105
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
March 1931
worm. Tuberculosis takes a heavy toll, and they suffer from other ailments, introduced by white men or due to a limited and insufficient diet and to unsanitary conditions. •Consequently, medical work, education in sanitary laws, training in the care of children and personal hygiene are very important. An excellent hospital has been built in Kwato, and as soon as a spiritually and medically quali fied doctor and nurse are found, the opportunity for ser vice at Kwato, and for extension health work in the vil lages and out-stations, will be almost unlimited. Already the Christians, who have gone back into the villages to live, have set a new standard in house building and sani tation. The infant mortality among the Papuans is very high:—about fifty per cent—but mothers who have learned at Kwato how to care for their babies have been the ob jects of much curiosity as they have shown heathen moth ers the way to bathe their children and to care for their health. T h e P apuan ’ s R esponse to t h e G ospel The intelligence of Papuan Christians is remarkable as compared with their heathen neighbors. The children learn readily and haye retentive memories. Primary schools are held in fourteen stations, all except the higher training classes being taught by Papuan teachers. The lower grades are taught in the vernacular, but since every small district has its own dialect, the mission has adopted English (not Pigeon English) as the general means of communication. It was interesting and inspiring to hear these children, many from heathen homes, reciting perfectly such pas sages of Scripture as the twenty-third Psalm and the four teenth chapter of John. The truth not only finds lodg ment in their heads, but takes root in their hearts and bears fruit in their lives. The spiritual development of the Papuans is clearly seen in their knowledge of God, their sense of sin, their faith in Christ as their Saviour, and in their desire to show their love and gratitude by witnessing to others, and by bringing to them also the blessings of the gospel.
messengers and gave them courage, power, and protection. At Maivara,. a village near the head of Milne Bay* we vis ited the place where, in the early days, God intervened to save the life of Charles Abel. He had left his wife and first-born child in the mission boat while he went to try to establish a friendly contact with the villagers. He had gone only a short distance on shore when a messen ger from his wife came in haste, asking him to return, as their baby was ill. He turnéd back and did not gain an entrance to this village until some years later ; then he learned that just beyond the point where the messenger had reached him a group of hostile natives lay in wait to take his life, as others had murdered his fellow mis sionary, James Chalmers. Later, when the people learned to know Mr. Abel, they were ashamed of their attempt, and today a church, which they have built, marks the spot where his enemies lay in wait to take his life. So it is with numbers of villages at the more than twenty-five stations in the district where work has been established. Faith, love, persévérance, tact, and the power of God have overcome obstacles and have made the rep resentatives of Christ more than conquerors, turning en emies into friends. T h e G ospel A ffects H eart and H abits On our last Sunday at Kwato, we attended a com munion, service at which forty-six Papuans publicly con fessed Christ for the first time and united with the church. Twenty-four of them were the first fruits from the vil lage of one chief. In all, nearly a thousand from the villages of Milne Bay, comprising this mission district, have left the old way for the new. In sixteen centers, self-supporting churches have been established. Evangel istic work is conducted by the Papuan Christians in thir ty different villages of the district. The Papuan Christians are, as a rule, physically clean and strong. They are taught to bathe regularly and to keep their “home of the soul” •in good condition as a fit “temple for the Spirit of God.” Many villagers suf fer from yaws, a distressing disease, and from hook
Made with FlippingBook HTML5