Zimbabwe
THIS winter in South Africa, there has been a fall of snow at a much lower altitude than usual, something that has not happened for thirty years. This, no doubt, explains a spell of cold weather they have had in Zimbabwe.
A newsletter has come from Peta van de Ridder from Zimbabwe. Peta says how much at home she feels at Mbuma, which she left in 1983 owing to her mother’s illness. She describes a day with the mobile clinic at Lukampa, a few miles from Mbuma.
“I enjoy going to outside clinics despite the fact that we are always extremely busy while there. While I do not feel imprisoned at Mbuma it is pleasant to get outside the Mission gates. On this occasion, having packed a picnic basket with bread and something to drink and so on, we left at 10 am in the lorry, driven by Nkala the driver, and were accompanied by Mloyi, the hospital evangelist, and four African nurses to assist me with the clerical work, dispensing medicines and interpreting when necessary.
“It was just a half-hour’s journey along loose sandy roads and through bushy and very lonely countryside. The clinic for child welfare and expectant mothers is held in our Church buildings. Some people had already arrived. Before we began seeing the patients Mloyi took worship and addressed the people from Lamentations 3, verse 40, ‘Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord’.
“Apart from a half-hour break at 1.30 pm we were hard at work until 3.30 p.m. We then set off for Mbuma arriving just after 4 p.m. We found the Nursing Sisters preparing a little boy for transfer to the Nkai Government Hospital about thirty miles away. He had been brought in unconscious a few hours before and had not responded to treatment. The hospital was busy and I was required here and there. It was 7 pm before I sat down to a welcome meal of mealie-meal porridge with fried cabbage, onions and tomatoes. Then I was off to bed.
“I am living with Margaret Macaskill and Dr. Hak. Dr. Hak feels much better than she did. It is a great help to have her back for problems which often arise. It was a day off for me after being at Lukampa. Usually we try to write our letters on our off-day as it is very difficult to do anything personal on a working day.
“Last week the generator broke down. We sent to Bulawayo for help, a distance of around one hundred miles. No one came for five days and we had to work by candlelight. Darkness falls between 6.30 and 6.45 p.m. There was one advantage – we went to bed a little earlier!
“I really enjoy the work but I have been confronted by AIDS. I have been here for four weeks and during that time five adults and one baby have died of the disease. They have no sooner gone than their empty places are filled by other poor, wasted-looking people. Mercifully, some of them have periods of improved health and strength. When we talk to them about the illness, they call it ‘the killer disease’. We try to speak to them of life after death but they profess not to believe it. What we need is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit among us all, and especially among these poor people. What need there is to remember them in prayer, and also all who work here!”
Margaret Macaskill and Peta were at Ingwenya for Peta’s last weekend in Zimbabwe on this occasion. With the other members of staff they attended some of the communion services at Cameron church, ten miles from Ingwenya, where our people are Fingoes and speak si-Xhosa.
At the time of writing, Marion Graham and Ishbel MacCuish are expected in Inverness, if all is well, on Saturday 10th August. Ishbel will have completed her three months assignment in the John Tallach School which she has very much enjoyed. She and Katie Macaulay were both present at the baptismal service in Bulawayo when Nopel Sibanda, a former pupil, was baptised. The service was much enjoyed and it was an additional pleasure for Ishbel and Katie to see many other former pupils, most of them now married and with families.
The holiday is very busy for the Ingwenya teachers as they process more than one thousand applications for places in the Secondary School in 1997. The children who apply have to sit a test, which the African teachers help to correct, but the final assessment is Katie’s responsibility. There are only 160 places available and 40 of those are reserved for local children. Most difficult of all is the interviewing of disappointed parents, chiefly mothers, whose children have not passed the test. Some of them have made application to several schools; so matters may not be as bad as they seem. J.N.
Kenya
THE Rev. John Goldby and his family arrived safely in Kenya on the last day of July, and he is now getting to grips again with the work of the Mission at Sengera. It is expected that, God willing, he will be inducted as Missionary by the Zimbabwe Presbytery, on 25th September. Sister Peta van de Ridder has arrived in Sengera from Mbuma.
It was with relief that Mr Ian MacLean, the Mission Administrator, saw, at the end of July, the arrival of the large containers, carrying an ambulance, medical equipment, building materials, etc, which were shipped from Britain last January. It was a matter for gratitude to the God of providence, that the Government there waived the imposition of import taxes, no doubt because the contents of the containers are for the benefit of the Kenyans there.
Mr MacLean says that water is scarce at present and that the Mission has had to transport water from Ogembo, three miles away. The shortage is due not only to lack of rain during past weeks and the considerable diminishing of the supply from the well, but also because the large water tank is still depleted after having burst and been repaired. Also, the ongoing building operations there have used much water. However, it is hoped that the rains will come soon.
The new accommodation for staff (a house for Mr Goldby, two houses for nursing sisters, and an extension to the MacLean’s house) will be fully completed by the beginning of this month, D.V.
Of considerable concern to European parents on the Mission is the provision of education, both primary and secondary, for their children. We hope that a teacher will be led to go there to do this important work, as well as to give religious instruction in the local primary School. A notice on page 287 gives more information about this post. N. M. R.
Eastern Europe Mission
Letters of Appreciation from Eastern Europe Countries
AS well as receiving continuous requests for Bibles and Christian literature from Eastern Europe, we also receive letters of appreciation for the help given by the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The following selection of excerpts from letters shows that those who receive Bibles and help in other ways really appreciate the work we do.
A man from St. Petersburg says, “Thank you very much for your letter dated 21st November 1995, and an excellent large print edition of the Authorised Version with metrical Psalms. This superb edition is of great help to me as I use it parallel with my Russian Bible.”
In connection with public worship held in Borispol, one person writes: “This time the service in Borispol has been rather encouraging. The people were interested and asked questions. T…. has invited you to conduct a service again at their place. So, I hope your work here will yield certain fruits. Let us cast this upon the Lord and wait for the result. The Bible teaches us that all our own efforts taken together are vain completely unless God Himself does the work. When recently I was reading the Book of Psalms, I meditated on the words written in Psalm 127:1. ‘Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain’.”
One person in Russia who asks for more tracts writes: “I thank you for every thing that you have sent, but I have already given out the tracts. If you can, please do send some more again, so that people may know that there is a God in Heaven…”
A pastor in Kiev, with whom we left a selection of literature, food and medicines, which was distributed to church members, the needy and the oncological hospital, says: “We thank you once again for helping us and praying for us. We are asking God that He may abundantly bless you in future days and in all your ways and doings.”
Finally, a Missionary in the south of Ukraine writes: “I got your letter and ‘The Children’s Catechism’. Thank you very much. ‘The Children’s Catechism’ is a very correct book. We do not have literature like this Catechism. Please sent another 20. ‘The Confession of Faith’ is a good book too. If you can, please come to organise our church, or send a missionary. We will take him to our house and will help him to organise the church.”
It is hoped that we will again make a visit to the Ukraine this year, God willing. Funds allowing, we intend to leave towards the end of October but it is not yet finally decided who will undertake this journey. One thing we especially ask is that prayer would be engaged in on behalf of this work. May the Lord in His good and sovereign mercy, for the sake of the Redeemer, and by the power of His Holy Spirit, prosper the work. D. A. R.