Miss MacLennan wrote recently to say that the main news item was the heat and drought. The weather was said to be the hottest this century. Rivers and dams had dried up. Since Miss MacLennan wrote there have been a few showers and the temperature has fallen slightly.
The staff at Mbuma were happy to have Dr Mercer from Oxford with them assisting in the hospital. He is a friend of Tim Ramsbottom who assisted in a similar way two years ago. Both young men are sons of Strict Baptist ministers.
There was a special appeal in “The Bulawayo Chronicle” for food for Binga. The appeal came from Chief Binga himself. Mr Neil Murray set off for Binga with a load of mealie-meal and beans. On his arrival one hundred and fifty people gathered round for food. Some had not eaten for several days. Mr Murray did not have sufficient food for them all, which was distressing for him as well as for them. Children stood by the roadside begging for food.
At the John Tallach School there are well over five hundred pupils this session. A small minority are day pupils. To provide adequate food for so large a number, mealie-meal is rationed and sugar and oil are unobtainable, must be an anxiety, especially for Miss Marion Graham.
Miss MacLennan says there is quite a community of former John Tallach pupils at Harare University (three hundred miles further north than Bulawayo). She feels it is a pity we do not have a church there, as a congregation could be built up in Harare as was done in Bulawayo.
All are enjoying the presence of the two Inverness elders, Mr Eleneth Sutherland and Mr Iain MacLean. Quite an exhausting programme was planned for them. Despite the extreme heat their energy and resilience have amazed everyone. They conducted prayer meetings here and there, and would have spent the final weekend of their visit at Ingwenya Communion. Mr Dick Vermeulen was also expected there.
There were two young African men at Ingwenya, Simeon Rianga from Kenya and Ephraim Tembo from Malawi. They were to meet the Presbytery with a view to their studying for the ministry. J.N.