Northwest Rhodesia, South Africa
By C. Robinson
Having just returned from the Mwomboshi district, where we have opened three new out-stations, I will give an account of our experiences. We supplied each out-school with one teacher, one large boy and two small boys to help him; also with nine oxen and farm implements. With this help we hope that these schools will be able to support themselves after the first season. The oxen, boys, my carriers, and mule went by road, while I followed (with three boys) some days later by train. To reach our destination we had to cross the Kafukwe River, which is a fine stream about one hundred fifty yards wide. The railway bridge is almost five hundred yards long. Crocodiles are very numerous in this river, and the oxen had to be taken across by native boatmen. A pole is placed across two boats, which are thus tied together, and an ox is tied to the pole, and with another boat following behind, they take him safely over. The mule, however, refused to enter the water, so I had the boys take him over the bridge. We opened the first out-station about thirty miles above the bridge, three miles to the east of Lusakas. Here there is a railway station and a post-office, with quite a colony of Dutch farmers. There is much good farming land, occupied and unoccupied, around here, and I put the boys on six hundred acres of good land near a strong spring of pure water. The mule and the oxen arrived in good condition. During my stay of ten days we got well started on the buildings. The natives seem to appreciate our work for them; and before I left, there were already four pupils (boarders) in the17school. I told these boys that the teachers would not have much time for school work until the buildings were finished, as the rainy season was close at hand; but they wished to stay, and will be a help in the work. Before I left this place, three of my four carriers fell sick, one with fever, one with stomach trouble, and the third with pleurisy; so I made a sleigh, and with four oxen to draw it, took my things to the next out-station, Chikuju, about eighteen miles southwest of Lusakas. This is a broad, well-watered valley, with fine soil and plenty of small timber. The rich soil is attracting many settlers, both white and black; and since I was there last year, I can see a considerable increase in the population. We were fortunate in getting two hundred acres along the banks of a good stream, and the boys should have no trouble in supporting their school here after their second season. Here we found some difficulty in buying enough food, as the traders have bought over one thousand bags of grain in this district, and the natives did not wish to sell any more; but we finally secured what we needed. We had our camp in the midst of a clump of beerbab trees, which are quite a feature of the country, and look very grotesque, having immense trunks and limbs, and short, stunted-looking branches. Cream of tartar is obtained from the seed pods of this tree. The natives here are, in many respects, a hard class of people to deal with; but we found some, and no doubt there are many more, who desire to learn of Jesus. Most of the people here recognize a Supreme Being, whom they call Leza; but when we ask them of Jesus, they say, “We do not know him. Who is Jesus?” In our Sabbath services many expressed a desire to come to school, and we hope that by energetic work on the part of the teachers, with the Lord’s blessing, a good school will be raised up here, and many souls be gathered into the ranks of God’s people.