p. 14 | The Somabula Mission by George A. Irwin

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 4, 1907

The Somabula Mission

By George A. Irwin

G. A. IRWIN

IN the month of August, 1902, Brother and Sister Armitage arrived on the ground and began work to open up what is now known as the Somabula Mission. The first buildings erected were at a point about eight miles from the present location. After remaining there for a time, and becoming better acquainted with the country, it was deemed advisable to move to their present location, where new huts, a dwelling-house, a schoolhouse, and other necessary buildings have been erected.

When Brother Armitage left the Solusi Mission, his whole outfit consisted of ten young oxen, and an old wagon that had been cast aside as worthless. Being a wagon maker, he fixed up this old wagon so that it carried himself and family, with their few household goods and scanty store of provisions, in safety a distance of over one hundred and fifty miles. Eight natives accompanied him on the journey, most of whom were mere children.

With practically nothing to begin with, it is not strange that they had a hard experience for a time to make a living, and at the same time go on with their buildings, simple and comparatively inexpensive though they were. To add to their perplexities, their oxen died with a cattle disease which went through the country. In order to go on with his work, Brother Armitage paid out £180 of his own money for two mules, but it was not long until these sickened and died, and they were again left without stock of any kind.

Their extremity, however, proved the Lord's opportunity to help, and he did it in a peculiar manner. A number of transporters were trekking through the country at a considerable distance from his place, and one night after they had outspanned and camped for the night, a couple of roving lions stampeded their oxen, and chased them all night and part of the next day, leaving them just before they got to Brother Armitage's place. Seeing they were lost and frightened, he shut them up in his kraal. The next day the owners came in search of their oxen, having tracked them within a few miles of the place. They were delighted to find their oxen all safe. Brother Armitage tried to buy one or two yoke from them; they said they were under a large contract for the delivery of goods, and could not spare a single ox, but that as soon as they got home, they would send him ten or fifteen cows, and he could have the use of them until he could make more satisfactory arrangements.

The next time the Lord used a mad dog to send money to the mission. The scare created by this one dog caused the issuing of a very imperative order that all dogs not muzzled inside of three days would be killed by the police. The order coming so suddenly, the few muzzles on hand in the town were at once taken by the residents, and the poor natives were left with seemingly certain death for their dogs. Knowing that Brother Armitage was something of a blacksmith, the chiefs came to him and besought him to make muzzles for them, offering him two shillings sixpence apiece for each muzzle, the same price they sold for in the stores. They brought him one for a pattern, and he went to work, and worked day and night until the demand was supplied. When he came to reckon up, he found the Lord had helped the struggling mission with nearly £30, while at the same time doing the natives a great favor in making it possible for them to save their dogs, which they prize very highly.

I speak of these incidents to show that those who engage in mission work for the natives in Africa must be persons who will not fail nor faint at difficulties, but industrious, practical people, who can and will turn to account every opportunity to advance the work.

The Somabula Mission derives its name from a forest not far distant bearing this name. Gwelo, the nearest point on the Beira and Mashonaland Railway, and the place where they sell the principal part of their produce and purchase their supplies, is twenty-one miles away. It requires three full days to make the return trip with their team composed of sixteen donkeys. The Shamrock Gold Mine, which furnishes a market for most of the butter and eggs produced at the mission, is only seven miles away.

The Somabula Mission has no land of its own, but Brother Armitage leases from the government at two shillings an acre per annum all the land he wishes to cultivate. He has at present one hundred acres under cultivation — forty-five acres in mealies, and the remainder in Kafir corn, sweet potatoes, and such other vegetables as are common to the country. They have eighty banana plants, sixty-five grape-vines, six peach-trees, two orange-trees, and five fig-trees. The mission buildings consist of a double dwelling-house, each part being sixteen by forty feet, and divided into three rooms. The two houses stand nine feet apart the long way, and are connected by a covered house, and joined to it by a covered passage. Another building is twenty-four by forty feet, which is used as a dining-room, schoolroom, and meeting place on the Sabbath. The other buildings consist of a storeroom sixteen by twenty-four feet, a wagon shed of the same dimensions, a creamery ten by ten feet, a cook house twelve by twelve feet, and eight square huts twelve by twelve feet and six feet high, for the use of the students. All these buildings are made of poles, and are plastered with mortar made from earth obtained from ant-hills, and are roofed with long grass. Aided by the steep pitch given the roof, these grass houses afford good protection from the rain, and the roofs, if kept free from white ants, will last from two to four years. There are at present twenty-five boys and fourteen girls at the home, and they have an average outside attendance of ten, making a school of about fifty in number.

In the shape of property, the mission has a new wagon furnished by the conference, and a double breaking plow, seventeen donkeys, and fifty cattle.

During the greater portion of the time since the establishment of this mission Brother and Sister Armitage have been the only teachers. Of those who have assisted them at intervals, Mrs. W. S. Hyatt was the first. She remained about six months. During Brother Armitage's absence at the Cape to recuperate from fever and malaria, Brother Albert White and wife spent nearly one year at the mission. A few months prior to the convening of the late union conference at Cape Town, Brother Walston and Sister Edie were sent to the mission to have charge during the absence of Brother and Sister Armitage at the conference. Sister Armitage being unable to return on account of the health of her little girl, and expecting that Brother Walston would soon return to the Cape, it was recommended that Brother and Sister Rogers spend a few weeks at this mission, assisting in the teaching, while waiting for the fever season to pass so they could go on to Nyassaland. Brother and Sister Rogers were there during my stay at the mission, and were taking entire charge of the school, thus relieving Brother Armitage to superintend the gathering of the crops and breaking up of fresh land for use next season. The one great need of this mission, as well as all the others I have visited, is a man and his wife to take charge of the school work, and be in training in a general way to stand at the head of the work while the superintendent is away looking up new openings for missions or making plans for the boys to begin work. Just before leaving the mission, some of the older boys came to me and made a pathetic appeal that I would send them more help, so that some one could go with them, and assist them in starting work among their own people.

On Thursday morning, March 28, Brother Armitage and I left the mission for Gwelo, with what they call the “Somabula Express,” which in this instance consisted of the old wagon formerly referred to, drawn by twelve oxen. Brother and Sister Rogers and Sister Edie accompanied us for about a mile, when the team was stopped, and Brother Rogers took a snap-shot of the whole

company before they got down from the wagon to say good-by. About eight miles from this place we met the boys with the donkey team and new wagon, returning from Gwelo, where they had gone two days before to take Elder Hyatt to the train. The driver of the donkey team was lying under the wagon sick with the fever; so we changed teams and drivers, letting the sick man and his boys return to the mission with the ox team, while we proceeded on our way with the new team composed of sixteen donkeys. The donkey is, no doubt, a valuable animal in hot countries like Africa, but when it comes to a matter of speed, he is certainly a failure. By a constant use of the whip, and being encouraged or frightened by very frequent yells from the drivers, they make about two miles an hour while going; but it is necessary to stop frequently and outspan to let them feed. The road being good, and the night beautiful and light from a full moon, we came in sight of Gwelo about ten o'clock. At this point the drivers turned aside a little distance from the main road, stopped the team, and tied the leaders to a tree, and put up for the night, Brother Armitage and I sleeping in the wagon on a bed made and carried for that purpose, while the boys slept beside the wagon on a piece of canvas.

This has been a common and almost weekly occurrence with those having charge of our missions. Fortunately for me, the instance here recorded was very favorable because of the nice weather, but our missionaries have felt themselves compelled to go, rain or shine, good or bad roads, and many times they have been drenched to the skin, and compelled to sleep in their wet clothing.

The query may arise in some minds. Why go so far back from the railway, and why not keep horses or mules so they can make quicker trips? I answer, first, in establishing missions for native people, we must go where the natives are. As civilization advances, and railroads are built through the country, the natives move farther back, and hence the missionary must go back. As to the use of horses and mules, it has been thoroughly demonstrated that horses can not stand hard work in such a climate, and mules, until they are “salted” as they call acclimatization, are no better; and in the process of acclimatization, only one out of five lives. This makes both horses and mules unreliable, and very expensive. While donkeys are slow, they are immune to the diseases that destroy other domestic animals.