nineteen hundred and forty-six - Amazon Web Services

FOREIGN MISSION BOARD 257
THE HOME FOR MOTHERLESS BABIES
In this institution Miss Ruth Kersey is attempting to save from almost
certain death some of the great number of orphans within our territory. In
a country where the rate of infant mortality is shockingly high, the lot of the
orphaned child is too sad to relate. The number of children in the home
averaged forty-six throughout the year. Many children are returned to their
people, after being nursed through the most critical period, with a good chance
of living a life of usefulness. There is no other agency doing such work outside
of the Christian church. This fact makes a strong impression upon the unevangelized
African. The Woman's Missionary Union of Virginia has supported
this work from its beginning. The Nigerian Woman's Missionary Union also
makes contributions to the home annually.
AMONG THE LEPERS
Our work with the lepers has been very encouraging during the year. We
have one colony and eight clan settlements, with a total population of 932.
Forty-four of the patients were given discharge certificates. The number of
those discharged would have been much larger, but for the fact that several
of the settlements are new ones.
In the settlements, the people who are elsewhere regarded as outcasts are
on an equal footing. They raise their own food and govern themselves. In
the church, attendance is voluntary, but in many cases it is almost one hundred
per cent. Very few pass through the settlements without becoming Christian.
Recently a man and his wife, who had just received their discharge certificates
from one of the settlements, came back to the church from which they had
been compelled to separate themselves, and asked the members to join with
them in thanking God that they were clean again. He thanked God for Christian
people who loved Christ enough to give their time and money that unfortunates
could be restored to health and society.
We rejoice that our people in America have accepted the responsibility of
helping to "cleanse the lepers." No one knows the percentage of infection
among the people of Nigeria, but it must be very high. Christianity is the
only religion offering them sympathy and cleansing. We need a doctor to
devote all of his time to the leper work.
PERSONNEL NEEDS
If Southern Baptists are to do effective mission work in Africa, we must
increase our staff of missionaries to such an extent that we can do quickly
and efficiently each task we have undertaken. To do this in the field we have
already occupied will require an increase of seventy-five per cent of our staff.
Each branch of our work is under-staffed. The missionary who has more than
he can do well becomes discouraged, and consequently lowers his standard. His
physical, mental, and spiritual life ceases to function normally, in fact he fails
to do his best. We, as a denomination, cannot afford to do less than our best
since the cause we represent is the greatest of all causes—the Great Commission.
Southern Baptists are giving money to support missions, but we also need
additional personnel as follows:
Three doctors and at least eight nurses for our medical work
Ten highly trained lady teachers, and four trained men for our educational
work
Three trained men for the Seminary
It goes without saying that these recruits should be experienced and successful
in their chosen field; zeal, experience, ability, tolerance and enthusiasm
are among the traits needed to make leaders.
Another task we must undertake on a mission field should be that of supervision
The responsibilities of the Christian life are very great for the newlywon
African convert. Each group of churches, probably about twenty-five in
number should have an evangelistic missionary as supervisor. If we could do
this for'fifteen years, we could turn most of the responsibility over to the locaJ
people.