Mission News
Our Edinburgh minister, Rev D.B. MacLeod and his wife and daughter, Elizabeth, left for Malawi on the 9th of August. Mr MacLeod will preach
and teach in as many places as possible, but making their headquarters in Blantyre where the little mission house has been built and furnished, and we trust supplied with electricity and water. There is a great dearth of preachers in Malawi, Kenya and Zimbabwe, and Mr MacLeod’s presence will be greatly appreciated. Mr MacLeod hopes to travel to Kenya in time to welcome the Rev J. Goldby, his wife, and three children on their arrival in Nairobi in September. Mr Goldby is to spend six months in Kenya, D.V., preaching and teaching at the various stations. Mr Donald MacDonald left for Nairobi on 16th August. His wife, Dr Christine, is still suffering from the effects of malaria. She hopes to return to Nairobi when practicable. Rev Dr James Tallach is also on a brief visit to Kenya on behalf of the Foreign Mission Committee. We wish them all travelling mercies.
At Ingwenya the schools were closed for the usual month during August and September, but although on holiday the staff were busy examining over a thousand applications received from Bulawayo and elsewhere for John Tallach Secondary School Form One, 1995. Over 600 pupils were allowed to sit the Test. There were only 120 places available. So there would be many disappointed pupils and parents. However, we trust that some would gain admittance elsewhere. There was another test for local children who have a class of their own of a less academic standard. During the holiday period there are two communions, one at New Canaan and the other at Zenka, which are times of refreshing for all.
In a letter from Sister Anne Zekveld she mentions the pleasure they had in welcoming a Dutch delegation from Mbuma Zending, Rev and Mrs Tj de Jong, Mr and Mrs H. van Vliet and Mr and Mrs J. Reyers. The visitors had a very busy two weeks travelling from one station to another, and even visiting far off Binga, and taking services in many different places. Most of the financial help from Mbuma Hospital comes from Mbuma Zending, and, no doubt, much prayerful support. Anne says they often have seriously ill patients arriving at the hospital who should have come for treatment much earlier. The reason is that they have been attending a witch-doctor. It happens from time to time that patients receiving treatment disappear from their hospital beds. Usually he or she has gone to consult a witch-doctor. One epileptic boy recently came for his monthly supply of pills. He had been a week without pills. He was quite frank when questioned and said he had been a week without pills and felt better without them. His uncle had taken him to a witch-doctor to get the disease
out of his system. When asked what the witch-doctor did for him he said that sometimes he gave him medicine but at other times he had spoken to the ancestor spirits. Anne asked him how much he had to pay. He said, “One hundred and eighty dollars”! Anne had a long talk with him and he went home with a couple of tracts. He attends church at one of our stations. What need there is for prayer that the Holy Spirit would bless the Word preached and set the people free from these pagan beliefs.
Mention has been made before of the large kitchen and dining-room that was built at Mbuma some years ago by Government orders, the Government paying 50% of the cost. The Mission expected that further funds would be forthcoming to pay for furnishings and for staff and food. However, as the years passed and there was no further funding the kitchen was used as a store-room and the dining-room as a meeting-place for the weekly children’s Bible Class. Then a representative came from the Provincial Medical Director asking why the kitchen was not in use. The kitchen must be opened, the people must be fed and no further funds would be available. So the vegetable garden has been enlarged and the staff are busy trying to organise matters as economically as possible. In past years patients were always accompanied by relatives who brought food and cooking utensils with them. They cooked outside under a shelter, fed their relatives and usually slept under their beds. Such days are gone. Food will have to be brought from Bulawayo, a distance of over a hundred miles, staff will have to be engaged and supervised and all will have to be paid for by the hospital.
However, despite problems and some difficulties, the atmosphere throughout the Mission is cheerful and buoyant. “Hitherto has the Lord helped us.” “The Lord of us hath mindful been and He will bless us still.”
J.N.