SUDAN UNITED MISSION

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 104, 30 October 1933, Page 14

SUDAN UNITED MISSION

COMING-OF-AGE CELEBRATION

A successful gathering of friends of the Sudan United Mission was held in flic Vivian Street Baptist Schoolroom on Thursday evening to celebrate t.he coming of ;ige of the .Australian and New Zealand branch of the mission. The opportunity was taken to welcome Mr. :tud Mrs. \V. J. Keelty, of Chvaka, who have been obliged to relinquish work in the Sudan for a time owing to the illness of Mrs. Keelty.

The chairman (Mr. J. AY. Black) made reference to the sympathetic} attitude of the Sudan Government to tho mission. They not only approved-of and appreciated it, but relied upon its civilising [and educative influence as an essential [aid in tho task of administration, and they had been able, shortly after tho advent of the missionaries to the Nuba Mountain' district, to dispense with an armed force that-formerly had been, maintained there. The Government had made repeated requests for an extension of the activities of the mission in the interests of the youth of the country.

Mr. Keelty gave an interesting account of- the work on the field, stressing tho importance of its educational side. He spoke in high terms of the assistance tha.t is already being rendered in the evangelisation of the people by mauy of tho young men who have come under the influence of the mission. Mr. Keelty also narrated something of the experiences of his wife and himself after she. had been stricken with illness at Heiban. In responso to an appeal sent out by a runner (who travelled fifty miles in twelve hours), a doctor was sent to tho station, by aeroplane—a typical instance of the courtesy of the'Government —and Mrs. JKeelty'was speedily removed by air to hospital at El Obeid. Determined -to'] join his wife there at the earliest possible moment, "Mr. Keelty set off on a trek of a hundred miles to the railway station at Rahad, taking with him his infant daughter. Including the final stretch by rail, the journey was one ordinarily occupying a fulj week, but by dint of fast travelling, aided by favourable weather conditions, it was accomplished in four and a half days. Mr. H. W. Milner, Dominion secretary, traced the history of the mission back to the work of exploration carried out1 by the late Dr. Karl Kumin, the first white man to cross Africa from the Niger to the Nile. One great authority had said that every new mission ' station meant a 1 new market. Another claimed that every, missionary was worth £10,000 to the Empire, and this was certainly borne out by the tremendous progress made since "the British Government resumed control and the missions had. been working. Ninety per cent, of the education of the children was'in the hands of the missions, ■ and this promised great things for the future. Towards the great objective of flinging across Africa a line of stations, the. Sudan United Mission had covered 1050 miles from the western side and 250 from the east, where the New Zealanders were working. There still-remained a gap of 700 miles occupied by millions of pagan people. Mr. Milner said that a special appeal for sixty £5 donations, on which a subsidy of £300 had been promised.by an anonymous friend, had resulted in five week's in 53 such amounts being received. _____________