, yet, for a considerable time they take no interest in Christianity. Then after they grow up and settle down on reserves they begin again to show interest in the church. As a rule these people first seek Christian marriage then baptism and communion. On questioning these people. I find that the voices of conscience which were awakened in the Kraal school have never really been silenced. Let me put it better. In their youth their lives were so directed and ordered by the Lord that they learned something of His truth. And having begun to lead them He continued His blessed work until He brought them to the feet of His Son. Their straying did not alter His purpose of love. This applies to men and women and there is not one of our Kraal schools but has had this blessing and seal. At Shangani I received those who were former pupils in Ingwenya and Morven; at Gwezani those who were taught in Induba; at Que Que some who had attended at Cameron and Morven schools. The same thing is true of Nukwa and Murray Farm schools. The numbers are not large but they constitute a definite encouragement that the Lord is blessing the work done in these schools and that they are among the means ordained for the calling of His elect people. This is altogether apart from the blessing upon those who continue to hold church connection in their congregations after they leave school.
As to whether these schools should be entirely run by the Government or not there is some diversity of opinion. Personally, I believe, that it is the duty of the Government to educate the people. But, if this is true, there is another thing which is just as true. The spiritual and moral welfare of these children is the concern of the church. When the Lord opens a door into any district, He includes the children surely. He has His lambs as surely as His sheep and through the Mission He is to direct His voice to them. Many years must pass before the Government will be in a position to take over all the Native schools and in the meantime we must take care of them. In doing this we are not doing it for the sake of the Government but for the sake of the Lord. Quite clearly He puts the spiritual welfare of these children under our care and we cannot look on the matter in this light without seeing something of the great responsibility we come under to no one less than the Lord Himself. The liberty to make the school a centre of gospel light leaves us in no doubt as to what our attitude should be. When Africans are blessed, be they old or young, the Lord is glorified. And is not this the single end to which all church funds should be directed?
A number of our Kraal schools are on farms. Some of these remain open for years, but on the other hand others have been closed. When a farmer shifts his tenants the school must close. In this way four have been closed during the last nine years.
So far as the general work of the Mission is concerned things have gone on much as usual. In June we went for communion to Stephen Hlazo’s. As we knew that it would be the last time we should meet together here it was a solemn time. Stephen lived on a rented farm and as he along with others had word to shift he bought ground at a distance. He has now gone and the place he has taken is too far off for us to visit him. One of his two sons, Harris, came forward at the Que Que communion. Intelligent, bright, and free of guile he was a promising lad. In our examination before admitting him one of the questions asked was, “What is Jesus to you that you now wish to celebrate His Supper?” His reply was characteristic. “Well, for this life He has given me the best of wives and for the world to come He died to save me from going down to Hell.” He was married to one of our Ingwenya teachers who really was a good wife. But poor Alicia is now a widow. They were married just only over a year before Harris was taken away. He went to Mashonaland to look over this new ground bought by his father, took fever and far away from help despaired of his life. He asked the Lord to restore him so that he might die among his own people. He got well after reaching home it was plain that he looked on his recovery as only a short lease. He took ill at home and when his people wanted him to go to hospital he replied that he was willing to do anything they asked him, “But,” he said, “It will be no use for I am going Home on Saturday.” After he was taken to the hospital his father visited him but he was too heart broken to pray with him. Harris insisted, however, and after Stephen had commended him to the Lord and had risen from his knees Harris gave a smile. When they looked again he was gone.
Stephen was the person who was sent to Bulawayo to meet me on my arrival here and during these years he has been a mighty friend of the Mission and of the missionaries. Our run to Que Que each year was always a happy occasion. His going to Mashonaland will be regretted as long as there are people here to remember him. He built up a good congregation at Que Que but they are now all like himself,—scattered. It is the Lord’s way but, for the present, a sore way. In September last year Stephen’s remaining son Cecil came from his home to become a member here. He had been a teacher at Hope Fountain Mission and he met Mr. J. Fraser there. The gospel through Mr. Fraser, seems to have been blessed to him. Cecil was back again (140 miles) at the March Communion. He will be a comfort to Stephen. We had another loss through the death of Benjamin Hlazo’s wife. A quiet, sweet Christian woman, who when she saw that the Lord was to take her called the household together. “Come let us sing a song of praise to my Jesus before I go,” she said. She had a beautiful voice and led the singing, but this was the last time, and it was just before she went.
This year crops have proved a failure. Last year was bad but this year is much worse. Even where the people have money to buy food they can get it only in little lots. Meal is expensive to purchase. We get just sufficient for the boarding school and so cannot help others much. But we have been able to buy cassava meal which we are giving to poor people. I told the deacons to send really needy cases to the Mission and a number come regularly.
There are other burdens which we will have to shoulder. There is one added teacher at Ingwenya and another added to the Lebeni staff. The roof of the school at Bembesi has been burnt down by lightning. We have to put up a school room and a dining room at Ingwenya. Timber is dear. These are only some of a number of added burdens this year, but the Lord will bring us through. We have experienced another year in which goodness and mercy have followed us. The road has always been more or less steep and heavy, but that is just the kind of road where we meet with goodness and mercy in fullest measure.
Most warmly I thank all the friends at home and in Canada. People have been very mindful of us. Not only have they helped us with funds, but in doing so they have disappointed many a fear and encouraged many a hope. I do not forget the ordinary supporter nor the children of the Raasay school. Everything in the way of our people’s interest is just wonderful. When we take up home papers and look at home prices the question arises, —“Can our friends possibly continue their liberality?” And the post brings the answer, “Yes.” When we read of the suffering through bombing of such places as London, Glasgow, Greenock and Dumbarton the question arises, “Can a people so distracted and so harassed find a corner of remembrance for us here?”—and the answer always is, “Yes, we carry not a corner but a heart full of remembrance.”
May the Lord be glorified through the way by which His people are enabled to look through the smoke and dust of ruined homes and to see “that city whose builder and maker is God.” Churches and temples are crashing down in ruins, but God, the only true builder of temples is building a temple for Himself, a temple He is to fill with His eternal glory. Some of the stones for that temple He is gathering here in Africa, and again some of that number he is gathering from among the Africans in contact with Ingwenya. Let us seek to feel the honour of our calling, to walk with Him, to observe Him, to bless Him as he goes forth to gather out, and set aside, stones foreordained to come under the care of our Mission and Church.
We were thankful to hear of Mr. Beaton’s arrival at home. I have tried hard to find a word which would fully convey our disappointment at his failure to come here. I have not found it and I am not likely ever to. The time is ripe for a deputy to come out for we have reached a stage in our work when consultations on the spot are very necessary. We shall still hope that some person will come when the war is over. . . . In addition to the foregoing Mr. Tallach sent in a supplementary report and among other things he says that a new church is needed at Ingwenya; it is useless to ask all the Ingwenya people to come to Church when there is not room for them. With many absent each Sabbath there is not nearly room for all who come; “the church is crammed out, also passages and doorways.” A building to hold 800 or 1,000 will be required but owing to the price of material at present nothing can be done. Mr. Tallach suggests that cards or books should be issued to the people at the Mission so that quarterly collections should be taken for a period of ten years.