The Barotseland Mission Schools by H. R. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Dec 29, 1910

The Barotseland Mission Schools

By H. R. S.

[The following is taken from a personal letter to Brother J. V. Willson, of Cape Town, South Africa, from Brother E. C. Silsbee, who is with Pastor W. H. Anderson at the Barotseland Mission. It will illustrate the value of the mission school, and the trials and difficulties endured by those who are carrying the light of the third angel’s message to “Darkest Africa.”— H. R. S.]

“I BROUGHT your letter with me, that I might the better write you of my experiences and impressions. As I write, I am sitting on the bank of a river a little way from the wagon. About fifty yards the other side of the wagon is a native kraal. Early this morning, the natives came out to the wagon with their spears, saying that a lion was heard near by the night before, and a few steps farther on I found his fresh tracks.

“Truly the Lord is good to us. After I have done all I can to save myself, I have absolutely no fear of these wild beasts; for I know there is One who can send his angels, and close the mouths of the lions to-day, as well as in Daniel’s day. . . .

“Since writing the above, I have finished taking supplies to all the rest of the out-schools, hauled one hundred fifteen bags of mealies from one of them to the railroad, and walked thirty-five miles home. I will tell you a little more of my experience while on this trip.

“The Sabbath night after writing the first part of this letter, we started on to the next out-school. After dark we were beset with lions, which seemed to want an ox for supper. Usually, lions do not attack a team (we had eighteen oxen) when on the move, so we kept going. Sometimes they would be behind us, and sometimes alongside the wagon out in the bush. It was too dark to shoot at them, and the frightened dog (a good one, too) and the boys kept things interesting. But the Lord protected us; and after two or three hours of this kind of trekking, we arrived safely at the out-school.

“The next day we were kept busy. From this school we loaded and took five thousand pounds of mealies across to another school. It was a big load, and we were stuck in the rivers no fewer than six times, and once in a sand ridge, where we stayed all night with the tiger-cats and hyenas giving us a royal serenade. One of the rivers in which we were stuck after dark, was where, some time before, a lion had chased Brother Anderson to his wagon, and carried off one of his oxen. So we built two fires to keep the lions away, and carried the mealies up the steep banks of the river till the oxen could pull the rest.

“Our supply of water ran out at this place, and we also broke our water-jug. The next stop for the day was at a salt spring, where we had nothing but warm water from a hot, salty spring to drink. But when the sun is hot here, one can drink anything that is wet and drinkable. After this for two days we nearly famished for water. At one place we were sure we would find plenty of water; but after trekking twenty or thirty miles with the joyful anticipation of having a good drink when we came to this well-known watering-place, we found it dry. O, how I wished for a good, cool drink from our filter at home!

“But now we had twenty miles farther to trek, which also must be done in the middle of the day, before we could get water. So, tired, hungry, and thirsty, and our oxen also nearly famished, we started on again. I hurried on ahead of the wagon to the next out-school to send water and fresh oxen to meet the boys I had as drivers, and I nearly fainted with the heat and a burning fever before I reached there. Finally I came to a native village, or kraal, near the school, and had a drink. O, it was so good! After seeing that relief was sent from the school to meet the wagon, I lay down to rest.

“The boys arrived that night, all well, but tired and well-nigh worn out. The next morning my fever was gone, and I felt much better. The next few days were spent hauling mealies to the railway siding. In the meantime it rained, but our grain did not get wet. Sleeping under the wagon, with the cold rain beating in and trickling down under you in your blankets is somewhat different from being at home, in a good, dry bed. But we lived through it, and shortly after this I walked between thirty and thirty-five miles home in less than nine hours.

“This is something of my experiences, but not all by any means. It would take a book to tell them all; but we glory in tribulation, knowing that it is for our good and the furtherance of the gospel. . . .

The Out-Schools of the Mission

“The plan of having these out-schools is the best one for teaching the natives the gospel that I have ever heard of, especially in this particular place.

“In some places the giving out of tracts and other literature containing the message is the best way to reach the people; but here the people have no written language, except as white people have written it. As none of our literature is translated into it as it is spoken, that plan could not be carried out here.

“The medical work is the right arm of the message in many places; but here there do not seem to be many sick, notwithstanding they have some of the most dreaded diseases; those who are sick receive little attention. So the medical work is not the leading one for this place just now.

“For centuries the natives have been steeped in the ignorance of heathenism, until they seem to have no system of worship whatever, except an uncertain, vague form of ancestor-worship. They can not grasp the message at once; but it must be drilled into them by the slow, laborious process of first teaching them their A B C’s, in their own language. Then, as they learn to read, they can be taught the gospel message.

“In this plan of industrial schools, the native converts themselves are utilized, both in making the work self-supporting and in teaching their fellow men the message. In this way the white laborers can superintend and carry on a much larger work than they could possibly hope to do unassisted. More than this, a white man can not appeal to a native

as one of his own race can, no matter how well he may know the language.

“These out-schools act as feeders to the home station, making it a complete system of expansion, or enlargement. When the boys get too far advanced for the native teachers, they come into the home station, and are trained for a time as teachers. The out-schools bring in more boys, to make more teachers, to start more out-schools, etc. Thus the work expands until it will, we hope, reach the utmost parts of Africa. And we know that when the message is preached in all the world for a witness, then the Lord will come, and take us home.”