LIFE IN ABYSSINIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22392, 13 April 1936, Page 11

LIFE IN ABYSSINIA

MISSIONARY RETURNS OUTSIDE THE WAR ZONE HAPPY PRIMITIVE NATIVES After six years in Abyssinia -with the Sudan Interior Mission Mr. A. G. Roke, of Matakana, and a former student at the Bible Training Institute, Auckland, returned by the Monowai yesterday on furlough. He is accompanied by Mrs. Roke, who is also a New Zealander, and their three-year-old son. Mr. and Mrs. Roke were married in Abyssinia and their son was born there.

In speaking of his experiences Mr. Roke declined to discuss any controversial subject which might lead to the disapproval of either the Abyssinian or the Italian authorities, but he painted an attractive picture of the simple rural life of the people in the Sidamo Province, of south-western Abyssinia, toward the Kenya border. His station, he said, was at Yerga Alam, the principal town of the province. Two other New' Zealand members of the mission, Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Mitchell, the former an Aucklander, were at Darassa, about 20 miles away. A Likeable People

When Mr. Roke left Sidamo was not within the war area, as the Bale Province separated it from Ogaden, to the eastward Some of the natives, however, had gone into the fighting service of the Emperor and all were liable to be called upon by their chiefs to take part in the war. They were a likeable people, of Hamitic, not negroid, stock, and speaking a language related to Berber and ancient Egyptian. Their agricultural methods were of the most primitive kind, for they cultivated maize, barley and other grains without even the Biblical plough and oxen. Some of "them used hoes and others only pointed sticks. "I would say that they would be capable of quite a high civilisation," Mr. Roke remarked. "In fact, the present Abyssinian Government is taking steps which will lead to great reforms if it is unmolested and given time." He added that slavery did not exist among them. None could read or write, except those who had been taught by the missionaries.

Altitude and Health The two stations of the Sifdan Interior Mission in the province were at altitudes of 5800 ft. and 7500 ft. respectively. The climate for Europeans was generally healthy, although there was a possibility of contracting malaria and relapsing fever. In all his stay he had not had a fortnight's illness, and in the 5000 ft. zone he had been able to work all day with ease. Missionaries, of whom there were normally 10 in the province, retained their health and the' number invalided home was not great. Geographically and geologically the Sidamo province was an interesting part of the globe's surface. It was really on the eastern slopes of the Rift Valley of Africa, a geological faulc running right down to the Zambesi and Lake Nvassa, with the northern extremity in the Jordan Valley. Lake A bay a, known to the British as Lake Margaretta, was not far away, and the little-known Lake Rudolph lay to the south. This part of Abyssinia was gradually becoming better known, as newspaper correspondents and writers made their way through it to Moyalli, the frontier post in Kenya. Mission Bed Oross Work Speaking of Red Cross work, Mr. Roke said that the Sudan Interior Mission maintained one Red Cross unit, which was operating in the south. It had an all-British staff, and the International Red Cross continually notified the Italian military authorities of its position. Red Cross work was a very difficult proposition. The Abyssinians greatly appreciated the work that the Red Cross units were doing, but they had not been trained to give that co-operation which was necessary to make the units' work effective.