Dr Janette Hak has returned to Zimbabwe after her furlough in Holland. All are delighted she has returned, but she intends to remain in Bulawayo for a period of language study. It is extremely difficult to sit down to regular language study at Mbuma, where there are continual interruptions and even emergency calls.
Miss Jessie Coote is on duty once more at Mbuma, which is a tremendous help. It is good news to hear that there are two new Dutch nurses accepted for Mbuma. Miss Verlouw who was studying in England for a time, and Miss Zekveld, who is not quite a stranger as she paid a visit to the Mission last year. Miss Zekveld’s home is now in Canada as her parents have gone there to live.
Miss van Saane goes home to Holland D.V. in December to care for her Mother. Mr and Mrs Neil Murray hope to arrive in Scotland at the end of November.
Miss Marion Graham is due leave at the end of the year. It would be a great help if some Christian teacher would go out to help in the Secondary School, even for a couple of years. The work is most interesting, and the interchange of ideas and experiences among the members of staff throughout the Mission generally, stimulating and unforgettable.
I am sure that Miss MacLennan received a very warm welcome from staff and pupils. Mr David Mdlovu has had a period of ill-health, and was in hospital for a time. His illness was diagnosed as diabetes, He has a great burden of work, general upkeep of buildings, maintenance of the water supply, of the electricity supply, where that is appropriate, for motor transport, and in addition, he has services on Sabbath and occasional weekday services. When it is remembered that there are long distances to travel and sometimes difficult weather conditions, not to speak of caring for a wife and family, Mr Ndlovu needs the prayers of our people.
Mr Neil Murray and a driver whose name has escaped me, have paid another visit to Binga, bringing clothes and food and tracts. The Tonga people have their own language and so an interpreter is required. At their first stop there were fifty at the service. They stayed at a rest-camp and set off next morning at 8.30 a.m., for the next group of people, seventy kms into the mountains, where there is dire poverty despite Government assistance. Five hundred people gathered for the Service. It may be remembered that when the great Kariba Dam was built on the Zambezi River some of the displaced people moved to this exceptionally poor area. As has been said, the Government is assisting but it is the church that must give spiritual help.
As the Rev. P. Nzamo has written in this year’s Report, “The door is open for the Free Presbyterian Church to testify among the Tonga people, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us remember the Tonga people at a throne of Grace.”
J.N.