IN our field in northwestern Rhodesia, there are many disadvantages and obstacles that have to be surmounted. For instance, it costs over ten dollars a hundred to send goods along the Zambezi River, a distance of three hundred miles. One third of this great territory is infested with the tsetse fly; and in this area, not a horse, a mule, a donkey, an ox, a cow, a sheep, a goat, or a dog can live. In all this extensive territory, we have to travel on foot; and all food, bedding, and other conveniences have to be carried on the heads of the natives. They will carry a load of sixty pounds, and travel about fifteen miles a day. In the rest of the territory, freight is forwarded by an ox wagon, which travels about twelve miles a day. This mode of transportation is expensive.
Each of the tribes has its own customs and superstitions. These vary almost as much as the languages; yet the missionary must respect them, or lose his influence.
Because of the heavy rains in the wet season, much of the country becomes a vast swamp. Malaria, black-water, dysentery, typhoid, as well as such contagious diseases as measles, chicken pox, and smallpox, are very common. The average life of a white man here is seven years. One of our missionaries has had typhoid, smallpox, appendicitis, and black-water fever in the short space of two years. We are taking every precaution, by drainage and screening, to protect the lives of our workers. Still we must expect some sickness.
Native Teachers with Our Somabula Mission—Some of the Results of Christianity in the Heart
In spite of transportation expense, the babel of tongues, conflicting customs, fever and pestilence, we must press on with the gospel message. In this field, we need workers of iron constitutions, nerves of steel, faith that never fails, confidence in the speedy triumph of God's truth, and a willingness to spend and be spent for the harvest of souls in the coming kingdom.
