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Missão de Chissamba
Catabola, Bié
Via Lobito
Angola.

Jan. 29, 1927

My dear Miss Jamieson-

Just at present I’m staying at the home of Mrs. McAllester of Sachikela, combining visits of pleasure and business, as so very frequently we missionaries find it necessary and also pleasant to do.  I left Chissamba on the 3rd inst. and intended returning on the 20th, but as so often happens in Africa my plans were changed.  Last Wed. afternoon the tipoia carriers arrived and as we did not have to start the journey until 11 P.M. they were told to go sleep for a few hours down in the village.  At 10:15 P.M. Mr. McAllester blew the horn to call our men, but there was no response, soon he attempted again to gather them but without success.  Then he went down below and found to his amazement and to my disappointment that the men had returned to their own village during the late afternoon.

My baggage had already gone over to Cuma station so now I had to write a hurried note to Mr. Stead and send a runner to post it so that when my friends arrived at Catabola station to meet me they would receive my word of explanation instead.  At midnight the carriers came in breathless reporting that there had been a dance in the village but they thought they could attend it for a few hours at least and then go on the trip.

I have enjoyed the change of duties very much and Mr. and Mrs. McAllester are very happy because of the arrival of their first boy on January 12th.  Dr. Stokey was the attending physician.  He returned to Dondi on the third day as his department is already greatly overworked and his assistants are not too reliable when left alone.

My next visit to help a fellow-worker will be at Galangue because Mrs. Coles is expecting a little new arrival about the end of Feb. or the beginning of March.

I still feel badly every time I think of Dr. Hall remaining at home.  This year Dr. Hollenbeck goes home and before he returns Dr. Cushman’s furlough is due and then Dr. Stokey follow close behind her so that there will be a time when we will be without medical assistance if our doctor does not come out from home soon.  We depend very much on each other between the Americans and Canadians to help out in difficulties.

While here I have received word of the death of one of the hospital patients.  He was a young lad perhaps 15 years of age who had been in the boarding school.  Soon after the opening of school upon examination Mofata proved to have T.B.  So I suggested that he be isolated at the hospital where we could give him proper treatment including nourishing food.  He was a good boy, fond of school and quite disappointed because he had to give up his studies for the time being.  He obeyed orders and was willing to do whatever was thought best which is quite different from many patients.  Now he has been called Home by his Father whom he knew well and tried to obey.

There are so many cases of this kind creeping in amongst the African people and they seem to have a very small amount of resistance against lung troubles.  Miss Jamieson, if you ever hear of any one who would like to do something a little special for the medical work, you might tell that some tins (5 gal) of crude cod-liver oil would be very acceptable indeed.  These people so seldom take preventative measures.

There is a very dear woman at the hospital now waiting for a doctor’s help.  Her case is very sad and she has suffered much and occasionally one will catch a glimpse of it in her expression, but she is a good Christian woman who tries to follow “the Words”, and keep pleasant.  Eight years ago a little son arrived in her home.  Just after that birth she suffered considerable pain and distress.  If she could only have had a surgeon’s attention at that time, a slight operation would have given relief.  She and her husband would probably have continued living happily together as he is of an affectionate disposition.  But as she was unable to have more children, he went off with other women, then he missed his home and her loving attentions and he wished to return to his wife again.  She tought at first that this wasnot right and didn’t wish him back in her home and as a result she was brought to the hospital with wounds on her face because he had beaten her.  Later she was treated for internal injuries recieved at the time of child delivery so that now the swelling, inflammation and discharge has been reduced but a major operation is still necessary.  She still suffers continuous pain.

This is only one case but, oh Miss Jamieson, there are thousands of others like it.  A doctor at Chissamba is so necessary.  We should start some system of education along the lines of hygienic living and the prevention of disease but it is impossible if there is only one missionary in the medical department to do this.  We need more money for medicines than has been received in the past.  I’m so thankful for the word that Mr. Steed brings that more will be forthcoming.  Every day I pray that our doctor may soon arrive.  I trust that the Board will be led and shown the correct thing to do in connection with Dr. Hall.

If a new doctor has been found don’t raise his expectations too high because he will find many difficulties.  Dr. Hall had been living in a house that wasn’t fit for anyone to live in.  He had to build the hospital and didn’t wish to erect a new house.  It is seldom that a doctor has training for building and then if he is going to do industrial work his hands soon become unfit for surgical work.  I am very thankful that there is such a convenient place in which to do the medical work but I do hope that after the Board has gone to all the work and expense of finding and sending to Angola another doctor that the results won’t be that he also is disappointed.

We are so glad to have Mr. Steed with us again.  He is full of enthusiasm and from all appearances is doing very well indeed.  Judging from the reports of his first term, he has certainly right about faced and is now making good.  What a loss to the work if he had not been returned!

Now again my time is gone and I must be attending to various duties.  My prayers are daily with the dear friends at home who are so keenly interested in our Father’s work and who are continually facing difficulties and tremendous questions in behalf of the workers on the Field.

With love,

Yours very sincerely.
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1927-01-29: ​​​audio---images---comment---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
This is either a draft, or else a carbon copy.  I've included it in: My basic cut-off point for the Tour should be when Fred and Sibyl started corresponding but this letter come from the time before Sibyl become close to Fred.

Since, however, Fred gets mentioned in this letter, I'm also including it in:​
2.
Just at present I’m staying at the home of Mrs. McAllester of Sachikela
See the Non-family Mission Folks page for any of the mission folks mentioned in this letter.  Not that I necessarily have much information about them.

​3.
Last Wed. afternoon the tipoia carriers arrived
Tipoia is a Portuguese word for a sling.

​4.
I still feel badly every time I think of Dr. Hall remaining at home.
Dr. Hall was the doctor at Chissamba when Sibyl first arrived in Angola.  He is listed in the Non-family page for mission folks on this website.

5.
Soon after the opening of school upon examination Mofata proved to have T.B.
This suggests to me that it was in Angola that Fred's first wife Mabel contracted her tuberculosis, and that always seems like the most likely place, but I don't know.

6.
There is a very dear woman at the hospital now waiting for a doctor’s help.
I wonder if this is the woman that Dr. Cushman talked about here:
7.
We are so glad to have Mr. Steed with us again.  He is full of enthusiasm and from all appearances is doing very well indeed.  Judging from the reports of his first term, he has certainly right about faced and is now making good.  What a loss to the work if he had not been returned!
Sibyl was quite familiar with field missionaries having difficulties with the mission board before she had to think about Fred's difficulties with the mission board.
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