Family enjoyed life in Zaire

Press, 8 April 1978, Page 19

Family enjoyed life in Zaire

New Zealanders hear only the bad news about African countries like Zaire. However, a missionary family found Zaire a pleasant place to live. Mr H. Schoemaker and his wife and their six children spent five years in Zaire.

Mr Schoemaker was recently in Christchurch as part of a six-week New Zealand tour on behalf of the Africa Inland Mission. “The days of a missionary with a tropical helmet standing under a tree preaching the Gospel to unclad natives are over,” he said. Mr Schoemaker worked as a medical technologist at the Evangelical Medical Centre in north-east Zaire from 1971 to 1976.

‘‘Through medicine, you get to the heart of people,” he said. “The Africa Inland Mission’s basic aim is to convert people to Christianity, and it tries to achieve this through working in fields like medicine and education.”

The Schoemaker family enjoyed life in Africa, with no telephone or television set. “It was great. Two of my children are seriously considering going back,” Mr Schoemaker said.

“There was a strong sense of peace and tranquility. People here only hear the bad news about Africa.”

Mr Schoemaker will speak to Church groups in

New Zealand to try to interest Christians in going to Africa. There are 700 people from countries such as the United States and Britain working for the Africa Inland Mission. “Only one New Zealand couple is in« volved at the moment, and I would be happy if just one more person would be willing to go to Africa as a result of my visit here,” Mr Schoemaker said.