· Foreword THE Lord Jes us Christ has said that the Gospel must first be preached in all the...
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Transcript of · Foreword THE Lord Jes us Christ has said that the Gospel must first be preached in all the...
Foreword
THE Lord Jesus Christ has said that the Gospelmust first be preached in all the world before
He comes . Therefore all who love His appearingmust love the work of the foreign missionary . TheChurch of God is described as Catholic . This muchmisused word implies that it is to include within itspale members from the whole wide world . Andno one can presume to call himself a member ofGod ’s Church
,and ignore the will of God in this
matter . You cannot enter into partnership in afirm and begin by repudiating its liabilities . Theliability which the Lord Jesus has left upon everyChristian is to go into all the world and preach thegospel .This little book tells how a few of God ’s dear
children linked together in the fellowship of theAfrica Inland Mission
,are busy taking possession
of one part of the great dark Continent for Christ .But if they go out on this errand for the sake of theName
,we who are still at home owe it to their Lord
and ours to do all we can to help . During the warpeople who couldn ’t j oin the figh ting services wentto prepare munitions for those who could . Andin this warfare of the Cross the same thing ought to betrue . If we cannot go
,we ought to be helpers of
those who do go . Munitions both spiritual andmaterial
,are needed
,and it is the art and ot 0
every Christian to help supply them . This book isintended to stimulate faith and to evoke prayer . Iaccount it a high privilege to be allowed to add aword of commendation to it . May our DivineMaster accept and use the book for His own gloryand the salvation of the Azande people .
J . RUSSE ! ! HowDEN .
Southborough,
Tunbridge Wells .
Con ten ts
COUNTRY
PEOP! E
BEGINN INGS OF THE GOSPEL EFFORT
S OPPORTUNITY
Il lu stration s
OF PRINC IPAL CHIEFS UNDERLINED
A CARAVAN CROSSING A BRIDGE
CROSSING A BRIDGE ON THE WAY TO
CROSSING AN AFRICAN RIVER
DRESS ING TIMBER FOR BU I LD ING
CROSSING THE RIVER DUNGU IN A DUG-OUT
BU I LDING A HOUSE AT DUNGU
A GROUP OF TEACHERS AT DUNGU
CARRYING MUD FOR HOUSE-BU I LDING
NATIVES POUNDING RICE
GIRLS IN A MISSION HOME- DRILLING
SCHOOL-DAYS AT DUNGU
CHRISTMAS SPORTS AT DUNGU
AZANDE BOYS—VI LLAGE I N REAR
A CA R AV AN C ROSS I N G A BR I DG E
Tbc Azande Country 7
My ambition bar been a ll a long to procla im tbe GladTidingr, not in pla ce: where Men iab
’: name, 7 a m , war
already known—I am not the man to usurp for my buildinganotber man
’! founda tion—but to a ct on tbe principle em
bodied in there word! of Scripture, Tbey towbom no tidings ofHim wereprocla imed sha l l weHim tbeywho bave not beardof Him Jball understand.” (Ixa iab Iii. l q)
Roman s x v . 20, 2 1 .
(Way’s tran slation) .
The Azande Country
NOT long ago , in a letter from a little gi rl in the
We all laughed at thi s but,when one begins to
answer the ques tion,i t isn ’t such a laughing
matter after all . And,since one little girl has asked
the question , there is no reason why it should notbe thoroughly answered for the sake of those whomay have but a vague idea of this section of theCongo in which are situated the stations of theAfrica Inland Mission .
A line drawn from Cairo to Capetown dividesthe Belgian Congo longi tudina l ly east and west ,and passes j ust a little to the west of the Moto
,
Dungu and Bafuka stations . Another l ine drawnmidway between the extremes of the continentwill int ersect this line at a point near Basoko
,
one hundred and twenty miles north—west of Stanleyvi lle . These two intersecting lines divide theBelgian Congo into four parts . The north-easternsection is the one wi th which we have to deal ,
8 Miss ion Work among the Azande
for in this part—the left ventricle of the heart ofAfrica—are located all the present stationsof the Africa Inland Mission situated in the Congo .
These are all situated in the neighbourhood of acurved l ine beginning at the southern end of LakeAlbert , running north through the governmentposts of Mahagi and Aru to Aba
,then west through
Faradj e to Dungu , and then north-west towardsNdoruma .
Three long arms go out from Dungu : onesouth-east to the Moto station
,another
,si xty-five
miles north to Yakuluku,and another seventy
miles north-west to Bafuka . The Moto field is alarge one and the name applies to a considerableterritory . A short distance from Yakul uku oneenters the Anglo-Egyp tian Sudan . A few milesnorth-west of Bafuka the French Sudan is reachedand
,continuing on into this region for over one
thousand miles to Lake Chad is a vast expanse ofcountry in which there is not a single ProtestantMission station .
South and west from Dungu,the terri tory allotted
for the Africa Inland Mission stations meets thatof the Heart of Africa Mission . The Yakulukudistrict completes the Africa Inland Missionextension due north of Dungu
, (right up tothe Nile-Congo wa tershed) , and touches theparish of the Church Missionary Society
’
sexcellent station at Yambio
,in the British Sudan .
Of the other proposed extensions , Mr . Hurlburtwrite5 ! We do not expect to push south fromMoto un l ess urgent need should require . It isour present bel ief that we should push to the west ,along the high land in the French Sudan wherethe waters flow north to Lake Chad and south to
Tbc Azande Country 9
the Congo tribu taries,thence north-west towards
a point in the Nigerian territory , where the landproj ects east in to French territory . If possible ,we should also like to push up north along thecontinental divide between the British and FrenchSudan
,but do not expect to go farther east from
Yakuluku . We have no limit other than to takethe Gospel to every tri be that is destitute , andas far as possible to avoid territory occupied byother Mission s .Now the little girl wanted to know what large
city we are near . The nearest place that lookslike a town is Kampala in Uganda . Nairob i ,to which place we send orders for supplies
,
is miles to the south-east in Kenya Colony .
Goods ordered from this town reach us aboutone year from date of order ! The late exPresident Roosevelt
,in writing of Nairobi says
!
Nairobi is a very attractive town and mostin teresting
,with its large native quarter and its
Indian colony . One of the streets consists of littleexcept Indian shops and bazaars . Outside thebusiness portion
,the town is spread over much
territory,the houses standing isolated
,each by
itself and usually bowered in trees,with creepers
shading the verandas and pretty flower gardensround about .Khartoum comes next
,miles to the north
east—on the river Nile .
But , if there are no large towns near us , whatare such places as Mahagi
,Aru
,Aba
,Dungu or
Faradj e ! These are Government posts or smallmi litary stations .The Congo Belge is divided into several large
districts corresponding to states . One of these is the
IO Min ion Wor!e among the Azande
Haut Uel lé , a section of the Uel l é (Wellé) Valley ,in
which are most of the present Africa Inland Mi ssionCongo Stations . These large districts are againsub-divided into smaller territori es correspondingto counties . At the head of each of these smallterritories is a Government post . These postsare under the central station of the district
,which
,
in turn,is subj ect to the capital of the Congo at
Boma . Niangara is the central station of Aba,
Faradj e,Dungu
,Ndoruma
,and other posts of the
Haut Uel lé District . To these posts the nativescome to pay their taxes misdemeanours are j udgedand penalties are infli cted by the adm in istrateur !but crimes of a more serious nature are referred tothe j udge at the central station of the territory .
The occupants of these posts include A BelgianOfli cia l , one or two Greek or Indian merchants ,and from fifty to three hundred natives comprisingthe black soldiers and those in the employ of theGovernment with their families
,and the prisoners .
These last are made to do the odd j obs such a s
repairing the roads and keeping the place in order .The maj ority of the prisoners are men
,who having
refused to pay the customary tax , are seized and
compelled to work a length of time equivalentto the value of the tax
,which
,in the case of an
unmarried man is s ix francs and fifteen centimesabout 5s . I f a man is ill for six months , he isexempted from the tax for that year . If he hasfour children
,and only one wife he is free from
paying taxes,the Government in this way
'wishingto discourage polygamy . Taxes vary in differentsections .
The buildings of the above posts consist usua llyof the adm in i strateu r
’
s o ffice , his residence, one or
C ROSS I N G A N A FR I CA N R IV E R
Iz Min ion Work among tbc Azande
successors have ever trodden in their footsteps,
even though the need for doing so has long passedaway .
In the district of one of the Africa Inland Missionstations in the Congo , village work during the rainyseason necessitates wading through many swamps .
Whenever a Government o fficial wishes to take aj ourney over an old route
,word goes forth to that
effect,and
,as if by magic
,an eight foot path is
clea red a l l along the way . This is done by the menof the chiefs through whose territory the route lies .
The grass then grows as only African grass can grow,
until another herald announces the coming of aBu lamata ri .
* On one occasion a path one hundredand sixty miles long was cut in this manner overan abandoned route
,the streams and swamps
bri dged,and eleven grass houses erected
,all wi thin
a period of less than four weeks .
So we are not near any large towns , If we wantto take a j ourney
,we either go by bicycle or con
tribute our shoe leather to the narrow,hard packed ,
native path . Our luggage is carried on the headsof powerful natives . There are no wayside inns .If we do not carry our tables , chairs and bed withus
,we do without them . We generally remember
to take them with us . There are no restaurantsor grocery stores . If we get to the rest house
(situated every fifteen miles along the path) ,ahead of our porters
,we must await their arrival ,
when our bed is unslung,chair and table unfolded
and food prepared . Upon arriving at a postwe usually avail ourselves of the thrill of going tothe Greek or Indian store to look over stalls of cheapcotton cloth
,native shirts
,matches , beads , cheap
Native nam e for Belgi an Governm ent Officia l.
‘Tbe‘Az ande Country 1 3
and an occasional tin of salmon priced atfrancs (about five shillings)—we j ust look atWe cannot take our watch to the watchmaker
,
broken spectacles to the optician,diamond rings
to the pawnbroker , or worn out shoes to the shoemaker ! When the bad climate vitiates the bellowsof the little folding organ
,we have to get out the
bicycle puncture-repairing outfit and'
renew them .
There are no drug stores,nor barber ’s shops
,and
so we keep on using thex
old tooth brush (in spiteof the fast diminishing bristles) , hone the razorand clench our teeth while the sewing scissors cutour hair .
Thus we have attempted to answer the little
Miss ion Work among tbe Azande
We are tbose wbo went astray, but tbe ! ord did not leaveus . He sougbt us witb perseverance, andwe beardHis ca l l andanswered. Now we are His slaves
, boo ing no otber mas ter a tal l . Bebold, we tel l you a word of trutb . We bad tbree
tea cbers . One is in Europe anotber bas gone to l kung and
tbis onewbo stays witb us , bis furlougb is due, and bis works aremany . If be goes to rest in Europe, witb wbom are we left !
We bar! e a des ire to bear your teacbings in tbe
teacbingof tbejebooab God, and we baoe a tbirst to seeyou intbc eyes butwe bar! e not tbe opportunityFrom a letter written from an African tribe, addressed to
the!teachers of Europe .
”
(Miss ionary Review of tbcWorld, Dec .
The Azande Peop le
HE most important t ribe in the valley of theUel lé river is the Zande . On the north
it reaches far into the Anglo-Egyptian Sudanand French Congo . On the east it extends as faras Faradj e . Azande are found as far west asButa and as far south as the Bomokandi river .These people do not build large villages . Instead
they are scattered over the country in separate,
isolated dwellings,family by family . The great
maj ority of these family settlements consistmerely of a mud house and grain store .
As the gardens seem always to thrive best inwooded ground near a stream or swamp
,this loca
tion is sought out . The trees are then cut down ,leaving the stumps two or three feet out of theground . This work is done by the man . Hiswife then scrapes the ground between the stumps
Tbc Azande People 1 5
with a crude , native hoe , sows the grain and plantsthe corn
,potatoes
,peanuts and manioc . In the
meantime the man builds the mud house . Thisis a round hut with thin walls and straw roof .The floor is a platform of solid mud about one foothigh . The little two by four door accordinglyhas its sill one foot from the ground . To enterthe place requires an up
-step and a down-bend ,for the high ,
cone-shaped,thatched roof comes
far down over the sides of the mud wall to protectit from rainThe quaint grain store is then built . A big ,
mud box is shaped on a platform held,five or more
feet high,by four heavy poles . Over this mud
box,like a hat
,is placed a cone-shaped straw roof .
Whenever the Zande wants to store his grain ,
peanuts cooking pots or to keep other treasurefrom mi ce and men
,one edge of the hat-like roof
is lifted,and into this receptacle it goes .
If the man is industrious,he will have in addition
to the house and grain store,a shed under which
the women grind corn or prepare food . The groundaround and between the huts of his home is thenpacked down hard
,making a rather cosy little
court yard . Upon this is spread the grain fordrying and it is here that the moonlight dancesare danced to the songs that abound and overflowwith rhythm
,measured by the staccato beatings
of the wooden drum . About the courtyard growa circle of banana or plantain trees . Thus we havea typical Zande home the plantain trees
,a little
courtyard and two or more straw roofed houses,
according to the number of the man ’s wives . Inthese little segregated settlements live the Azande
,
family by family . Because of this,a little longer
2
16 Miss ion Work among tbc Azande
time is required for vil lage visitation ,and the
attendance at the meetings is smal l , but the Gospelis brought to the family in a much more personalmanner than in a large village-meeting .
Although the Azande live in individual villages,
their language is not cut up by dialects,but is
the same throughou t the whole great trib e . Itis in itself expressive and from it the people takedirectly their peculiar names .
!
One is calledMore Words
,another
,You will die
,
” anotherThe spirits of his Father
,or Father of the old
man sorrow,
” Father of nothing,
” We are two,
He will arrive to-morrow,
” Elephant tusk,
Only us ! and they even have a name whichmeans literally
,What ’s his name .
” This isused quite frequently in speaking or or calling onewhose name has been forgotten . The Azandehave diffi culty in remembering names . Girls aregiven similar names as
,The mother of chalk
,
or,The mother of oil
,etc . ,
but,as soon as she
is marri ed and has children,she is known as the
mother of her husband ’s favourite son .
The manner in whi ch they express themselvesis in many cases as odd as their names . The keyof a lock is referred to as the lock ’ s son . A whiteman is called
,
‘ f The father of cloth ,” If a thing
is lost in the house,Your house surpasses you .
”
A toothache is caused by ants in the tooth .
An emphatic Yes is It is no lie . Uponbeing asked the reason for not planting pa ipa i treesin his village the owner responded , Alas ! The
seed of the pa ipa i wi ll not hear my words I Whensome k inky .
grey haired men heard a li ttle foldingorgan for the first time
,one said , Spirits it is !
another exclaimed,The thing talks angrily .
”
D R ES S I N G T IMBE R FO R BU I ! D I NG .
1 8 Mission Work among the Azande
difficult wi th wonderful facility,but in singing
the scale from fa onwards,the sounds would
put a nervous mu sic teacher into an asylum . And
these are the kind of people that make up the
great Zande tribe .
Writing of this tribe , Dr . J . Du Plessis in ThriceThrough the Dark Continent
,says
,Before the
European occupation of the country the Azandewere passionately devoted to cannibalism
,and
for this reason were known to their neighbours asthe Nyam-Nyam (Niam-Niam) . What the Azandewere is of small moment what they are to becomeis a question vastly more important . For this greattribe
,that extends all over North Congoland ,
andoverflows into French territory and the AngloEgyptian Sudan
,is still practically unevangelised .
In the approa ching confl ict between Chri stian ityand Is lam it occupies a pos ition of the highest stra tegicva lue, lying a s it does between the most advanced
outposts of both forces .
Beginnings of Gospel Ef ort 19
Wberqfore are ye come amongst us, from the glory to theP
Cbri st i n lorv breatbedwitb in us l i fe, His l ife, and bid us
Founta ins of tba t l ife arewe.
He ba tb sent us b igbes t bonours of His Cross and sbame towin,
Bear b is l ight ’m id deepest darkness, walk in white midst
OfH i s love uncbangeable.
Beginnings of Gosp el Effort
E nt (1 92 1 ) Africa Inland Mission stationsa the Azande people are Yakuluku ,
Bafuka with its one out-station,and Dungu with
its two out-stations . The work at Yakuluku is inits i nfancy ! Bafuka is about four years old , while
rs the oldest and largest .n station schedules vary with localities
,
conditions and superintendents,but the usual
week-day on Azande stations may be generalisedas follows : Morning service and prayer a .m . ,
followed by school which continues till abouta .m . The workmen
,boys
,women and girls are
then assigned work for the day . By this time ,breakfast is not at all out of place . At 1 1 o ’clock ,
20 Mission Work among tbe Azande
or when the drum sounds at a .m . to st opwork
,the dispensary i s open . From 1 p m . toor p m . the hollowed-out
,wooden drum
is beaten for the men to resume work,which is
supposed to continue without a sleep till 5 o’clock
or On the older stations,school is held in
the afternoon for the women and girls , and stilllater those natives who teach in the early morningclasses
,meet for more advanced instruction .
The evangelists ’ hour varies with every station .
At one place the two evangelists and those in training
,meet for prayer every morning during the first
period of school . After school when the men andothers are given work
,these go to the villages .
It is not a good rule to send those in training morethan one day ’s j ourney from the station
,on account
of their proneness to yield to temptation,and the
necessity to be continually on the watch . Thesedaily morning prayers are an excellent barometerof the power of God in their lives as well as an imm edi
ate revealer of personal sin . Ten definite answersto prayer were given to three Azande boys
,who met
in this way for one month . In the later afternoonor evening they return . At times the reports aremost encouraging, then again humorous , or it mayseem as if they had gone out that day in vain .
When Pen ipen i came in to report his first day ’swork
,he said
,Father
,I went to Kum b azingi
’
s
village . There was no one there,— then after a
long pause he continued , Just three women andtwo girls . ” One day Modu arrived from the outstation
,thirty miles away and during the conversa
tion said,Bwana
,those people up there have
not yet got over being surprised at hearing the
Gospel for the first time .
”
Beginnings of Gospel Effort 2 1
The morning service consists generally of ahymn
,the reading of the Scriptures and prayer .
The school then follows with reading , writing ,and arithmetic . One of the school periods is usedon certain week days for the singing class . Theless said about it the better .After school the men are assigned to the various
j obs for the day . Sometimes i t is building a newhouse
,re-roofing an old one , putting down a new
mud floor,working in the gardens or renewing falling
down buildings . Because of the white ants,houses
and things are continually going to pieces . Achurch on one of the stations had been up j ust oneyear when it collapsed from the posts being eatenaway by these little ants . A coat hung unwittinglyin a rest house reminded the owner the next morningthat it was time to give it away . Often the contents of wooden boxes set care lessly on mud floors
,are
destroyed in a very short time . It is for this reasonand others that mission buildings should be of brick .
Owing to the slowness with which bricks are madeunder Congo conditions , however , it is necessaryto build houses of mud temporarily ! and , as manymissionaries do not know the words of the brick
,
and as some stations are so far away from anabundant wood supply , sufficient to burn them ,
and as one ’s first year on the field is spent in thinkingabout malaria , getting accustomed to livingtab loid ly and from a chop box ,
and as it is expedientto spend a little time in language study, etc . ,
andas it is necessary to have money enough to buildanother bri ck house after you see your first attempttopple over, brick houses are scarce . And so theworkmen are sent out to renew an eaten-off postin the school house .
22 Miss ion Work among tbe Azande
73 Seeing that milk and butter help the leucocytes alittle bit in their fight against the red corpusclesexpanding to the bursting point with the deadlymalaria virus , i t seems fitting and proper to havecows . Oriental cattle are not like home cows
,for
the supply of their milk varies in inverse ratio to thesquare of their number . Tinned milk could beused
,but when one out of every two boxes reache s
the orderer one year from the date of the order,
there are times when mothers with ‘
b ab es wouldbe wi thout it . Because of this
,cattle are kept
in places where there is grass enough to keepthem alive by day
,and high corral s” are built
to con tinue this good work ti ll the morning . Andso the men are sent off to patch up the hole madein the corral by a stray lion .
Those in charge of the women 's and girls ’ workwell
,ask them about it . If they have not got their
hands full,no one has . Since native homes are
scattered at times great distances through the
grass,it is n eedful to keep on the station little
boys and girls who come to hear the Gospel . Thisinvolves feeding them
,giving them work s u fficrent
for their food,and looking after their interests
otherwise . The same is true of the single women .
The littl e girls for example are sent ou t to weed thegardens and do similar work . The best sight onthe sta tion is to see a group of these little darm
’
eswith their small hoes mak ing the dust fly and singinga Gospel hymn . When the work settles down and
gets monotonous , the dust gets a rest and the songdrags off into a h igh
,soft humming of some weird
Azande folk-tune repeated over and over again .
*Ca ttle Pen .
24 Mission Work among zbe Azande
who are hostile to the Gospel and will not cometo this servi ce . These are told to remain along theroad till the meeting is over . We thus have thoseoutside
,who leer , snarl and laugh as we preach to
the others who are respectful and attentive . Tothese gatherings the men are forbidden to bringtheir spears
,for when they do
,there
,are some
wounds to tie up . One of the characters of thisbig market is the giant Gom oro (Hunger) . Itis his duty to stand by the gate of the fenced off
area and allow only those with wares for sale toenter . He is armed with a blacksnake whip
,and
as his friends like to say,Only Gom oro under
stands the wisdom of that whip . Every nowand then as the people enter
,the crack of this
famous whip is heard on the back of some too boldman
,and looking around one sees Gom oro smiling
or looking very bored . When the missionaryfinishes buying,
the bugle sounds and it is the natives ’
turn . The shouting and babble can be heard along way as those in the enclosure sell to thoseoutside .
Mission stations are not always places where thenatives kiss the ground you walk on . SometimesSatan roars around so that it is necessary to fleeto the prayer meeting . There are times when thedemons seem to look '
at you through the natives,and you cry to God to sustain and help . Then thereare times of great blessing . No one can know thej oy
,unless he be a missionary . The native char
acter is a remarkable one . The longer one stayson the field and deals with them
,the less one knows
how to advise others . Methods of punishmentmust b e used to maintain decency and order .The best one found for little boys and girls is the
Beginnings of Gospel E! fort 25
Bible method . For men,each case is a law unto
itself, and only the wisdom that comes from aboveever solv es the diffi culty . Then there are manycases coming up for trial . Some of these arecomplicated
,involving one or two chiefs with a
Government offi cial . It means a close walk withGod
,or one is useless .
The evening is the time appointed for talkingwith those who wish to enquire about the thingsof the Gospel
,for confessions of sin
,and decisions
to confess Jesus Christ . The reason that th isopportunity is not given in the Gospel meetingsis that many of the natives are so eager to get inthe limelight that they revel in chances to makea public speech , even to the confession of sins .It is in the quiet , evening hour that the prayersare answered as they come in one by one and areborn again , n ever to be taken from His hand .
0 ! But I thought all you had to do on anAfrican Mission station was to preach the Gospel 1Where are all the consecrated brickmakers
,masons
,
carpenters,printers
,foremen
,and farm hands !
The reason why so many missionari es go homebroken in health and nervous wrecks is due to thefact that others who should have been at handto help , were not there because they disobeyedGod ’s cal l .
26 Miss ion Work among the d z ande
The hundreds of tribes in Africa whose language ha s
never been reduced towriting, awa it (a s they have been wa itingthrough a whole genera tion s ince their needs and a cces s ibil itywere known to the entire Chris tian world) , for men of sufiicient
mus t equa l tha t of any other continent.”REV. C . E . HUR ! BURT . .
! anguage Prob lem s
AZANDE,or the words of the Azande
,
is spoken by thousands upon thousands ofnatives
,scattered over a vast amount of territory
in inn ermost Africa .
These people have no writing,yet they keep
accurately their historical records . This they doby means of old men who memorise the records
,
and teach these to others chosen for the purpose .
A high ofli cia l who has been in the Congo for tenyears
,has told us that he has found chiefs of the
Azande separated by great distances yet havingcoinciding records . The Azande language is a verydifficult one . This official is a linguist and knowsmany languages
,but though he has been learning
Pazande for severa l years,he says he cannot yet
talk it fluently . A Roman Cathol ic priest ha s beenlearning it for eighteen months and still cannotmanage it . These quotations are from an ar ticlewritten in 1 91 3 .
! angu age Problems 27
It was about this time that missionaries of theChurch Missionary Society and Africa InlandMi ssion began the study of Pazande . To-day ,
thanks to their patient perseverance throughmany trials and disappointments
,such as are the
portion of those who tackle similar undertakings ,Pazande is reduced to wri ting . A tentative edi tionof the Gospel of Mark is already in the hands ofnative Christians . The Gospels of Luke andJohn are now read in the meetings , and all th esehave been translated with an accuracy and exactness that is refreshing . New missionaries nowhave the advantage of vocabulary helps , and agrammar
,in addition to the above trans lations .
They can thus appreciate in a very little way,the
stupendousness of the task accomplished .
A beginner is not infrequently tempted to besatisfied to ca tch a word here and there of aconversation
,piece these together and so get the
gist of the talk ! in other words , to be satisfied tohear only part of the words , on account of theextreme difficulty of hearing all . To hear all theparticles and sounds intelligently requires muchtime in patient daily study
,speaking and hearing .
Then , too , there is the matter of correct
p ronounciation . This is not as easy as rollingoff a log ! The speaking apparatus of a whiteman is differen t in many respects from that ofthe native African with his big,
thick lips,
filed away teeth,large broad tong ue
,wide palate ,
and mouth of no small dimensions . The sameair through a trumpet sounds di fferent through atrombone .
A missionary stood for nearly an hour listeningto a great Azande chief summing up an important
28 Miss ion Work among the Azande
case . At the end of the lengthy harang ue shewas much troubled because of not being able tounderstand what he was talking about . Another
,
when he had finished a village talk,had the encourag
ing experience of hearing one of his listeners askWhat was he speaking
,Pazande or Bangala t
Both of these missionaries are experts in theirabil ity to speak and hear Pazande
,and have
studied this language for more than four years .Some natives have little difficulty in understand
ing the missionary ! others seem to require a littletime to get used to hearing their language spokenwith a foreign accent . Talking to natives on
!
themission station is a different thing from conversingwith the people in the villages . Then
,again , (for
the sake of encouraging those of us who are learning) ,it seems as if some natives understand thoroughlywhat is said to them
,but are so amazed to hear
a white man speaking their language that theyrefuse to believe their ears . These people expectwhite men to address them in Bangala . This isa crude tongue
,the cou rt language of the country
,
and is understood from Rej af in the Anglo-EgyptianSudan all the way down the Congo river to the westcoast . There are many natives who believe thatBangala is the White man ’s one and only language .
Con s q uently missionaries speaking Pazande havebeen a great curiosity in strange villages
,the
people calling to their relatives and friends to comeand see the Fa ther of clothes who speaksPazande .
Although the Azande syntax is,for the most
part,the same as the English— subj ect , predicate ,
o b j ect—peculiarities of sentence construction exis twhich are very strange .
A G ROU P O F T EACHE R S AT DU N G U .
CAR RY I N G MUD FO R HOU S E BU I ! D I N G .
an d Lugbara languages , if anything , may! be more
difficult .
has b een ato writin g unwritten languages ,Africa Inland Mission
,but also in.
and many other mission fields
Socia l Problems 3 1
Brothers , s isters, prayfor us .
From af ar resounds our ca ll ,! eagued ’ga ins t s in and Sa tan
’s thra l l ,
ChristHimself our a ll in all
Brethren, prayfor us .
Brothers , s isters , pra ise for usWe are wea k, thefoe is strong,Dark the hea then night and long,Tet of v ictory our song
Brethren, pra isefor us .
”
V
Social Prob lem s
HE Azande girls and women are bound to theirvillages and native heathen wa ys with many
chains . One of these is the Zande marriage custom .
In the marriage of a gi rl or woman no accountusually is taken of her choice
,wish or preference
in the matter . In fact,many little tots of twenty ,
thirty or forty months are betrothed to men of asmany years of age
,and those men already have two
or more wives of their own . The root of the evilo f the Azande selling their daughters is to betraced to the age-long custom of compensating theclan for the loss of a woman by the payment of herequivalent in money . It is an inflexible rule thatthe woman may not marry in her clan . If the pricefor a wi fe were all settled
,agreed upon and paid
before or on the day the girl is taken from hervillage , then many of the difficulties would beeliminated , but this is not the case . Instead
,a
Zande father-in-law sets up a kind of perpetualblackmail over his son-in-law . This is done as
32 Miss ion Work among the Azande
follows —The price of the wi fe varies from thirtyfive to sixty irons made specially for this traffic .
If the man is so ambitious as to choose a wi fe of theAvungvra or chiefs
’ clan,he pays proportionately
for this costly aspiration . The reason the sumasked for the average Zande gi rl does not exceedsixty irons is that by the time thirty
,forty or
sixty of these are paid in , the wife is either deador too old to be of any financial value to her husband .
The rule seems to be that fifteen or twenty ironsare paid before the wife can be taken . It generallytakes a man five or more years to pay this amount .
Therefore they often become engaged while the girlis very littl e
,probably because this ensures for them
a wife sometime in the future , and also givesthem plenty of time to pay the first necessaryinstalment . They also seem to think that a girlwho opens her eyes upon a world in which thereis a man to whom she is already betrothed
,makes
the best wife and does not so easily fall into theAzande woman ’ s national habit of running awayfrom her husband . Thus the payments are made asthe l ittl e girl grows up , iron upon iron ,
iron uponiron
,and each one is a link in a chain that binds her
more and more to the Azande customs and keepsher away from the Gospel . After the girl is takento the husband ’s village , the father soon appears tocollect additional irons . If the husband demurs
,
thinking that his father-in-law has appeared toosoon after the last payment
,the young wife in
variably runs away to her former home until herhusband changes his mind . And so the l ife of a
Zande husband is j ust one iron after another,and
his troubles so increase as to exceed the square ofthe number of his wives .
Social Problems 33
If the child refuses to be the wife of the managreed by her father
,no one can oblige her t o
marry the man against her will . ” This is theGovernment law . And so the Azande are continually haggling
,wrangling and haranguing about
their runaway wives,unj ust fathers-in-law o r slow
paying sons-in -law . Whenever a girl runs fromher husband or father to seek shelter at a missionstation
,all this snapping and snarling concentrates
on that station .
But there is a peculiar phase to the wife trafficwhich makes it still more difficult to free a boundone from this chain . If , for any reason , a wifeshould permanently leave her husband
,the very
same irons paid for her must be returned by thefather . This complicates the affair most hopelesslywhen it is considered that irons paid for a daughterare not kept by the father
,but are in turn passed
on to another in payment for a wi fe whom this fatherhimself may intend to add to his household . Whenthis sort of thing is scattered over a period of tenyears
,it is almost impossible to return the price
of a wife identical iron for identical iron . It'
canbe seen from this that a single iron paid for a girl(many irons have already been paid for the averagegirl of ten years) can be the cause of no end ofwrangling and confusion . The tenacity with whichthe natives adhere to this custom is most pronounced .
In extreme cases where it would,humanly speaking
,
seem best to make an exception to the policy of ourMission not to buy girls or women
,the entire pro
ceedings would be blocked , locked and bound bythis cold , reasonless , devilish chain .
If OMB had been only an ordinary Zande girlshe would have been chained as tight and fast as
34. Miss ion Work among the Az ande
the above-described custom could chain her,but
being the daughter of an Azande chief she wasdoubly shackled . More than sixty irons had beenpaid for her and she had not yet been taken byher husband .
One day this girl came from her home,thirty
miles away,to the Bafuka station . It could easily
be seen that she was above the average native .
When asked why she left her village she replied,
The words of my village do not give me peace .
The words that you tell us give me peace . And sothe missionaries were in for seeing with their owneyes and hearing with their own ears the proofthat God does break chains—even those fettersthat were ages in making
,patented by Satan and
improved and gloated over by all the demons ofhell .In two weeks RENZI
,the greatest of the Azande
chiefs , sent word to Chief BAFUKA , the next greatest ,that the husband of OMB wanted her to return toher village and that the case was of the utmostimportance as many many irons had been paidfor her . With the messenger that announced thewill of RENZI came Ome ’ s mother
,her husband ’s
mother and all the royal relatives on both sides ofthe house . The test for OME was a severe one ,but to her relatives and friends she said firmlythat she wanted to remain with the missionaries .One of the greatest hindrances to the spread ofthe Gospel in Congo can be the ill will o f nativechiefs . There was no worldly wisdom to deal withthis case so pregnant with possibilities of causingtheir displeasure . If there had been wi sdom tocope with the situation , no power other than God
’sown could have made the issue pleasing to Him .
N AT I V E S POU N D I N G R IC E
36
The girl has spoken the truth . She sh
you .
—and since that tim e there hassingle word about those manypaid for her .Perhaps you had a part in
that bound Ome There arethousands of other fetters yet
The Miss ionary Doctor’s Opportunity 37
The medica l missionary who is true to his divine com
miss ion cannot for one moment rest content with the merepa tching up of bodies and cheering up of minds . The com
missi on is ,‘ Make Disciples . Hea l if you l ike, tea ch, if
you can plant trees and plough fields , if tha t is your bentpreach if you are so impelled ! but, by any means and by a l l
means , a chieve the true end, viz . ma ke disciples , save menand women, boys and girls from spiritua l dea th, which inhorror, ha tefulness and pa thos , far exceeds the mere corruptionof flesh and blood.
’ The command is pla in, but it is appa ll inglyeasy to put time and bra ins and strength into the medicascientific s ide of one
’
s work tosuch an extent tha t the command isa ll but forgotten. This is, a t any ra te the experience of thewriter, and may poss ibly be true in the experience of otherstoo. Therefore, to avoid the ca tas trophe of f a il ing in our
comm iss ion, we must give time and bra ins and strength to the
Christian scien tific s ide of our work, i .e., the Soul ! uest.”
DR. DOUG ! AS G IBSON, of Kaifeng, China .
!
The Mi ss ionary Doctor’
s Opportunity
THE medical missionary in Africa has beencalled the advertising agent ’ for the Gospel
because so often it is for him to overcome prej udice ,break down superstition
,and
,in general
,prepare
the way for the Lord .
’ In addition to this he isused to the sure exposure of the decep tions andbarbarity of witch-doctors and native medicalmen .
The witch-doctors kill more people and scattermore villages than did the slave-traders . Theyare often set up by chiefs
,who
,unable to compel
submission by force , rule by taking advantage of
3 8 Miss ion Work among the Az ande
the native fear of black art,ignorance and super
s ti tion . Again , many chiefs set up a witch-doctorin order to enrich themselves with the spoil of thosewho die at their hands . The mission station isoften a refuge for a man robbed of wife and allpossessions by a covetous chief
,and th en decreed
to die by witch-craft . To go into detail here wouldinvolve a long treatise on secret societies
,super
s titiou s practices , rites , customs , and a lot of loathsome , depressing , heartbreaking reading which isbetter left unwritten . The medical missionarycan be used to expose these deceptions to those whowant to believe .
A plague breaks out in a tribe . The people beginto die . The witch-doctors start their wild orgies ,dances and superstitious practices . A missionarysurgeon arrives on the scene
,and it may be
,
in every case of the many scores which he treatsthe patients recover ! this indeed has actuallyoccurred . Things like this do not come by chanceand the natives are wise .
Rare is it that a tribe spontaneously opens itsarms to receive the missionary . There has not yetbeen an instance of this . They stone him at Lystra
,
mock him at Athens,hound hi m out at Jerusal em ,
and j ail him at Rome . In civilised countries asurgical operation means money : in Africa
'
it
is a time of rej oicingwhen a native from an untouchedtribe condescends to run the risk . The followingare two incidents showing how a surgeon was usedto break down prej udice and turn away suspicion .
One evening a man came to an Africa InlandMission s tation with a forty pound growth ofelephantiasis . He had the depressed , discouraged ,hopeless
,and haggard look peculiar to these cases .
SCHOO ! -DAY S AT D U N G U
The Miss ionary Doctor’s Opportunity 39
When asked why he had come , he exclaimed ,I only heard from my chief this morning that youcould cure me ! ” The next day, Christmas day,
at the operation was finished . After he waswell out of the anms thetic ,
though still suffering pain ,he said
,You have worked me good . Good very
much I I have carried my load for eight years andnow it is all gone . Good very much ! ”— theeyes were no longer heavy nor haggard , the discouraged look was gone and there was a chanceto tell him of the One who carried all our burdensand bore our sins in His own Body on thetree .
When this man could walk, he went in search ofothers and returned with six men suffering fromall manner of diseases .
Kitambala is one of the big three Logochiefs . He is a gi ant of six feet four inches, andone of those who can speak quietly and causemen to hurry this way and that in obedience toorders .
! You ’ll never get a hold on Kitambala — wasthe statement of one who knew pretty well howthings were going . But God makes opportunitiesand a doctor was on the j ob . The big chief wasstruck down by disea se . He tried everythingavailable , but was not cured . He was dying slowlywith a trouble that could only be remedied by anoperation . The operation was successfully madeand the patient did not die . Before returningto his village he said to the doctor
,You are
now my relative . I will build a rest house foryou in my village and he did . Through thismeans a first foothold was obtained wi th the Logoin the Aba di strict .
Miss ion Work among the Azande
The hardest man to get for Africa is the medicalmissionary . Here is the proof : In Africa thereare said tentatively to be peopleOf these are pagans . There are
4o ,ooo ,ooo Mohammedans ! most of the 523distinct languages have not yet been touchedby a white man . In North Africa theChristian forces are well under way in j ust one
section .
” The Sudan is the largest unevangelisedfield in the world . Even in Uganda , the bestoccupied African field
,nearly one-half of the people
have not been reached . One mill ion natives livewithout a missionary in Portuguese East Africa .
Seven million people in Portuguese West Africaare without the Gospel . In the Belgian Congoare who are not Christi ans . FromNigeria to the Nile river is a stretch of country
miles long without a single missionary.
From the heart of the continent running north andwest are five l ines none of which are less thanmiles long . There is not one Protestant missionaryon any one of these lines . If missionarieswere to leave London to-day
,and
,in some m ira cu
lous way,could be at the required
,assigned places
within five years and speaking the languages ,
still thousands upon thousand of old men and womenwould have gone down with grey hairs to heathengraves without having heard of Jesus the Messiah .
All missionaries of all societies in Africa would
Guy ’ s and Bart ’s medical schools . Yet if al l thesurgeons of these schools were dropped into Africa ,there would not be a ripple . African gold is moreplentiful than the missionaries—but only 2k percent . of the missionaries are missionary surgeons .
42 Miss ion Work among the Aza nde
! ook on a miss ionary map (of Africa) and see our beacons ofl ight
,a nd think andpray over the regions of da rkness between .
The wrongs and s ins and sorrows of this land areheart-break i .ng It is these things tha t mus t of ten brea kmiss i onari es down, things tha t could never beput intomiss ionaryreports . Friends a t home, when you prayprayfor us who a
we come in contact day by day, tha t out of us mayflow rivers ofl iving wa ter. Pray tha t our work may spring out of a l ife
of lov ing closefellowship with Christ and tha t we may have theda ily renewing of theHoly Spirit. Pray tha t a l l which hindersthefull tide of God
’s l ifeflowing through us may be removed.
(From ! edforth with
V ignettes
O! D FARAGI is so fa scinatingly ugly that he isgood looking . Day in and day out he sweeps
the paths on the Dungu station . Even to a Zandethe j ob becomes monotonous
,and Paragi himself
says , The rains rain and Faragi sweeps the paths .The rains rain and Paragi sweeps the paths . ”
One day,in answer to this veiled complaint , he
was told that the rains brought food for Paragi .To this he replied l enthus ias tical ly,
That ’s nolie ! That i s no lie I”
He is as simple as he is ugly and as faithful ashe is simple . He wears j ust three things— a stripof bark cloth
,the remains of the crown of a small
Zande straw hat,and a black
,heavy cane—more
club than cane . All three are necess ary . If one
Vignettes 43
of these were missing,it would not be Paragi .
A terrible disease is eating away his old body , thesores of which are very distressing . Because of thishe does not go into the church
,but sits outside a
little distance from the door .Not a few have prayed much for our old friend ,
but he never showed interest other than his irregularchurch attendance . One day he was asked whyhe carried the big
,heavy cane . He replied , For
bad leopards and bad people . Where wouldFaragi go , if a bad leopard should kill him !asked the missionary . But Paragi did not answerprobably because he was thinking
,a rare occur
rence for him .
One evening,not long afterwards , at the end of a
day of wrestling against what seemed all the powersof darkness
, Faragi came hurriedly up the path tothe mission house . We never saw him walk sofa s t
ufor he generally walked slowly on account of
his sores . He came as if he were afraid to trusthimself to walk slowly— as if in fear of an unseenpower about to call him back . Before he camewithin the usual speaking distance
,he called out
in his childlike simplicity,Can I confess my sins
and follow JesusThe next day Paragi was cursed because he asked
another man to follow Jesus too .
The rains rain and Paragi still sweeps the stationpaths , but now he knows Whom he is believing andasks you to pray for him .
The big , Azande chiefs in the present range ofthe Africa Inland Mission stations are RENZI andBAFUKA and their sons .
44 Mission Work among the Azande
Of these , WANDO is the most educated in the
ways of the white man . Belgian officials agree thathe is the most shrewd and intelligent . He is atall
,fine-looking man between thirty and thirty
five years of age . Addressing his people,his
eloquence,personality and stately bearing are most
fascinating . When he gets interesting news,he
generally calls together his people and tells themabout it . If the news , as received , is ungarnishedand devoid of local colou r , red fire , or high lights ,leave it to WANDO .
There is no missionary to this chief and his people .
His vil lage is located near the Gangara rest house ,forty-five miles from Faradj e on the Dungu road .
Three missionaries travelling towards Faradj e werevisited by WANDo at th is rest house .
He came in the evening with twenty-five of hismen . He wore a felt hat
,well-fitting khaki coat
and trousers,very respectable looking shoes and
polished leather puttees . One of the men placedWando ’ s chair in the porch of the rest house
,his
counsellors taking their places in order of rank j ustoutside . The other natives , port ers and boysthen came up and filled in the circle around thelit tle low porch . Thus as the missionaries weresitting looking out from the rest house , Wando satfacing them with h is back to the circle of natives ,having his counsel lors seated on hi s right . Ofthe natives
,only the four counsellors were al lowed
to be seated . All the rest stood .
After the usual exchange of greetings and introductory talk ,
the conversation turned to the missionand its missionaries . To our surprise , Wando askedif some of our missionaries did not come fromdifferent coun tries than the others . He was much
CH R I STMA S S PORT S AT D U N GU .
Vignettes 45
impressed when told that England and Americawere separated by a large expanse of water, thatpeople and goods were taken from one country to theother by means of ships
,that one country was
small , with many people , while the other was verylarge with plenty of elbow room . The speed andsize of the ships were a marvel to him . as well asthe fact that steam ran the engines instead ofpetrol—he thought all engines were run bypetrol as the only self-moving conveyance thathe had seen was a motor cycle .
At this point in the conversation he turned to hiscounsellors—he always addressed himself to themand said The words of the world .
”
He then asked whether there were any wildanimals in our countries as in his . One of themissionaries told him of the Zoo in London wherethe animals of the world were kept in cages . Whereupon he turned to his men and said
,The Fathers of
Cloth are very strong .
”
The Gospel Story was then told him verythoroughly from beginning to end . He knewit , for he had heard it not a few times before .
We then showed him our Bibles ! and taking thelittle book of the Gospel of Mark written inPazande , in one hand ,
and gathering the pagesof the book of Mark in our Bibles betweenthumb and fingers of the other
,we explained to
him that much of the Bible was in the littleZande Gospel by Mark . The same was done withthe books of Luke and John . This was verypleasing to him and caused many ej aculations ofsurpri se .
Then one of the m rssronaries told him of a bigchief in Jerusalem , who came to talk with Jesus at
46 Miss ion Work among the Azande
night . Wando ’s attention was assured,and the
account of Jesus and Nicodemus was read .
After a few words , the big chief became verymuch excited . The missionary stopped reading
,
wondering what was the cause . The chief pointedhis finger at the book and exclaimed in delightI can hear your words I can hear your wordsIt was the first time any one had read to him inPazande . The words , Ye must be born againmust have sounded as strange to Wando as theyever did to Nicodemus .Now the Azande are no strangers to the simile
,
metaphor and parable . Their interest is heldwhen a teaching is so presented
,Accordi ngly
,
when the missionary read,The wind bloweth
where it listeth , and thou hearest the sound thereof ,but canst not tell whence it cometh
,and whither
it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit .
”
Wando,as quick as a flash
,turned to his men and
held up his hand . Then he began one of his famousdiscourses . Never before were the first eightverses of the third of John expounded so thoroughlyin Pazande . Even the mi ssionaries listen ed as ifthey were hearing it for the first time . When thechief had finish ed ,
he turned to the missionariesand said
,Go on . You have not finished i t yet . ”
So greatly did the Holy Spirit bear witness to the restof the chapter that the head counsellor interruptingasked
,What shall we do P
By this time it was dark ,but the chief ’s interest
continued . A lantern was brought and lightedand the Parable of the Sower was read from Mark
’
saccount . While it was being read , the chief
’sinterest became so great that he left his chair andstood near the table . Two of his counsellors came
48 Miss ion Work among the Azande
for it was well-known the pain it caused him towalk even from the native quarters to the openspace set apart for the dispensary . As he continned to go repeatedly to the villages
,it wa s
thought best to dissuade him,but he replied
,
Bwana,I would walk the paths to tell God ’s
words as long as He gives me strength this hesaid after returning from a fifteen mile t ripHe was then put on for training with the two
evangelists,and went out with them long distances .
It seemed the more he walked,the better he could
walk . It was not long before his sore was nearlyhealed . Now
,he averages seven or eight miles
every other day as he bears witness faithfully andfearlessly to the Gospel message . The other boyson the station like to laugh at Pen ipeni , who isquiet in the land
,but he knows wherein is his
peace .
a: a:
A .I .M . Bafuka ,Congo Belge .
zud sleep of the week ,
June 22nd ,1 920 .
BWANA ! .
Sene. I write this letter for Chief Bafuka . Iam not writing this at the mission . I am writingthis letter at the foot of Bafuka under his yepu(grain store) . Bafuka tells me to wri te it .
I am ,KONDO .
(The following is the old Chief’s dictation . It
can be relied upon as being j ust what he said ,leave that to him ! )
I am BAFUKA . I greet you very much . Alasa great l ove for you is working me—it surpasses .
Vignettes 49
Thus,one word : The father of cloth that is here .
it is Bwana Y . ,he works my word very well . He
gives me sugar and tea . I say to myself that youtold him to do my requests . Alas ! this is verypleasing to me . You (meaning the Bwa na s ! andY .) are fathers of cloth ,
very merciful to me .
Yes,but I want you to tell me the name of that
country to which you are going . I want you tosend me some sugar
,an axe and a razor . Send me
some medicine,it is like soap .
I greet the Madam . I salute the little childvery much .
I sinned one bad word . I now sit only on theground .
You write me and I write you . Give me a nicepresent . Baka and his three children are only here .
No word is working them ! they are therefore inpeace .
Your friend am I,-CHIEF BAFUKA .
at an:
One morning sitting on the back seat in thechurch at Dungu
, a missionary after having workedall the evening before and most of the early morning ,was congratulating himself on what a good message
natives,who were then down on the
rilling prior to the servi ce .
first few came panting up the steephe church
,the man was referred to
the accoun t of the Rich Young Ruler . It seemedas if God said
,Drop that fine sermon and read
this passage of Scripture .
” And so the preparedmessage was put aside
,not without much grace ,
and the Word of God read with but little comment .After the service Bagine
’
s wife went to oneof the lady !
mi ssionaries and told the following
50 Miss ion Work among the Az ande
story : Last year Mrs . M . asked us women inthe poco meeting to leave a ll and follow JesusChrist . As I went home after the market
,these
words worked me very much , but -I threw themdown for I wanted to be a rich woman . And soI threw down the words Mrs . M . asked us to do
,
and planted my moru fields , for I was going to makebeer and sell it to the people on the path as theycame by my village . But my gardens did not growwell ! I thought God was angry with me becauseof this . This morning I have decided to l eaveoff being a rich woman
,for I want to fo llow Jesus
Christ . ”
Old Bagine still remained at a distance from theGospel and associated himself wi th Station activi
ties only so far as was really necessary. Later hislittle boy developed a very grave condition of
hernia . An operation would save his life . Theone who could do this operation was at Aba , andwas one of those Christians too . So Bagine (Fatherof the Path) put the wee boy on his great shoulders ,grasped his long spear and started the 1 3 5 milesto Aba followed by Mrs . Bagine with the householdutensils .The operation proved to be one of those that
taxes the ability to meet emergenci es and theresourcefulness of the best surgeons anywhere .But there is a daily prayer meeting up on the rocks,and
,The Lord of Hosts is with us ! the God
of Jacob is our refuge . One month laterBagine came up and wanted some paper francschanged for centimes . His face was radiant andhis j oy contagious He was going home with hislittle boy
,who otherwise would have died in a few
years .
Vignettes 5I
We don ’ t know what Bagine thought as hereturned with the little fellow sound and well !but maybe Mrs . Bagine agrees with Noah , Abraham ,
Rahab,Joshua
,the Nobleman , Cornelius , Lydia ,
Stephena s , Zaccheu s , Onesiphorus , and the Philippian j ailor that one can claim on the ground of theWord of God the salvation of the entire household .
it
As the sun was j ust about to go down,a missionary
sat on a high rock at the foot of the great Bondupurmountain which is in the Belgian Congo
,near the
British Sudan border. A short distance downat the right lay the little , straw camp . The manwas talking to a native trying to get a word in thePazande other than the usual ripe of fruit todescribe the red sunset .Suddenly from behi nd one of the rocks near by
came the roar of a big lion . The native ran likea deer to the camp . The missionary did not runas fast , but this was not his fault . The lion viewedthe flight with approval .At the camp , to the surprise of the fleeing, two
natives , their wives and many children were calmlywaiting to sell the food which they had brought forthe porters . Moreover
,they asked to hear The
words of God again and,since the lion seemed
agreeable , Ituru interpreted to them the GospelStory .
It was a quaint meeting . The lion was very near-too near . Ifuru would punctuate the messageby turning around to make sure that everythingwas all right . The missionary stood near a treethat was conducive to a speedy ascent .
After the meeting, the porters were afraid to gofor water and had to cook their food wi thout it .
52 Miss ion Work among the Azande
About 1 1 p m . the visitor went roaring off into thehigh grass . His departure ushered in threeelephants who made a temporary play-ground ofthe back yard . All during this time the nativeswould continually say to one another
,Alas !
We are about to die Alas Imy mother !In the morning the m issionary was abashed to
hear Ifuru telling a group of people,The father of
clothes prays , and the lions and elephants run off
into the grass .
The greatest Azande chief is RENZI . Next tohim in power is BAFUKA his younger brother,sixty
!
years old . When Bafuka sends a word ofunusual importance to Renzi
,the man called to go
with the verbal message is TURUGBA. He lives inhis little village up on the Congo-Sudan Border ,two days j ourney from Bafuka , and has lived inthat neighbourhood for over three score years .This old man is one of Bafu k a ’
s dearest friends .That thi s chief chooses a man of Turugb a
”
s character as a friend and for important duties is notonly a tribute to the chief ’s ability to read m en ,
but also one of the many proofs we have had of hisrespect for and open avowal of the right . Thebirds-of—a -feather saying is not so far from the
truth after all .Not long ago one of these important messages had
to be sent to Renzi . Turugb a was the mansummoned . When the word was delivered , the oldmessenger returned and stayed many days with hisfriend and chief . During this period he vi sitedthe mission station at different times .Before returning home to his village he stepped
in to say good-bye . This time,in stead of interes ting
AFRICA IN! AND MISSION.
TH E M IS S IO N .
The Af rica In land Mi ss ion i s an in terdenom inationa l andinternationa l Mis s ion whi ch h as for twen ty-s ix years ! !b eencarrying the li fe giving mess age of th e ! ord Jes us Chris t tothe needy trib es in Central Africa ! and is extending on in tothe Upper Belgian Congo from the Eas t through the da rkSudan toward ! ake Chad . In thes e regions there are s tillnumerous un touched tribes , with m illions of heathen peoplewithout ! ight.Both m en and women whom God h as ca lled , drawn from
almos t every Section of th e Chris ti an Church , have b andedthems elves together to ca rry the Gos pel to every creaturei n these v a s t fields as God leads and enab les .
ITS BA S IS .
The Mis s ionaries of the Africa In land Mission tenacious lybelieve that th e Gospe l rs the power of God unto s a lva tionto every one that b el ieveth they glory in th e Cros s ‘
and
reverently hold to the Deity of ou r ! ord . They believe inthe integri ty of Holy Scriptures and , while obeyin g the la s tb ehes t of the Sav iour, they eagerly wait and a rdently lookfor that Bless ed H0pe , the glorious appearing of the GreatGod and our Saviour Jes us Chris t.
”
ITS M E TH O D S .
Mis s ion Stations a re located on the highwater-sheds whereverpos s ib le .
School and indus tria l work is organized on m os t Sta tions !Medi ca l work is introduced where and when medical aid can
be given .
The Mis s ion aim s a t thoroughn ess in al l its departm en ts
and s eeks to lay a solid foundation on which the nati ve Churchm ay b uild .
ITS SU FF ICIE NCY .
In humb le dependence on God the Miss ion has proved Hisfai thfulness in supplying its need .
Its workers have rejoiced in the shini ng of His face whenprayer h as b een heard and the answer given . They havegloried too in the more humb ling and testing experienceswhen the s eem in g needs have b een withheld , and when in
helplessnes s have been cas t upon their Mas ter, and on the
troub led sea have known the m usi c and sweetness of His
voice : Fear not , it is I .
As a Miss ion it h a s learned that the s ucces s ful spreadingof the mess age of redeem ing ! ove , depends upon Chris tiansboth on the Field and in the homeland wa lking with God
in harmony with the div ine plan praying, giving, and workingas God directs .
