DARKEST AFRICA

Southland Times, Issue 20146, 5 April 1927, Page 7

DARKEST AFRICA

LIFE IN THE SUDAN ITS PEOPLE AND CUSTOMS WORK OF THE MISSIONARIES Little known Sudan has for a number of years been the centre of a comprehensive missionary effort, and at the present time there are in the vicinity of eighty missionaries labouring in that field. An interview with the Rev. F. H. Wilson yesterday furnished a Times reporter with much interesting data in regard to life in that country and the general conditions ruling. The Rev. Wilson, who is accompanied by Mrs Wilson, is at present on furlough after an extended stay in the mission fields of the heart of Africa.

The Rev. Wilson commenced by stating that he and Mrs Wilson were stationed in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the Eastern part of the country, about 500 miles south of Khartum. Their parish extended over a whole province, but of this they could work only forty villages situated in various parts of the Nubar Mountains. There were no other missionaries in their province, although the Government there was anxious that fresh stations should be opened up.

The mission was inter-denominational. Representatives from all parts of the globe were engaged in missionary work. The United Sudan Mission was formed just over twenty years ago when attention was given more particularly to the western areas. There were branches from Britain. Denmark, South Africa, America and Canada. The Australian and New Zealand drafts were sent mainly to the East, this field being opened up in 1913. TEACHING THE NATIVES. Mr Wilson stated that the people as a whole were illiterate. ’The only parts in which education had played any part in the welfare of the people was in Housa, in the west, and Abyssinia in the east.

The first steps taken by the missionaries was the teaching of writing to the children and the translation of various gospels and the legends of the populace into the dialect of the district. The latter was very slow work as there was no intermediary language upon which to base the work. Once the teachers came into closer contact with their subjects the work became easier. Mr Wilson said that he and his wife had got on very well with the people of the district, and had so far translated the gospel of Mark and had had several school books printed.

In their boarding school there were 50 boys who took regular lessons. The idea of the boarding school was initiated because it was thought that the children would get on much better away from the evil influences of the villages and would also have a better chance to study. NATURE OF THE NATIVES. “The natives are very friendly to the whites,” said Mr Wilson. “At one time there was a great deal of inter-village warfare which gave the Government some trouble. Such feuds generally arose as the result of

thieving. The rightful owner of an article which had been stolen from him by a neighbouring villager was not particularly anxious to seek out the man who committed the theft. Anyone from the latter's encampment would do and from him he sought his vengeance. “However, the people are now becoming more peaceful, and such occurrences, while by no means rare, are happening with less frequency. A white man or woman can travel in any part, unarmed, without the least danger.

“We do a great deal of medical work among the natives and they are very grateful for any help we can give them. We are greatly handicapped for want of a doctor. I have had a little medical training but can in no way term myself a doctor, and for this reason we cannot treat many of those who come to use for assistance.

“The people as a whole are extremely unhealthy, because of their manner of life, and they suffer to a great extent from the various tropical diseases. We do what we can for them, and the extent of our work in this direction can be judged from the fact that we have as many as 8,000 patients a year. On some occasions we have had 120 come to us in one day. TRANSPORT. “The country is rapidly being opened up. Two years ago the first motor cars came through to our district and caused quite a stir among the people. It might be of interest to mention that these were armoured cars in charge of those who were investigating the murder of Sir Lee Stack at the time when the Egyptian officers in the Sudanese regiments were attempting to stir up the people against British rule.

"Motors, however, have become so common now that the people hardly trouble to watch them passing through. When first we went there, if we wished to travel any distance, we had to hire horses from the Arabs, but if we were making a short trip only we requisitioned donkeys. We now have a motor truck and can do in two days

what formerly took us six under the old style of travelling.

“In the dry season the roads are good. The ground is very hard and at the end of the wet season natives are employed to chip the grass and tropical growth along certain well defined areas, and thus the road is formed. These roads cannot be used in the wet season and we are practically shut in then from the outside world. There is word, however, that the Government intends to build a road which will be passable all the year round. This will be a windfall for us.” COTTON GROWING. Continuing, Mr Wilson said the Govern ment was attempting to interest the natives in the growing of cotton, as there was suf ficient rain in the wet season to make this possible and payable. The seed was distributed free to them for planting purposes and the finished article was bought from them again by the Government. The natives were very slow to take up anything new, and they had to a certain degree to be forced to do so. Mr Wilson said he was confident that after a trial, when the people received the money due to them, the industry would be firmly established in the Sudan. He had an interesting story to relate of a chief in the north who made use of the seed for the feeding of his pigs.

PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE. “The country about us is not, as many people seem to imagine, composed of desert. We are 2400 feet above sea level and the country is mountainous and very beautiful. This is all different down the Nile Valley where the land is without a rise of any description. This part was formerly overrun with bush but the trees have been cut down to provide fuel for the steamers on the Nile, with the result that the country now presents a very barren appearance. “The natives in the part where we arc stationed go in for agriculture, and every one has his herd of goats and sheep. Their implements are very primitive but a change will come in time. They do just enough work to keep themselves in food. Goats are very highly prized animals over there. It is these the man gives in exchange for his wife, the number ranging from 50 to 120. This is rather a large number for a young man to amass, and very few of them have more than one wife, although many of the chiefs have three or even four sometimes. All the natives keep pigs and pork is one of the delicacies of the land. This has proved one of the greatest barriers to Mohammedanism .in the country because as you know the Mohammedan looks upon pork as unclean. “The inhabitants lead a simple life. Their home consists of a mud hut with a grass roof. For cooking they use earthenware, pots, and gourds for dishes. They have no furniture, not even a bed.

“There are no wild animals. There used to be herds of elephants, but these have all been shot out by the natives who man-

aged to procure heavy rifles from the Arabs after the Mahdi rebellion. There still remain numbers of birds.” MR. WILSON’S PROGRAMME. Mr and Mrs Wilson leave shortly for the north. They will visit Gore and the Catling district and then continue their tour of the South and North Island, leaving Auckland for America, where they will stay for two months. They thence return to the Sudan.