British Central Africa
By Mabel Branch
CHOLO.—Our two school buildings are made of grass and bamboo poles, with grass roofs. The larger one will accommodate about one hundred persons, sitting close together. For school purposes it seats about sixty. This building is used as a church in pleasant weather, and also as a school for English pupils. Both buildings have dirt floors, which are infested with matakenya. The matakenya are small, shiny, black insects somewhat resembling the American flea. This insect burrows its way through the shoe and into the foot, where it deposits its eggs. If the insect and its eggs are not removed intact in a short time, the foot becomes infected. Sometimes the natives come to us with the toes and fingers both infected. Occasionally snakes come out of the grass roof to view the classes in the schoolroom. Whenever one appears, the schoolboys drop books and slates, and lessons are suspended until it is killed. There is an opening about three feet wide all around the large schoolroom, through which the wind sweeps from all directions on windy and rainy days. There are no doors, and if we cover the openings with mats, no one is able to see, as there are no windows. The smaller school building is used18for teaching the Manganja scholars, of which we have had two large afternoon classes. Many of the working people attend the afternoon sessions when their day's work is finished, most of them learning their own language. The mission house is forty feet long by twenty-six and one-half feet broad, with a veranda eight feet wide around three sides of the house. Each end of the back veranda has been enclosed, and is called a room. One is used as a store-room. It is eight and one-half feet long by six feet broad. The other enclosure is used as a kitchen and pantry. It is thirteen by seven and one-half feet. A space of eighteen feet is left between the two enclosures for a back veranda. There are five rooms in the house. A dining room, twenty-one feet long and ten feet wide, containing no windows, passes through the center of the house, with two rooms on each side of it. This hall is used as a dining room, as a sitting room, as a bedroom when strangers need lodging, and in bad weather as a church; in fact, it is the court for general purposes. The front door of the dining hall is half glass, and on dark, cold days when the door must be shut, this is all the light we receive. The other four rooms are each twelve by ten feet. The house is covered with corrugated iron, but this has been covered with thick grass, to keep out the sun's intense heat. There is a great work to be done here. We have a very meager supply of books, slates, and pencils. We are all interested in our work, and trust that the seed sown will fall upon good ground, and bring forth much fruit for the Master.