The need of special service in these directions made her suggest to the
Foreign Mission Committee that one of the woman agents should be set
apart to take care of the children that were rescued. It was
impossible, she said, for one to do school or other work, and attend to
them as well. "If such a crowd of twins should come to her as I have to
manage, she would require to devote her whole time to them." More and
more also she was convinced of the necessity of women's work among the
women in the farming districts, and she pressed the matter upon the
Committee. She was in line with the old chief who remarked that "them
women be the best man for the Mission."
Another evil which violated her sense of justice and right, and against
which she took up arms, was the trade attitude of the Calabar people.
Although they had settled on the coast only by grace of the Ekois, they
endeavoured to monopolise all dealings with the Europeans and prevent
the inland tribes from doing business direct with the factories. Often
the up-river men would make their way down stealthily, but if caught
they were slain or mutilated, and a bitter vendetta would ensue. She
recognised that it would only be by the tribes coming to know and
respect each other, and by the adoption of unrestricted trade with the
stores that the full reward of industry could be secured. She
accordingly took up the cause of the inland tribes. When Efik was at
war with Qua, sentries were posted at all the paths to the factories,
but the people came to her by night, and she would lead them down the
track running through the Mission property. At the factory next to the
Mission beach they would deliver their palm oil or kernels, and take
back the goods for which they had bartered them. In this way she helped
to open up the country. It was not, perhaps, mission work in the
ordinary sense any more than much of Dr. Livingstone's work was
missionary work, but it was an effort to break down the conditions that
perpetuated wrong and dispeace, and to introduce the forces of
righteousness and goodwill. In all this work she had the sympathy of
the traders, who showed her much kindness. She was a missionary after
their own heart.
VI. IN ELEPHANT COUNTRY
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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