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OT PORT Y 75: Co th uf Ps as = Re he ‘BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE, a 7. 14 THE ADVENT REVIEW AND SABBATH HERALD February 6, 1936 PUNT Tee CEST _ es x5) Lif, M, i IRCLE | : { oma THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME” BY MRS. J. F. WRIGHT During recent months I have had the privilege of visiting the “fore front of the battle,” as it were, in the mission field, and of coming in direct touch with native life as it is in the heathen kraal. When one goes out into the villages and sees the way in which these poor people live in all their heathenism, superstition, and ignorance, it looks to him like a superhuman task ever to lift them from the pit of sin and filth and degradation into which they have fallen, and bring them back into the pathway of rectitude and righteous ness. It is beyond human power to accomplish such a work; but it can be done, and is being done by the power of God working through human agencies. It is marvelous the way these darkened souls are turning toward the light of truth. Our na tive evangelists are bringing into the church thousands of new members every year. It is of vital importance to our work here in Africa at the present time to improve the home life of the native people. In “Ministry of Heal ing” we read, “The home is the foun dation, of the church.” And again, “The restoration and uplifting of humanity begin in the home.” When we stop to think of how our church membership is growing in numbers year by year, these statements from the servant of the Lord are fraught with greater significance. The home life must be strengthened to help hold the members steadfast in the message. The larger the structure, the greater the need for,a sure foundation. One way in which to lay a solid foundation is to teach the native girls and train them to become real home makers. This is one of Africa’s most urgent needs today. However, in order to make such training possible, we must have buildings in which to house the girls, and some equipment with which to teach them. We should really have a girls’ compound on every large mission station through out the division. In talking recently with one of our sisters who is struggling hard, with out capital, to maintain a girls’ school, I asked her what was the greatest need. She said that aside from more buildings, she would very much like to have some beds for the girls to sleep on, and some boxes with which to make furniture. (They were all sleeping on the bare floor, and there was not one piece of furni ture in the building.) Then she added, “Their hoes are always wear ing out, and we do not have money to buy more for them.” “Yes,” I thought to myself, “that sounds natural. Girls are always having that difficulty.” “But,” I ventured to say, “these native girls do not wear hose!” “Oh,” she replied, “I mean the hoes they use for digging in the gar dens.” Then I learned that each girl grows her own food while at school. It was a hoe for cultivating maize that each girl needed, for this represents her meal ticket for the year. We find the girls anxious to come to school. There was a time when they did not care to come, and the parents did not want to send them. But they are beginning to see the importance of it, and we must do something to meet the demand. From one station alone, scores of girls had to be turned away this year because there was not room to accommodate them. Already they were sleeping fourteen in a room about ten feet square, and they could not possibly crowd in any more. We can never hope to improve materially the home life of the native people until we do something to help the native woman. One writer has said, ““Woman is the salvation or the destruction of the family. She car ries its destiny in the folds of her mantle.” The Spirit of prophecy says the wife can be either a great blessing or a great curse in her home. This being true, the training of the girls to become homemakers is vitally essential. Conducted by Promise Kloss
Newspaper Details
Silver Spring Advent Review and Sabbath Herald
Silver Spring, Maryland, US
Thu, Feb 06, 1936
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Dawne Y.
USA 05 Jul 2026
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Silver Spring Advent Review and Sabbath Herald
