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Richard C. and Anna Mae Rowe report from Cameroon, 1960, side 2.
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- speaker[Rowe, Richard C.] On the first side of the tape, you heard the Bulu women. Now some of the press men who also sing in the
- speakerchurch choir at Elat
- speakerhave gathered around and are going to sing for you a carol.
- speaker[Christmas carol: "Shepherds Were Watching Their Flocks that Night." sung in Bulu.
- speakerThis hymn, of course, you have recognized. And it's one of the many hyms in our hymn
- speakerbook that have been translated from American or European hymns and that the
- speakerAfricans have learned very well to sing. But the Africans are not only copiers, but in
- speakerparticularly in music are very creative in their own right.
- speakerI had only been here for a short time when a
- speakergroup of Africans one day came to me and asked if I wouldn't write an anthem for the Sunday service.
- speakerThis is not at all unusual because they very frequently do they tell
- speakerlong Biblical stories in ballad form and their anthems. A
- speakertypical Sunday at the Elat church may have two or three choirs but sometimes as many as
- speakersix or eight.
- speakerA hymn that Anna Mae had never heard of before she came to the Cameroon, but is one of her favorites now is one that
- speakerthe choir will sing.
- speaker[Bulu anthem "Alleluia" is sung by men's chorus]
- speakerI think I have told you
- speakerbefore that I'm Assistant Pastor at the Elat church. We have here this afternoon Pastor
- speakerViso, the pastor of a church. We're going to be talking to him about some of the things that
- speakerhe had to say to people in the church in America.
- speaker[Pastor Viso speaks in Bulu]
- speakerWe can say realistically that the church has been a great help in Cameroon.
- speakerBut again I don't know how the church has really given me a great deal of help to our country
- speaker[Pastor Viso in Bulu]
- speakerWhen the missionary persons came, they found that people who didn't know the first
- speakerletter of the alphabet. [Viso continues]
- speakerAnd they took the children in school.
- speaker[Viso] And we who were children in
- speakerthose days went from town to town telling us
- speakerthe Words of God. There wasn't any such
- speakerthing as a faith evangelist in those days.
- speakerThere are still those people, who came here to Elat.
- speaker[Viso]. They learn everything. [Viso]
- speakerin the schools. [Viso]. And they learn to do
- speakerDo the work of carpenter [Viso] and workers of many sorts.
- speaker[Viso]
- speakerAnd we all of us , who went to these various schools, we went town to town evangelizing
- speakerpeople. [Viso]
- speakerIn this whole area, the old fort [VIso]
- speakerA man here is
- speakerjust a
- speakernothing now. [Viso]
- speakerEven so, he knows the word of God.
- speaker[Viso]
- speakerAnd everywhere you go, you can't go in
- speakerany corner of this forest, but once people there know that the mission has
- speakerbrought here the words of God. [Viso] All the towns that we have
- speaker[Viso] Our
- speakerchildren have gone to work in the government or in the stores.
- speakerBut they are, call themselves wherever
- speakerthey find themselves, they are Protestants.
- speaker[Viso]
- speakerIf the people of this country are
- speakerevil doers, people who are, don't do right. [Viso]
- speakerUnique kind of people as you examine their lives. You will
- speakersee that they have the characteristics often that they have learned from the
- speakerChristian influence in the country. [Viso] Because they learned
- speakerabout Jesus here. [Viso]
- speakerSo. Everyone who has grown up in this area now is a
- speakerperson who has been touched by the Good News. And many people who leave this area to
- speakergo other places carry that Good News with them.
- speaker[Viso] The church is
- speakerreally a good seed. [Viso]
- speakerThe good seed the missionaries spread here.
- speaker[Viso] And throughout all Cameroon itself.
- speakerIf you see a
- speakerperson, you can believe that he is an elder in the church.
- speaker[Viso]
- speakerBut he has the characteristics of life that shows that he is a
- speakerman of God, rather than a man of the old way.
- speaker[Viso]
- speakerhave to
- speakerSit easy when he's in places like this. [Viso]
- speakerBecause you hear lot, they are speaking
- speakerabout the gospel even if he has five wives.
- speaker[Viso]
- speakerSo the work that the mission did in thist
- speakerarea has really borne a great deal of fruit.
- speakerI'd like to ask your, Pres, if you have in closing if you have any other words to say
- speakerto the church in America. [Bulu]
- speaker[Viso responds] America.
- speakerI just want to say thank you
- speakerto the church in America. [Viso] Because he
- speakersent people here. [Viso]
- speakerAnd, the seed that they came to plant. [Viso] has borne fruit.
- speaker[Viso]. And, go ahead well now.
- speaker[Viso]
- speakerCertainly especially in the women's groups. [Viso]
- speakerbecause the women used to be weak. [Viso]
- speakerBut now they are real, they are really strong. [Viso]
- speakerPeople are, there are people who are making the
- speakerchurch grow. [Viso] and they're certainly mothers of the church. [Viso]
- speakerThey give our church food
- speaker[Viso] This is because of the teaching of missionaries who
- speakercame here.
- speakerPastor Viso has a story he wants to tell us. [Viso] He was born at the
- speakerEquator. [Viso]
- speakerMaybe in eighteen ninety-six. [Viso]
- speakerThe first missionary who came here, Gehbootu Zambe, the African name for Dr. Good [Aldophus Clemens Good].
- speaker[Viso].
- speakerHe came through the yard of our town.
- speaker[Viso].
- speakerHe asked the people to come out and greet him. [Viso]
- speakerBut the people ran from him. [Viso]
- speakerHe is not a man, but a ghost.
- speaker[Viso] But my mother who was
- speakercarrying me in herself [Viso], she went and
- speakergreeted him. [Viso] And people just cried.
- speaker[Viso] And they said, this woman have been a bad thing.
- speaker[Viso] She has come and
- speakertouched this white man. Why? How come?
- speakerThe child you are carrying will surely die. [Viso]
- speakerBut when I was born, I didn't die.
- speaker[Viso] And they called me "Viso," which means doubts
- speaker[Viso]
- speakerThat's the doubts.
- speaker[Viso]
- speakerAnd that name I took, and I'm alive.
- speaker[Bulu conversation]
- speakerDick said that we were going to introduce some of our friends. And I have
- speakerhere this afternoon a very special friend of mine. Josie. Josie has
- speakerbeen. I've known Josie since I first came to teach as a Hope School
- speakerteacher. And she was my first African friend.
- speakerAnd now she's been with me the first year of, the first months of our
- speakermarriage, helping me always, and now helping me get ready for the baby.
- speakerShe told me many things about African life. And, although we sometimes have difficulty in
- speakercommunication, we've shared much. And she's going to talk today about the African
- speakerhome. And, her own family is such a wonderful example of a Christian
- speakerhome that she will have much to share.
- speakerJosie. Your parents have
- speakerdone much to bring all of the children up as fine Christians. Would you tell
- speakerabout some of the training that you have had in your home?
- speaker[Dick translates question into Bulu.]
- speakerMy parents are real people of God.
- speaker[Josie speaks in Bulu.]
- speakerMy father
- speakerhad
- speakerwas one of four brothers.
- speaker[Josie]
- speakerAll of them are people of God.
- speaker[Josie] Two of them are elders in
- speakerthe church. [Josie]
- speakerAnd of her sisters, the oldest one was the president of Ensambe Bigat,
- speakerof the women the group or organization. [Josie]
- speakerAnd, he who is the youngest is an evangelist
- speakerin the church. [Josie]
- speakerWe know that our family is a family who loves
- speakerGod. [Josie]
- speakerSo my father then found and married a
- speakerwoman who loved much the things of God. [Josie]
- speakerWe can say even that she had a real love
- speakereven surpassing that of her husband.
- speaker[Josie]
- speakerShe's the woman who keeps the money for the Women's Association.
- speaker[Josie]
- speakerAnd she has taught all her children that they should love also the things of God.
- speaker[Josie]
- speakerShe has
- speakerone son who she has given entirely to the work of the missionaries.
- speaker[Josie]
- speakerAnd, his name is Central. And he works in the treasurer's office in Yaounde.
- speaker[Josie]
- speakerCentral wanted to go and work for the governor because he wanted to make a lot of money.
- speaker[Josie]
- speakerBut his mother told him he may not leave the work of the mission.
- speaker[Josie]
- speakerEvery afternoon.
- speakerEvery evening our mother teaches us how we should pray to God.
- speaker[Josie]
- speakerAnd, she teaches us
- speakerverses from the Bible
- speakereven as if she were able to read. In fact, she can't.
- speaker[Josie] And. she teaches us
- speakerhow a person believe in God, should be in his house.
- speakerThis far we've been able to share with you something of our life here in Cameroon. And, I've enjoyed it
- speakervery much. One technical note if you've noticed our voices being too squeaky or too
- speakervague, it's because our electricity isn't always too terribly
- speakerregular here in Africa. We make our own, and it's not the highest quality.
- speakerIt's been good to talk to you with Pastor Viso. He has been an inspiration
- speakerin my own life here, as I've worked with him and under him. And he has taught me not
- speakeronly the ways of the African Church and of the African people, but the ways of a
- speakerChristian. He is a tremendously powerful Christian personality,
- speakeralways with very humble spirit, dealing with the
- speakervery best of Christian love. So, we continue here in
- speakerour life in Africa. We're very grateful for the opportunity that we have to be here.
- speakerAnd give you all readings in this Christmas season. We're looking forward to seeing you
- speakerall next year, as we're planning to come home on furlough in September. Good bye now.
