South and South Central Africa: A record of fifteen years' missionary labors among primitive peoplesDavidson, Hannah Frances
History
South and South Central Africa: A record of fifteen years' missionary labors among primitive peoples
Davidson, Hannah Frances
Brethren in Christ Church -- Missions; Missions -- Rhodesia; Ndebele (African people); Tsonga (African people)
After Brother Taylor's return the preparation for building went forward
with accelerated speed. This dry season of 1911 was an unusually busy
one at Macha. A church was greatly needed, for the one which David had
erected four years previously, and which appeared to be so well-built,
was rapidly showing signs of decay. It was still standing, but the ants
had riddled the roof to such an extent that some of the timbers were
falling, piece by piece, sometimes to the danger and great annoyance of
those within. On this account we decided that it was best to vacate it
even before the new one was finished. The boys' huts also were decaying,
and we found it difficult to house the large number of boys staying at
the mission. These thatched roofs are very heavy, and if some part of
the wall becomes weak the huts may become dangerous to life.
One evening the boys of one of the huts came to say that the roof of
their hut was breaking. We told them to take their blankets and clothing
and go into another hut. They did so, and in the morning their own
building was found leveled to the ground. As we viewed the sudden ruin
we breathed a prayer of thanksgiving that no one was hurt. There had
been about fifteen boys sleeping in that hut, and had they been inside
some would have been killed or seriously injured. This enabled us to
realize how dangerous huts were when partly eaten, and the need of
better buildings.
On account of building it was fortunate that there was such a large
number of boys staying at the mission, and that the majority were large
enough to be of service, so that there was no need of employing outside
labor. Brother Taylor was excellent in training boys along industrial
lines, a quality which is especially useful and helpful on the mission
field, both in the interests of the work and of the natives themselves.
Some people are glad to use native helpers when they are trained ready
to order, but they soon become discouraged when time and patience are
required.
The native learns by doing, and often learns by his many mistakes.
Again, he may be careless and consider accuracy unnecessary. He is
nature's child, and everything he does for himself is in curves. His hut
is round, his baskets are round, his paths are meandering, like the
stream, for he, like it, goes in the path of least resistance. Straight
lines and right angles are unintelligible to him, and he does not
readily grasp such things, nor does he easily learn to make them.
Patience, which is always a virtue, is, in industrial work among the
natives, an absolute necessity. One who will not take time and teach
them will accomplish nothing praiseworthy in this respect.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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