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1926-07-29: ​tour stops---images---audio---~TRANSCRIPT~---notes---links---site navigation
Missão de Chissamba
Catabola
Bihé,
ANGOLA.
July 29, 1926

Miss Effie A. Jamieson
628, Confederation Life Building,
TORONTO2.

Dear Miss Jamieson,

I have not written to you for some time but as I have now been here a year I feel at liberty to give you some views and impressions of the work as I have seen it.

Miss Read is certainly a very enthusiastic worker and has thrown herself heart and sould into the present difficult situation at Chissamba.  At present we three missionaries realising the need of cooperation, have had many frank discussions regarding our future program and are working peaceably together.  One good quality about Mr. Lloyd is that he does not take any suggestions or corrections in a personal way.

I do not believe I have ever given you an exact description of our native Village on the station just below the ladies' house.  The grass is terribly overgrown, there are 50 houses and each family throws their corn cobs, ashes and refuse just outside their doors.  There are a number of large holes made by removing the earth for bricks, these hold water and are very bad from the sanitary point of view.  All the people still go to the "woods" instead of having sanitary outhouses.  I may say there are two of these houses for the boarding schools which have been only successfully used during the time of Mr. Lloyd and Miss Campbell.  Mr. Lloyd has been successful at last in getting the people to shut up their pigs, which was a great task.

The church also which belongs to the people themselves is quite a burden as it is so difficult to get them to realise sufficiently the necessity of cleanliness in their surroundings.  All these little things are very trying and it is so distracting to go Sunday after Sunday and see cobwebs and tell the Elders or Pastor week after week his responsibilities and have nothing done.

We acknowledge that there is something radically wrong with the management, but no other station has the vexatious problems of a native village on their premises and we have been trying to lessen the number of families living here, so that the missionaries will have fewer small useless details to worry about, thereby being able to give more time to intensive training of reliable leaders.

For some time passed I have noticed a restless spirit amongst the Dondi boys.  After careful thought, it seems to me this is due to the lack of training which would develop them physically, morally and spiritually.  Miss Jamieson I am grieved to tell you but it is really sad to see the superficial life which these young lads live.  They have not yet grasped after all these years the true essentials of a full christian, civilised life.  Just to give an example of what I mean by a superficial grasp of the situation, they have the idea that all that is necessary is to buy second hand clothing from the trader, for instance they have no right sense of proportion and frequently buy shoes when they need an extra shirt or will sit on the earthen floor in the kitchen to eat their food with their fingers, or the husband may sit in the living room, while his wife who is often a Dondi graduate will be sitting in the kitchen on the floor amongst her pots, eating her food.  This may just give you a small idea of the inconsistencies which now exist in the lives of the younger generation who have come in contact with the mission.

Much good work has been accomplished in the past by our faithful, devoted predecessors and they prepared the new soil and planted the seed, now we have arrived at another difficult stage which requires wise, careful training and guidance on the part of the missionaries.

The Dondi boys of today are asking that they be taught practical trades like the boys learn at Kamundongo.  What can we do?  Is'nt there something wrong with the program at Dondi?  I think that Dondi should provide a normal course which could train teachers both for the week day and sunday schools, this course would include the Portugese language.  Besides this, there should be a program which would have classes giving a thorough training in all trades manual and agricultural work.  It should be possible to have short courses in all these subjects for other christian men who desire to make themselves proficient in any one or more of the subjects.

If a boy wishes to learn a trade in preparation for his life's work, why is it essential for him to study for the 1 Grau exam, which necessitates putting his most important requirement to the background owing to the length of time taken for the Portugese study.

It seems to me it would be wiser to follow more closely the original program prepared for this Institute.  What I mean is that when a boy completes his course in any trade he should be capable of accepting the responsibility of a trained worker and be qualified to teach his particular trade.  I am under the impression that Dondi was never intended to be a station like the others but a Central finishing school to which students from other stations could go for more intensive training, if this is so, why are outstations attached to it?

In the report of the Foreign Missions Convention at Washington in 1925, page 371, para. B Dondi (Dunda in Angola) is cited as a typical example of a Central Training School.  From what I have seen it seems very unfortunate that wrong impressions are given to the folks at home of the work being done at Dondi, at present the training given at Dondi is not intensive enough to make it a finishing school as it is intended.

Really Miss Jamieson when I was at home I heard such good reports of Chissamba and now as a stranger goes through our station, he could not tell from its appearance whether it is Christian or heathen, one would expect that there would be a marked difference.

Miss Read and I are realising now that these Chissamba people have relied too much on the missionaries for all necessities.  We feel that the time has now passed for treating these people like our small children and showering them with gifts.  This system does not develop strong characters and they have become spoilt.  Consequently, because we are trying gradually to change some things, they show very little appreciation for what they received in the past.  Although some of the young lads do ask to be taught trades, they do not yet understand the changes that we are making.  We much teach them to be independent and to fit themselves for the larger fuller life which now lies before them.

We certainly need a strong man at the head of things who is going to supervise everything very carefully.  The religious life of the people is certainly the reason why we are here, but they need to learn a practical religion which they can live out day by day.

I find from what I have seen that the people need more of the very simple teachings about things which we have always taken for granted.

It seems to me that the way to lift them up, is to change the home life, stressing sanitation, cleanliness and the true value of womanhood.  Here is a fine opportunity for the married missionaries to set a good example of what a true christian home life should consist, thus proving an invaluable object lesson at this important stage of the African's development.

There are many little problems which are difficult to write about, being unable to convey through the medium of a letter the correct impression but I have written to you like this so that you might have a glimpse into the inner circle.  No doubt you are anxiously looking for new candidates and I hope that these small details will assist you when choosing the type of person necessary for our work out here.

All missionaries should have the art of getting on well with their fellow workers.  By this I do not mean that one should keep quiet and let the other have his own way but that all should cooperate and put aside all personal feelings, treating our problems in a very impersonal way.  As far as I have observed the missionary looks upon work more or less with the attitude that all begins and ends with himself.

It is difficult for a new missionary to step in and carry out the previous routine as no systematic program has been arranged or general policy making the station a unit, this lack of a continuous program consequently does not allow of any consistency in our work and the pupils suffer thereby.  It seems to me that after forty years the time for experiments should be over, with this continual change there is no "School Spirit" which is so essential.  Some may oppose the idea of any settled progam and say that there would be no allowance for new ideas, but I should think that if some fundamental principles could be drawn up to be followed by all missionaries, there would still be room through the means of lectures or a series of short talks to teach any new ideas to the pupils.

With kindest regards,
​Yours sincerely, 
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1926-07-29: ​​​tour stops---images---audio---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
This letter is very interesting for what it is: Sibyl talking about the problems with the mission in Angola rather than writing about the joys in the hopes of encouraging people at home to donate.  It can, however, be difficult to understand.  Sibyl assumes quite a bit of basic knowledge about the situation on Miss Jamieson's part.  I don't have that basic knowledge, and I am not persuaded that Miss Jamieson had it either.

Also the letter seems sort of higgledy-piggledy - not a coherent 1-2-3 argument - but perhaps Miss Jamieson would have felt threatened by a 1-2-3 argument.

One thing that Sibyl doesn't mention is that there is still no replacement for Dr. Hall, so that she's still the only medical missionary at Chissamba.  This letter was about other issues.

2.
​At present we three missionaries realising the need of cooperation, have had many frank discussions regarding our future program and are working peaceably together.
There were more than three missionaries at Chissamba.  Sibyl and Miss Read must be two of the three she was talking about.  I think Mr. Lloyd must be the third, but I can't say for sure.

Miss Read and Mr. Lloyd are in the Non-family page for mission folks on this website.

3.
For some time passed I have noticed a restless spirit amongst the Dondi boys.
Wh​o are the Dondi boys?  Dondi was not a neighboring town; it was dozens (I'm not sure exactly how many) miles from Chissamba.  So were the Dondi boys graduates of the school at Dondi?  And were they boys or men?

4.
They have not yet grasped after all these years the true essentials of a full christian, civilised life.
I have to wonder if they have been given a clear idea of the benefits of a full Christian, civilized life.

5.
​Is'nt there something wrong with the program at Dondi?
I wish Sibyl would tell us exactly what the program at Dondi is.  And I'm betting that Miss Jamieson doesn't really know either.

6.
If a boy wishes to learn a trade in preparation for his life's work, why is it essential for him to study for the 1 Grau exam, which necessitates putting his most important requirement to the background owing to the length of time taken for the Portugese study.
I think 1 Grau means 1st Grade in Portuguese - not our first grade, I figure, but top grade maybe.

7.
It seems to me that the way to lift them up, is to change the home life, stressing sanitation, cleanliness and the true value of womanhood.
The mention of the true value womanhood sounds problematical, but maybe it means "Don't rape."  I don't know.
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