On the Gold Coast, West Africa
By W. H. LEWIS
THE beginning of our work on the Gold Coast dates back as early as 1894, but owing to sickness and deaths, but little was accomplished until about 1908, when Elder D. C. Babcock visited the Coast from Sierra Leone, and established two small companies, at Axim and Kickam, the latter of which, with the help of native workers, has survived. In December, 1913, at our conference held in Freetown, my wife and I were asked to open up and take charge of the work on the Gold Coast. We had both expressed our fears about going into such an unhealthful country; but when the call had really come, and we had prayed over the matter, our fears disappeared, and we accepted the invitation. As I was to remain in Sierra Leone until some one came to take charge of the work there, and then it was thought best that I should take my family to the Canary Islands before entering the Gold Coast, it was not until near the close of 1914 that I reached the Gold Coast. In July I took my family to Teneriffe; and after spending two months with them there, on September 9 I set out alone for the Gold Coast, reaching Seccondee October 3. In accordance with Brother Conradi’s suggestion not to settle near the coast, after visiting the church at Kickam, I started for the interior, to look for a location for our permanent headquarters. After traveling eight or nine hundred miles, mostly on foot, I decided on a place about two hundred miles from the coast, and about twenty-five miles from down Kumassi, the terminus of the Gold Coast Railway. This place, Aguna, is the capital of the district, with six subtowns and several small villages under it. I felt impressed to visit one of the subtowns called Wuamasie. I did not tell the chief my business, but told him I was traveling through the country and came through his town. He at once called his headman and told him to show me the town, which he did; and then taking me just outside to a high hill, he showed me a fine spring of water gushing from the rocks, cold, and clear as crystal, and said, “I dash you all,” meaning, “I freely give you all.” As I looked at the water flowing out of the rocks in a country like this, where good water is so scarce, I thought of the experience of the children of Israel in the wilderness when the Lord caused the water to come from the rock, and I felt within my soul that truly the Lord had answered our earnest prayers that he would lead us to a favorable spot where we could establish a permanent headquarters, from which we could make tours into more unhealthful sections, and return, so that the sad experiences of former workers need not be repeated. My wife and children came here in December, and we settled in a fairly good house in Aguna, and began our work the first of January, 1915. We now have a school with fifty-five boys, and an out-school about six miles from here, with thirty-five boys, all of them being taught the “wonderful love of Jesus.” A few days ago I was not feeling well, and one of the boys came to my room to inquire about me. I said to him, “Kwesi, I am very sick.” His face brightened with a smile as he pointed upward and said in his native tongue, “Nyankupon zwo ho, na obeyew edur,” meaning, “God is in heaven, and he will make you well.” From all around urgent calls are coming for us to open work, but we do not have the workers. Truly the harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few. Who of you are willing to give yourselves and your means to place the gospel message before these darkened souls? Could you see the three million souls in heathen darkness bowing down and sacrificing (in many cases human sacrifices) to wood and stone, and then see the change that comes when they learn of the love of Jesus and the wonderful plan of salvation, surely your hearts would go out to them; and if you could not go, I am sure you would go deep down into your pockets to provide the means to send others in your stead.