Appeal for Dornakal

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 30, Issue 6, 1 August 1939, Page 9

Appeal for Dornakal

Valiant Work By New Zealand Missionary (To the Editor). Dear- Sir, •* The Board of Missions has given me permission to make an appeal for the building fund of the Dornakal Diocesan High School, Bezwada, South India; I have withheld the appeal while parishes were busy raising their missionary quotas; but now ask you to give "something extra" for Bezwada. Bezwada is m the centre of the Dornakal Diocese where the Church is growing at the rate of about 10,000 converts a year! There are at present about 230,000 baptised Christians. ' It is not sufficient merely to baptise these people. They must be taught until they attain "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." The greater proportion of these converts come from the outcastes — the lowest level of the Hindu social order. The task of teaching them is tremendous. Women missionaries go from village to village bringing m groups of village women, giving them a fortnight's intensive teaching. That it is a good thing to boil water m cholera time, that malaria comes, riot from evil spirits, but from mosquitos. They are taught about the Bible, prayer, new Christian lyrics and then sent back to their villages to teach the village women what they have learned. This work is very valuable, but just scratches the surface of the problem. It is only through schools that any lasting work can be done. If we bring Christian girls into school and teach them for several years the essential of the Christian faith, the Bible, health and hygiene, etc., etc, they are then qualified to teach the women of their- villages something which will lift them from the appal-

ling slough of fear arid ignorance iri which they live. '.'■ Miss Margaret Young was sent from New Zealand by the Board of Missions m 1929 to start ,a High School m Bezwada— the one High School for all the girls m the diocese from areas m which the .C.M.S., S.P.G., and other missions : ; work. Miss Young was given no> buildings, ho funds, but has worked valiantly. She found some discarded buildings of a boys' high school; Tdtie girls sleep on the floor of the dormitories like rows of sardines. There are at present 83 boarders. .If.the school is to expand it must have larger buildings. The total building scheme is about £8000. The Bishop of Dornakal. asks that New Zealand pays to wards, this. £800 sterling, that is £1000. The Board of Missions thinks this work, is so important that I have been Authorised to make this special appeal. I leave for India at the. ( end of September. What news shall, I have to take to Miss Young of , the support New Zealand is giving her,?:.. So far I have been given £13 13s 4d. Can you help? „., .. Subscriptions, can be sent direct to me at 93 Hurstmere Road, Takapuna, Auckland, N2. or to the Board of Missions, Room 325, D.I.C. . Buildings, Wellington. ELVA M. REYNOLDS. [Miss Reynolds has a special connection with this Diocese as she was at one time on the staff of Hukarere School.— Ed.] ■.'■••■.■■ M; :