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With the Work and Workers in Burma

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 25, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 26.

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With the Work and Workers in Burma

By J. S. James

J. S. JAMES
On January 18 I left Lucknow en route for Burma, to attend the first of a series of local meetings planned last year by Prof. H. R. Salisbury before his departure for the council in America. The local fields had been looking forward to these meetings for some time, but Professor Salisbury’s untimely death made it impossible to carry out the plans as originally made, and others had to be arranged.
At a meeting of the India Union Committee called shortly after the news of the accident had been received, it was decided to proceed with the meetings as before planned, but on different dates for each field.
After spending two days counseling with the Bengal committee and workers in Calcutta, I took steamer for Rangoon, where I arrived January 24, after a very pleasant voyage of three days. The meeting began the evening of the twenty-sixth, with all but two or three of the workers present, those remaining away being detained by urgent work.
As we were to be together but a short time and considerable business had to be transacted, our daily program was necessarily quite crowded. The forenoon was devoted to devotional services and committee work, the afternoon to committee work and a Burmese service, and in the evening a sermon was delivered.
The meeting closed January 30. That same night I started, in company with Pastor G. A. Hamilton, to visit his mission station on the Salwin River, about sixty miles north of Moulmein. After one night on the train, a steam launch took us up the river to within twelve miles of the mission station. This last distance had to be covered in a Burmese boat, poled along the bank by four men. We reached Brother Hamilton’s house the next afternoon at one o’clock. Here I received a cordial welcome from Sisters Hamilton and Gibbs, who had to remain at home because of work they could not leave.
I was greatly impressed with the way the work is opening at this station. Here is a mission growing right out of the wildest, roughest jungle on the banks of a mighty river. The station is situated at the lower edge of the Karen country, where its people, in leaving their homes to trade with the world and in returning, must pass it. The mission house, which is now under construction, has a commanding view of the Salwin River for miles north and south, and far over into the western border of Siam.
Brother and Sister Hamilton are working hard under great difficulties to reclaim from its jungle fastness the land belonging to the mission. Miss Gibbs is laying strong hold on the hearts of the people of the community by her efficient and unselfish labors in behalf of the sick and suffering. She will soon be ready to leave her improvised outdoor dispensary for a neat, well-planned little building where she can do her work under less trying conditions. She needs very much the assistance of a Karen girl to act as a helper in the dispensary, and to go with her in answering the many calls out in the jungle. A small, inexpensive building where she can care for patients who come to her from long distances would greatly add to the effectiveness of the work she has undertaken. The people all about are calling for a school. I hope the time will soon come when a company of Karen boys and girls will be under instruction for future workers.
May God greatly bless this new Karen station with a large ingathering of souls. These workers are all alone amid the wildest surroundings, but they are not lonely. They are far separated from their own civilization, yet they do not pine away. They live without many of the comforts and conveniences of modern life, yet they are happy and contented, and they love the people among whom they labor, and the people love them.
From Pastor Hamilton’s station I went north to Mandalay, where Brother and Sister R. A. Beckner are, and spent Sabbath, February 5, with them and the company of believers they have gathered in that large and important city. In the afternoon it was my privilege to baptize two Burmese and one Tamil in the Irrawaddy, Burma’s largest river. The time is not far away when we shall have a good church established in this ancient capital of “the land of the pagodas.”
From Mandalay I went to Kalaw, where a bungalow is to be built for the use of our European workers in Burma during their sojourn among the hills each year. A beautiful location has been selected here, and the building is planned. This inviting retreat in the wilds of nature, 4,000 feet above sea level, where our workers in this country can resort during the extreme hot weather, will be a great boon, and will many times repay for itself in the saving of life and strength.
Meiktila was the place of my last visit in Burma, where I spent two days with Brother and Sister D. C. Ludington. They are in charge of the Meiktila Technical School at that place, which is attended by about fifty Burmese boys, some of our faith and some coming from heathen homes. Brother and Sister Ludington are doing their utmost to bring the work of this school up to the highest standard, and their efforts are being rewarded by a growing enrolment, the love and respect of both pupils and teachers, and the confidence of the public.
Brother and Sister F. A. Wyman are in charge of the treatment-rooms in Rangoon. This institution, being a new departure in that city, and having to make a reputation in the face of considerable prejudice and opposition, has not done so well financially as was hoped, but we believe better days are in store for it in the near future.