Dear Friends,
As you know, I left Scotland some weeks ago now, in the company of Rev D. B. MacLeod and his wife, to begin work on the Church’s mission in Kenya, and the time has now come for me to let you know a little about what has happened since I left.
We left home on Monday, August 3, and had a pleasant, but uneventful flight to Nairobi in Kenya. I am sure you can imagine the mounting excitement as we landed, and I experienced my first time on African soil.
We were surprised and delighted to be met at the airport by Mr Simeon Rianga, who is one of the evangelists employed by the church, and Jephita Mochumbe who is our mission driver.
On our way from the airport, we lost our way, and ended up in a rather unsavoury part of the city, where we were accosted by a group of rough looking characters who did not take too kindly to our refusal to give them a lift! Thankfully, we were able to drive off without any trouble, but not before they had slammed the car door on Mochumbe, catching his leg in it, but not causing any great injury.
We drove on, and eventually arrived safely at the guesthouse. Lying in bed that night, I had to say with Nehemiah, that we had been brought to our destination “according to the good hand of my God upon me”.
The following day we spent attending to some items of business in Nairobi. It was fascinating to be in Africa at last, and I could not help thinking of the enormity of the task facing the church in trying to bring the gospel to a small part of this vast country.
On Wednesday we set out for the area where our mission is situated. It is about 250 miles west of Nairobi, in the Kisii district, near the shores of Lake Victoria. This lake is the largest fresh water lake in the world, and is reputed to be large enough to cover the whole of Scotland!
The district is the home of the Gusii people, who are one of Kenya’s many tribes. They speak their own language, although many can speak English and Swahili also. There are about three million of them, so consider what a great door has been opened up for us, among these people alone.
The main town in the district is also called Kisii, and is likely to be marked on any reasonably detailed map of the area. An hour’s drive south from Kisii, along undoubtedly the worst roads I have ever seen in my life, took us to Sengera, the village where the mission’s activities are centred. This is where the dispensary has been built, and where we hope to establish the administrative headquarters of our efforts in Kenya. In addition to Sengera, the church holds services in other surrounding villages called Maiga, Ogembo, Getumbe, Riamang’ato, South Mugirango and Ichube, giving us seven stations in all. The last two, which are further away, are supervised by Mr Riango, and the remaining five by Mr Mesheck Nyarang’o, the other church evangelist.
The rented mission house is in a beautiful setting, surrounded by maize fields and round, thatched African mud huts, and with tea plantations growing right up to the door. It is quite basic, with no electricity or running water, but it is amazing how easily one can do without these western ‘necessities’.
The climate is quite surprising. It has not been any hotter so far than a hot summer’s day in Scotland, and some nights it has been quite chilly, especially in Nairobi. In Sengera, it rained every day, usually at night, which explains the green appearance of the place.
The people are on the whole very friendly and pleasant, and the little African children spend a lot of time staring shyly at the strange white people!
On Thursday we went to look round the dispensary which has been built. It is quite impressive, and is a credit to all those who worked on it. It is in a large area of land which allows plenty room for future expansion. At the moment it is just an empty building, but once my wife arrives, we hope to be able to start clinics and a dispensary service, eventually leading up to a small hospital, God willing.
We decided we should try and visit as many of the outstations as possible while we were at Sengera, so after our visit to the dispensary, we set off for Maiga.
It is about ten miles from Sengera, and is a flourishing community with a large primary school which is under the auspices of the church. The government provides most of the teachers, but we are responsible for the religious education of the children, and there is no restriction on what is taught. There are about 375 children there at the moment, so consider what a great opening that is in itself. The school consists of several tiny classrooms, built with mud walls and thatch roofs. There are eight classes at the moment in the school, seven standards (like Scottish primary classes) and one pre-school class. There are 100 pre-school children all crammed into one classroom measuring about 20 feet by eight! Open windows provide the only light, and the children all sit on the floor since there are no desks. The people are really making the effort to improve their lot, and have made bricks and collected river sand for building permanent classrooms, but the project cannot begin because they lack finance. The major cost to them is the builder (although the local men provide the labour free of charge, they still need a builder to supervise) and the corrugated iron sheeting for the roofs. One of the present buildings has big gaps in the roof because they cannot afford three iron sheets each costing about 200 Kenya shillings (usually written 200/=). That is about £9.75 in total! A little money by our standards goes a long way out here! The headmaster called an assembly, and we had an open air service. Mr MacLeod preached standing under a tree from Numbers 32:23 “Be sure your sin will find you out”, and Mesheck translated. The congregation, consisting mostly of barefooted little children all in green school uniform, sat on the grass, and most listened quite intently. What an event it would be for Kenya, and even for the whole world, if God were to work among them, and raise them up a generation to serve Him. We cannot but feel that He has a purpose in sending our church here and opening such a door, and how glorious it would be if part of that purpose was to bring many of these little ones to know Himself. With complete discretion to teach religious instruction in these schools, we really have a great opportunity to work amongst the people. There is a shortage of qualified teachers here, and we must pray that the Lord will raise up qualified and godly people to fill the gaps.
The following day we went to another station called Riamang’ato. Here there is another school, and possibly the most impressive community initiative scheme I have ever seen. The people have built their school mostly of mud, but with the help of the Church in Scotland they have constructed two permanent classrooms. They have also built a pastor’s house and a lovely bright airy three roomed clinic both of permanent brick. Now all they need is a pastor, a doctor and some nurses! The school opens from 8 am to 5 pm, two hours longer than the government requirements, in order to give the pupils extra tuition! Here, education is regarded as a privilege, and nobody seems to waste their time by being lazy. In the Standard 2 classroom there was a heap of soil in a corner on the earthen floor, with things growing in it. We were told this was a “nature corner” where the children were taught how to plant crops and could watch them grow! The classrooms were again very short of furniture, with three children having to share a desk about four feet in length. These desks cost only 150/= (£2.25) when made locally. Mr Ndebele preached on “Suffer little children to come unto me” and again, most of the school’s 120 pupils sat on the grass to listen. We were asked for help in a number of areas, including the most unusual request I have heard so far. The community leaders asked that we give them a name board for the village, so that “Riamang’ato will be known as a Free Presbyterian Mission Village”! Imagine a village in Scotland asking for that!
On Sabbath the services were held in the dispensary by Mr MacLeod. The morning service was attended by about 140 people, about half of them children, who all sat together at the front, and behaved very well. One little boy of four or five had his little sister fast asleep on his lap! We began at about 10 am with a catechism class where Mesheck examined the congregation. It seemed like a splendid idea to me, as everyone was learning together, producing a feeling of unity among the congregation. Our text in the morning was the glorious declaration of God’s love in John 3: 16. Sitting amongst our African friends, so many miles from home, the worldwide application of the offer of the gospel was brought home to me in a new way.
On Monday we visited the last of our large outstations, South Mugirang’o, where they have built a little mud church, and are trying to construct classrooms. Mr MacLeod preached on Hebrews 11: 24. There were about eighty present, including many children. Some of the people were quite pathetic looking, including one poor man with only one leg, and a ragged little boy with flies in an open sore on his leg. What an opportunity we have been given to bring the word of life to these people, and to minister to their bodily needs also, in health and education, those honourable handmaids to the gospel. We met some fine folk among them, and it was heartening to think that although I had left so many dear fellow believers behind in Scotland, yet God has his people all over the world, and they are united in one body even if they have never met in the flesh. The fellowship of the people of God transcends all barriers of race, colour, tribe, people, nation and tongue. What a glorious prospect for mankind, that our Creator, against whom we have sinned, has been pleased to choose a number that no man can number from out of every kindred, in order to bestow His salvation upon them freely. Truly we should say with the Psalmist, with all that is within us, “the whole earth let his glory fill, Amen so let it be.”
One thing the people asked us to do is to teach them some new psalm tunes. We started off with Martyrdom, Evan and St Andrews, and are making slow progress, but sure.
I must finish here for just now. I hope that I will be able to write again soon to tell you of our experiences in Malawi, and how the church is faring there.
I would ask for the prayers of all the friends in all parts of the world, that our efforts would be blessed, and that the Lord would pave the way for us, as our God and guide, and that He would be pleased to send forth His Spirit to work mightily here, and in all the world. Pray also for labourers sent by Himself, for the fields are already white to harvest. Many souls in all countries are dying every day, going out in darkness into eternal night never having heard of a Saviour who came to seek and to save the lost. This should move us to do what we can for those who are yet on mercy’s ground.
With best wishes to you all,
Donald MacDonald