Nyassaland, Africa by S. M. KONIGMACHER

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 20, 1909

Nyassaland, Africa

By S. M. KONIGMACHER

PERHAPS some will be interested to hear of the work done on this, the first out-station of the Nyassaland mission which has a white teacher. There are other stations with native teachers, and we hope soon to have other stations superintended by white teachers. The work, indeed, is great in Nyassaland, and the laborers are few. This was a planter’s estate, which was procured for £40. It has two hundred sixteen acres, a large portion of which is covered with timber. Only the ground lying near the streams is good for raising food.

We are in the mountains, between five thousand and six thousand feet above sea-level, a much more healthful location than at Cholo.

The mission has a good brick dwelling-house, a brick school building, and three small brick outbuildings, one of which was changed into a home for our native teachers.

We are one hundred miles from the main station at Cholo, sixty miles from Blantyre, our base of supplies, and eight miles from the post-office. Our nearest white neighbor, a planter raising coffee, is about four miles away. There are native villagers scattered here and there through the mountains, the nearest one being about a mile distant. It is very pleasing to us to see the boys come from their villages to attend vespers, and then return again.

We have a school of about forty; and on Sabbath as many as seventy-three come to the services at the mission. We see the native as he is here. To-day an old chief came from the mountains to exchange beans for salt. We told him this was the mission of God, and he said, “Yes, to-morrow is the day of God,” meaning the Sabbath. They have all learned to know about the Sabbath. Last week some people came to sell some things, and a man coming from his village to services, called to them, saying, “This is the Sabbath of the Lord; they do not buy to-day;” and the people passed on, not stopping at the house.

It is interesting to see the people coming to church, carrying their little children on their backs, many of them having on nice, clean nsaru, or cloth. On Friday our teachers go to the mountain villages to hold services with the people, and on Sabbath afternoon to the near-by villages. Many times the total of those who hear the Word of God will be over a hundred.

There is very little medical work to do, because the villages are so far from the mission. The two great pests and trials in this country are the mosquito and the white ant. There are quite a number of wild animals here; but we are not troubled with them, except with the wild hogs and baboons, which come to eat the corn. Lions and leopards do not bother us much, as we have no cattle. Night before last a leopard was seen by our boy.

We have planted corn, peanuts, and sweet potatoes, and a small garden for ourselves. We have guavas, mangoes, bananas, pineapples, and a few lemons growing on the mission grounds. All the work must be done by hand.

We hope next year to be able to take some boys to board; but this year, on account of scarcity of food, we could take only two. One boy came from Blantyre, and another from a village about fifty miles in another direction, bringing his food with him.

We are indeed very thankful to God for his protecting care over us, and for his blessings, which are so bountifully bestowed upon all. Our earnest prayer is that God may work through us to his glory and to the speedy proclamation of his gospel, in our generation, to the many inhabitants of Nyassaland.

S. M. KONIGMACHER.