The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 87

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 87

meals. The next day two meals are again served.
Usually the wedding celebrations last two or three
days. You never see the bride’s mother attend her
daughter’s wedding. I have never found out why
that is. They have another celebration in a few
months; then the mother comes, too. I haven’t
told you nearly all the things connected with these
weddings, but I believe I have told you the most
important. It shows you how much different the
weddings here are from those in America. Great
expenses are connected with these weddings; some,
in fact, almost all, go into deep debt on account of
them. The missionary warns them and tries to
make them see how hard it is to pay off such a
big debt.

“Now a few things about deaths and funerals.
I cannot go into detail, but I will tell you of the
things that I have seen. I am going to tell you
about the funeral of our head catechist’s wife.
I went over to see her very often while she was sick.
She was down in bed very long. Finally, when she
became worse and helpless, we got a nurse for her.
But the nurse could not obey the doctor’s orders.
The doctor wanted the patient to be bathed every
‘day and made comfortable just as we treat our
sick; but the natives do not believe in washing their
sick. They think it is not good for them. After
she died, women in the village came (we have no
undertakers here) to dress her. After she had been
bathed and dressed, they placed her on her bed again
and put her in a room where they burned incense.
‘On each side of the bed, friends and relatives
(women only) sat on the floor, hair hanging down,
wailing and howling. This is most gruesome, both
the sight and the sound of it. That keeps up as
long as the corpse is in the house. Here we have
to bury the dead the same day on which death oc-
curs on account of the heat. The howling discon-
tinues while the funeral sermon is on; but as soon
as the sermon is over, they begin again. Some
people put their dead in a wooden box draped with
white cloth and black. Others, the poorer ones,
merely drape a white cloth around the body and
bury it just that way. After the funeral the
relatives who are at the home take a bath and dress
afresh. The men do the same and take a shave and
hair-cut. The house is then cleaned, and they eat.
All this is neglected during the sickness and death
of the patient.

“T haven’t written a thing about my ushanal’s
work, but these are some of the backgrounds on
which our Gospel-work is being done. If you know

these things, it helps you to understand the dif-
ficulties and the results of the work.

“And now, dear friends, I am going to close.
I wish you much success and God’s richest blessings
in the work of your Church.

“Yours very sincerely,
”

Amos Chimbu, a Leper.
Pastor-Teacher at Kapanga, Africa.

A sound of singing was wafted over the high
fence that surrounded the harem of Mwata Yamvo,
the king of the Aluunda tribe in the Belgian Congo
in Central Africa, and fell upon the ears of two
young lads who were playing a game something like
shinney with two’ bamboo sticks cut so that part of
the roots left on made knobs, and some nuts answer-
ing the purpose of balls.

The two boys stopped their play and listened.
They were guiltless of clothes except for a string
around the loins and a tiny rag in front. They
were dirty and unkempt —certainly neither was
attractive. One of them, named Chimbu, was a
leper. Ovanyi, ovanyi,

Ovanyi mazhu ma Nsambi,
Ovanyi, ovanyi,
Tukuya munganda mulu.

They dropped their sticks and ran as the singing -
continued to the tune which is familiarly known
to us as “The Sweet By-and-By.” But the words
set to it in the Luunda meant: —

Listen, listen,

Listen to the words of God;

Listen, listen,

Let us set out for the King’s town
above.

“Let’s see what is going on, and what these
strange white folks are doing,” said Chimbu as they
hurried on and stepped through the opening into
a large section or yard where a part of the king’s
200 wives were living.

Here they saw the king, Mwata Yamvo, sur-
rounded with a crowd of some of’ his head men and
courtiers, and his wives and children. The white
man was sitting with his back to the fence, facing
them. A group of his Christian natives were
around him, and next to him his wife sat on a chair
by ‘his side. Chimbu noticed this in particular.
Aluunda women do nof sit on chairs by the side of
their husbands.

The white man was talking and explaining, and
the chief was asking questions. The chief was