ZIMBABWE
AT Ingwenya it is good that at last they have the telephone system installed. It is expected that Mbuma Mission will soon have an equally good service, as the telephone engineers are hard at work there. The staff at Mbuma were in a very isolated situation when their radio communication system was out of order.
The water shortage situation at Ingwenya has eased because of the extra water being now piped from the nearby dam. Meantime, it is being used for washing clothes and cleaning generally, but it is hoped that it will eventually be put through a purifying process and be suitable for all purposes.
Miss Marion Graham is in Scotland on furlough, and we hope she will have a refreshing holiday. Miss Etta MacLennan will be leaving for Zimbabwe about the end of August, if all is well, to give assistance in the John Tallach School while Miss Graham is on holiday.
It was interesting to have news of the Mission and to know that the Rev A. B. Ndebele is in much better health. Ma Donsa, who is probably the oldest member in the Ingwenya congregation, is not able to attend church as regularly as before. Ma Donsa is usually associated with the memory of her grandmother, Ma Mlotshwa, one of the chief wives of the last king of the Matabele, Lobengula. I recollect that Ma Mlotshwa came in contact with our Church when on one occasion, many years ago, she was out walking near her home at Libeni. She came across a small gospel meeting held by one of our elders, and she stopped to listen. After that she made a point of attending these meetings, and also began to attend church. Then she was converted. From being a rather wild, intemperate old lady she became a fine Christian and lived to a good old age. Her last words were, “Receive thou me, O Lord of Glory.”
There are five young people from Scotland at present on holiday at Ingwenya, all wishing to be as useful as possible. It is very cheering and helpful for the staff to have them there.
From Mbuma a friend writes: “There was a sad death one night recently. A three year old boy found something to drink in a cupboard at home, which he may have thought was milk, but turned out to be poison from the root of a tree. No doubt there was some specific use for it in the home. He died soon after his arrival in hospital.
“Miss Lia Terlou is making plans for her furlough. She hopes to accompany her parents to Scotland. . . We were hoping we would get a relief nurse in her place but so far nobody is forthcoming. They are very busy in Sengera [Kenya] and need all the hands they have.” J. N.
KENYA — Sengera
Mr Ian MacLean, the administrator at Sengera, says that the clinic — Omorembe Health Centre — is exceedingly busy because of the continuing high incidence of malaria. Many of the people are still having a hard time, not only because of family sickness, but also because of increased poverty due to failure of the corn crop and having to buy medicine.
It has been agreed in principle to develop the basement floor of the Health Centre to provide offices, stores and a laboratory and thus to free space on the upper floor for the provision of an operating theatre.