British East Africa by A. A. CARSCALLEN

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 22, 1912

British East Africa

By A. A. CARSCALLEN

A. A. CARSCALLEN

It has now been some time since we sent a report to the REVIEW, and as we always like to hear of the advance of the work in the different parts of the world, we suppose it is our duty to report the progress of our work here in the heart of Africa.

It is five years since we arrived in Kavirondo, on the shores of the great Victoria Nyanza. During the past four years we have met some opposition from the local government official, and have been kept from extending our operations as we had hoped. This fact has not stopped our work, however, and we are glad to report progress.

Last year we visited the country for many miles around the mission, and became quite well acquainted with the people in most of our district. One portion especially seemed to be worthy of all the attention we could possibly give it. It is about sixty miles west of Gendia, and lies just south of the mouth of the Kavirondo

Bay.

The inhabitants of this place are really Uganda people, their forefathers having come from Uganda. They speak both the Kavirondo and the Uganda language. They have heard how the Uganda people have accepted the gospel, and they seem anxious to hear for themselves. We held several meetings with them, and as a result, we now have six of these people at the Gendia Mission, and the rest are calling for us to come and teach them. We find them good workers, and very bright at their studies. Perhaps they learn because of their anxiety to learn, and because they work harder at their studies than do some of the others, but they seem to us to be really a brighter people than the common natives in this region.

A few days ago the chief came to see me, and brought his wife along. He said he had just been to the government station to ask to be relieved of the duties of chief, so that he could come to school. I have since learned that he has been released, and I now hope to have him with us as a student. He is not an old man, but has influence with his people; and if he accepts the truth, he will be a great help to us. He has two brothers with us, and they are anxious for him to come.

This same chief has another brother at another mission north of the gulf. He came to see the two brothers at Gendia, and was surprised at what he saw and heard. He said we taught the Word of God as the others did not, and that he was going to leave the other mission and come to us. One of the brothers now at our place was at the other mission before coming to us. I hope to visit these people and have a talk with the chief in a few days, and I am almost sure of getting several boys to come to Gendia Mission with me to learn “about God.”

We are in need of school-books, and have been working on them for some time. During the year, we have prepared a primer, which is now nearly ready, and which we are anxious to get out as soon as possible. The sickness of some of our workers has delayed this work greatly. I have been alone at Gendia since May, and have so much to do in looking after the daily work that I find it almost impossible to do anything on the books. The primer is greatly needed, and we are trying to get it ready to send to Hamburg in a few weeks.

We also have a hymn-book, which we hope will not be very far behind the primer. We now have more than sixty hymns translated. We hope to add some that have been translated by the other missions, and shall try to have about seventy-five printed in a little book. We shall then need to turn our attention to getting out a reader for the more advanced boys. We have some of the material ready for such a reader, and just as soon as the primer and the hymn-book are sent to the press, we hope to begin to arrange the matter that we have, and to write more, hoping to get it ready for publication by spring. We have had the Gospel of Matthew translated for some time, and I am now rewriting it on the typewriter, and making corrections. When I go home on furlough next year, I hope to take it along and have it printed. I also have a grammar written, and am now making some additions to it, and getting it ready for the printer.

Altogether, we feel thankful for the progress we have been able to make with the language work in only five years. When we consider that the Swahili language has been studied by missionaries for over thirty years, and it is not yet considered that Swahili students have settled all the points of grammar, etc., we are encouraged by the progress we have made.

Progress in such work, however, is only a means to an end; and we are here, not to reduce the language to writing, but to teach the people the gospel, and to lead them to turn from their evil ways to serve the living God. Therefore we thank God for our progress in the language, because we know that the more perfectly we speak the language, the better able we are to teach the people. Our real progress, therefore, is counted by the number of persons we bring to the light.

(To be continued)