Aba, Belgian Congo - March 26, 1946

In which Coralee writes about a "hot, hard day", and Ralph sends oodles of love and a flower to his girls.


Dear, dear girls,
Your letters have been so good and they have come through very quickly.  Yours of March 4th reached us March 18. That is lovely! It makes the absence seem less.

This has been a long hot, hard day. Eddie and Nellie and Uncle John left us this morning. Eddie and Nellie are to be in the Evangelist school at Blukwa. We are so sorry they will not be here, but the need is very great there and so they are happy to fill in. We hope and pray that they may soon come back to us here. The Epps hope to go for furlo as soon as possible and the Brashlers too. 

Uncle John came and spent the weekend here.  He always brings a blessing. He is just the same.  Miss Wightman came in with Uncle John and also Aunt Rose Mary. Miss Wightman and Miss Utting plan to leave for England April 21. Aunt Rose Mary is to be at Todro with Miss Settles until someone comes out to help in the work there. Just now she too is here because her boxes came and she wanted some things out of them.

A cable has come saying Miss Gingrich is coming by clipper on March 21. So we hope to be able to welcome her soon. Cooks, Basha, Uhlinger and several single ladies hope to sail the end of March.  The need is very great.  So we hope many will soon come.

We are in the midst of reroofing the white hospital. It is a tremendous job not only in size but because of the high eaves.  The roof leaked so badly we couldn't have used the building in the rains. We are disappointed that no tiles were made for it while we were at home.

Ralph's gara lily

We have had several good rains and it is lovely and green, real spring-like.  The red lilies are simply gorgeous. Eddie took a lot of colored pictures.  That reminds me that Father Schuit wrote that the colored pictures Eddie took of us as a family were very nice. It may be you will have received yours. I hope so. Thank you for the snaps you enclosed. They were very interesting. Hope the next ones will be better and give us a clearer idea of what our daughters look like. Someday I hope you can have a better camera. So glad you persevered in fixing the film Edith.

I have written on this paper because Daddy drew this "red" lily from some on the desk here.  He didn't want me to send it but I know you'll like it. He says he can do better and I hope he will be good and do it.

We are enclosing a check for $50.00 for you both. We would like for you to use as much of it as you need for some new evening gowns or if there's something else you need or want more that is okay with us as long as it is for you both.

My suggestion would be white evening dresses that you might use in Wheaton if the way should be open for you to go there. As I remember many of the girls wore white there. But you feel free to choose as you prefer. This is for your birthdays. We thought to send it now so you could have it for all the special events before Commencement.

Get the pajamas and other things you need and send the bill to the mission. We love the way you girls so carefully think of the cost of things. That is lovely but it makes us long all the more that every need be met for you deserve the very best, and we mean for you to have it as much as is possible. 
Some day when you go shopping would you look for a couple of patterns for me. Something neat and tailored. Something you think would do for me. Thanks a lot.  Also a nightie pattern. Now I'd better close here and see to other things.
With a heart full of love,
Mother


Dearest girls,
Your old Dad is very tired tonight as we have been getting to bed late with the company here, and up very early for the meetings.  But I must at least say hello, and many thanks for your fine and cheery letters. We are happy that you are happy and we trust the Lord will continue to bless you as He has been doing.

We are still waiting for news about a car to be sent to us.  We have heard that the Dodge strike is over and so maybe a car will soon be sent us. But we have written to Mr. Schuit saying we would prefer a Chevrolet as they are cheaper to run, and gas is a real item out here. But Chevrolet is still on strike and so he may have already bought a Dodge.

The rainy season is very near and we are glad! 
Oodles of love,
Dad


FOOTNOTES

Aba, Belgian Congo - March 20, 1946

In which Eddie Schuit writes to Edie and Esther about Aba.


Africa Inland Mission
Aba
March 20, 1946


Dear Edith & Esther,
Greetings from Home!  We wish you could be here, these spring days when rainy season isn't far away and when the hot dry days are about gone. The red lilies are all out today and the clear skies make the hills so clear out Todro way.  There's still the gara winds to keep one form perspiring too much, and its one of the nicest times of the year at Aba.


Now I know you can just about picture your house - your Mother walking down the path in her white dress to talk to men fixing soli for the hospital roof, and we found your Dad tapping his finger on a black man's chest down in the ward of the hospital which is so typical of our Africa Doctor - so the machinery at Aba and Hospital Hill moves along.


The ol' homestead is exactly like it used to be, except for the two big mango trees which used to stand in front of the house. Nothing has changed outside of that.


We have been living in the annex for several weeks now, (eating with your Mother and Dad) and it's been grand to awaken in the morning fresh and cool, listen to the hymns being sung on the dispensary porch, and realize that men and women are hearing the life-giving story of Jesus and His death on Calvary.


There have been a number of remarkable conversions lately, and one can see the Lord working in various ways. There's no doubt at all that His hand is upon this place and His presence dwells here.
There's a real need still for more helpers in the harvest field - "the laborers are few" and that's never been more true than present. So it's our duty to do what the rest of the verse says, "Pray ye therefore..."


Your letters have been good to read, and we praise the Lord for caring for you in such a wonderful way. May He continue to guide you in your future days. We'll be praying for you about all this.


I just went down to Kenya to get the little Chev - that we rode about Hawthorne in, and now it is here at Aba. I wish that I could have bought your Daddy's car out too, for he needs a better car than he's got. You'd have lots of fun in the roadster though, and the rumble seat is nice and comfortable - except when it rains!!!


Akubu, Yoane Kusala, Mose Muda, Timeteo Tiriaba, Ysefa Drupa, Kibi, etc. are still on the job and are the old faithfuls abou the work - pray for them.


Will close now. We think of you and speak of you often.


Love, in Him,
Eddie


I John 3:1-3


FOOTNOTES
I believe this letter is from Eddie Schuit, a very close friend of the family. Click here for his obituary.

ABFMS Missionary Pamphlet, November 1928

I do not know if my grandparents would have known the Reverend and Mrs. Brown.  Their travel up-river from Matadi to Kinshasa seems to have occurred four years after Ralph and Coralee made their way on the same path. Missions were separated into geographical regions at least in the beginning. It's not clear to me exactly where Ntondo and Gombe are, but I'm hoping my Baptist friends will enlighten me.  

First Impressions of Belgian Congo, 

By Reverend and Mrs. Harry D. Brown

American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, November 1928

Purchased on Etsy, August 2016.  

First Impressions of Belgian Congo, cover page

First Impressions of Belgian Congo, pages 2 and 3

First Impressions of Belgian Congo, pages 4 and 5

First Impressions of Belgian Congo, pages 6 and 7

First Impressions of Belgian Congo, pages 8 and 9

First Impressions of Belgian Congo, pages 10 and 11

First Impressions of Belgian Congo, final page

At home, Aba, Belgian Congo - March 7, 1946

In which Coralee writes of local news and a trip to Faradje and the coffee plantation and sugar factory at Kurukwata. 

Dearest girls,

It was so nice to received your letters telling about your Christmas. Every detail was interesting. We are so glad that you had such a happy time. Our thoughts and prayers were especially with you at that time. Be assured that even tho every day is very busy, you are always remembered in prayer and our love ever remains the same.

Yesterday we were especially wishing that you had been along with us. We and Mary and Eddie and Nellie, left here about 10 o'clock. Daddy and I were in the rumble seat all the way to Faradje.[1] It was real nice back there. Eddie wanted to get a permit to import his guns. Then we went on to Baki where Yoiafa and Araba live.  We had a nice visit with them.  They have a new baby girl about 6 months old. Taniara and Affia and Turupina have grown a lot. They are a lovely family.

Yoiafa brought a table and we had our picnic lunch under the mango trees like before. Only this time we had a birthday cake for Eddie.

You'll be surprised to know that your old wagon looks much like it used to look. Araba uses it to go to her garden.

On our way back we stopped at the Faradje outschool and at three other schools on the way back to Kurukwata. It was so nice but very hot. We were very thirsty and dirty when we reached there about 5 o'clock. After tea we went with Mr. Schlippe to see the plantation and sugar factory [2]. It was all very interesting. The elephants were very interesting to Nellie.

1946 Belgian Congo bank note featuring
elephants working in a plantation. 

Mr. Pere of the Shipu Coffee farm[3] has announced his engagement to the daughter of our official at Faradje. This is a family of five girls. They are close friends of the Schlippes and their oldest girl and Marissa are very good friends.

Yesterday Eddie received a telegram saying his car and trailer has arrived at Mombasa and eight of their boxes. He plans to go down to Juba on a truck tomorrow and fly to Nairobi. Nellie is going to stay with us.  She is studying Bangala. We hope to have some good times even while Eddie is away. It'll be lots of fun to have a little pal like when you girls were here.

The teachers have given Eddie such a warm welcome back. How we wish they might remain here while the need is so great and there is such a fine opportunity.

The Logo pastor Timiteo has just returned from the Kaliko conference. They had 1005 people on Sunday. We would have liked so much to have gone but it wasn't possible.

Catherine is working here in the hospital now. Her husband has treated her so awful she doesn't want to return to him.

Did I tell you that each week I go to Aba Poste to the chapel for Sunday School?  Last Sunday we had 151 children.  I teach the lesson each Friday to the volunteer teachers; Christian women here on the Station who go down with me in the car and also the O.S. teacher and their wives.  It is very interesting. Every week I wish you were there to play[4].  I'm thinking of learning to play in my old age. Just hymns would be enough. Pray for these children.

Daddy took Aunt Rose Mary to Todro today. The car didn't play up for a wonder and he missed the heavy rain we had today. The Bakua rain. Picture Nellie eating our first white ants in a few days.

Mary is working hard to learn French. She hopes to go to the Gilles plantation with the Littlejohns in April so they can get a lot of practice.

Mrs. Schlippe has an orange bougainvillea and she is going to give me a slip. I wonder if it is not the kind you saw over there. The one on the Appendix has grown real big. Mary has a pretty red one. Nearly all my roses have died. All the bushes by the bedroom window. I'll have to start in new, I guess. Time is a such a premium I don't have much to spare. The ice plant I brought from Florida is growing nicely.

[Personal notes.]

Now dear darlings I love you across the miles and send to you a heart full of love and prayers.

Your Mother

FOOTNOTES
1.  About 65 kilometers.
2.
3. An interesting article about Starbucks Congo coffee. I cannot find any reference to the Shipu coffee farm - no doubt it has changed hands many times since 1946.
4. Mom and Edie played the organ.
5. I'm not sure I transcribed this word "Bakua" correctly. Hopefully Mom will give me some pointers.
6.  "White ants" are termites, which typically swarm after the first good rains of the season.  We caught and ate them at Kimpese too.  See here for a post about our experiences with these delicious little creatures.

Aba, Belgian Congo - January 28, 1946

In which Coralee writes of the heat, various visitors, and the slow delivery of mail. 

Dear girls,
Your letters have been so lovely. Thank you for each and every one. The details you both have written help us to know more of your life there. We are so thankful that you both are happy there. I'm glad you have good food and such a lot of happy events together with such a good spiritual environment.  All this we know is a very definite answer to prayer and it is precious to us.

These have been very busy days and those just ahead will probably be even more busy. We will need your special prayer help. The Brills expect to go to Aungba tomorrow. The boy's school and women's school open this next Friday. Then seeing to the press and bookroom as well as the Station workmen and all the church and outschools it will simply be stiff going unless the natives really help.

It has been so nice to have the Hubers back. Maratha is a big girl of 13 years in 1st year high. I feel real homesick for you when I look at her. Vivian is a pretty little girl of 9 and her brother Lester nearly 7 years. They are nice children.

A Miss Shade of the U. F. M. [1] travelled with them. Mr. McMillan [2] and Miss Walker of the U. F. M. arrived at 1:30AM on Friday or I should say Saturday morning to meet her. These folks were here the weekend also. The Hubers are staying in the Stam house as we had a couple of Greek families here in the hospital. The U. F. M. ladies were in your room. We are putting new mud ceilings in the Appendix as the old ceiling fell down.

We have had a shower of rain, the first since we came to Aba. [3]

Pray especially for the S. S. [4] that has been organized in the Poste. It was begun the week before we came. I have been down each week with Mrs. Bill and several of the Christian women.  Yesterday I had charge alone. There were 134 children. We believe there is a wonderful opportunity there. Eleya Akulu takes us but I'm hoping soon I'll be able to drive down after I've a few more lessons. [5]

Last night we had the white service in the evening in our front yard. Mr. Huber spoke. It was a lovely service. Often we sit out in the yard evenings now since it is so hot. Often you are in our thoughts and conversations.

[Personal notes.] I can hardly wait to receive your next letter. It will tell us of your Christmas. Yours of last week was written on December 23rd and we received it January 21st. That's a shorter time than before. I really don't know why it should take that long when there is air service all the way.

Must close here with a heart full of love to you both with hugs and kisses too.
OOOO
XXXX

Mother

FOOTNOTES
1.  Uganda Foreign Mission?
2.  Hector McMillan
3.  The Kleinschmidts returned to Aba from furlough on December 7, 1945.
3.  Sunday School.
4.  Coralee learned to drive quite late in her life.

Aba, Belgian Congo - January 27, 1946

A brief note from Coralee to the girls

Dear Girls,
Just a note to come along with the Bangala Conference items. I thot you'd be interested in it.

One hundred Aba natives and also Daddy, Miss White and Miss Lutz went from here. They had a lovely conference. The other whites at the conference were Mr. Brand, Mr. Litchman, Evelyn, Brashlers, Mr. Paul, Mr. Miller, Mr. Harris, Dr. Williams, Mr. Brill, Seuffs, Littlejohns, Misses Sutter, Short, and Wrightman.

Mr. Bill and Mr. Seuff shot five buffaloes. It has been very hot and dry.

Aunt Rose Mary arrived by plane last Monday January 14th. It is so nice to have her back. We expect the Hubers on the 25th. We didn't even know they had sailed until last Monday.

Your letters have been so nice. In last mail we had the Thanksgiving program and menu, and also your air mail written just before Christmas. They mean so much to us. I stop here and hope to get an air mail ready to come in just a day or two.

With much love,
Mother

Aba, Belgian Congo - January 27, 1946

In which Ralph discusses the Bangala Conference, a Logo proverb, and the cost of flying to Aba.  

Dearest girls,

I'm starting out with small writing as if I expect to write a long letter, yet I don't know if I can fill all this paper this time or note.

We are now in the very hot part of the dry season and during the day are unable to find a cool spot anywhere. Maybe that cave on the back of the big hill would be a good place. But fortunately it cools off quite a bit in the evenings. We have not gone swimming yet. Guess we'll have to wait until Eddie & Nellie arrive before going. It doesn't seem so inviting when there's not a crowd.

Since writing you last time I have been to the Bangala conference at Aja. They limited the native attendance to about a thousand otherwise there would have been far too many to accommodate. And only those missionaries who were on the program or who helped look after the meals were supposed to go.  It was a very fine conference, the general theme being "Kulika" or triumphant Christian living. Each morning a native and then a missionary would speak on the same topic for that day, and it was interesting to see how the different aspects of the same subject were brought out in that way.

This morning the Pastor, Timoteo Tiriable used an interesting native proverb to illustrate a point in his talk. He said the Logos have a proverb which says:  "If you want to buy a wife, don't look for one at a dance", the idea being that at a dance a girl would be all dressed up with a lot of lipombo and have a new hair-do, etc., trying to look her best to make an impression.  But when you married her and took her to your house you might find she was a lazy wife, and not at all what she appeared to be.

Miss Hayes has finally arrived. She became quite ill on the Congo steamer and had to stay in the Government hospital at Stanleyville for a couple of weeks. She wired us asking me to come get her, but I was then at the conference and our car was not in good order. Besides to go there for just one person would cost much more than for her to come in a plane.  And so Mother wired her to come by air, which she did. It took about 3/4 hour to get to Buta, the only stop on the way, and then only 3 hours from there to Aba. So she left Stanleyville about 9 AM and arrived here at 1PM. Quite a contrast to our trip on the Courier!  Did we tell you that there is now a landing field at Aba, just beyond the SHUN farm?  Every Monday a plane arrives here from Costermansville and it leaves about 8AM on Tuesday for Stanleyville.  Then every Friday a plane comes here from Stanleyville and goes to Costermansville (at the southern end of Lake Kivu) on Saturday. It costs 3000 francs to go to Stanleyville from Aba. The planes are converted British light bombers holding about 8 passengers. They have two motors and are very pretty and very fast.

Mother will write you about the arrival yesterday of the Hurber family. And now we are eagerly looking forward to the arrival of the Peter Stams III, and of Eddie and Nellie.

A plane full of love,
Daddy