'.V
Doar Christian Friends,
, MRCIA IvAY THOMSONIVIASHOKO MISSIONP/Bag 56 - Zak,Southern
Rhodesia^ Africa
Forwarding Agents sDr. & Mrso Richard Lee201
CaliforniaCarterville^ Illinois 52918
Started 22nd February^ 1965Finished 20th April;, 1965
MAY 1 3 t965 -
v^.lien 1 locked to see how long it had been gince I wrote, to
you I v/aa aur--.'p.oiied tc find that -it had been much longer
than I realized. Time pass'esand fe\'7 letters are written, I have
answered a few personal letters butrjc.uy of ypu that have
virritten still have no ansv/er.All^the children on the mission
call me Aunt Marcia, but I was not an aunt.until James Terrill
Thomson was born November 16, 1964^ in -Joplin, Missouri
in ko '^ember after I)r Pruett returned from the States he
finished inspeci:--ing the schools. I went with him and the
assistant manager to 4 schools.-hat were near the mission. Each
school takes one morning to Visit andmen going in a car ^vithout
tearing It up you must have an experienced bus):]v^.river. All of
.these schools are off txie, main read and sometimes you
musi"ii'avsx on J.ittle more than foot paths. Chlromo is only about
7 air uil:.e3from the mission, but 25 or 30 miles by road,. There
is a shorter routetns-b can be taken in a Land Rover This school is
located in a beautifulr^i'jtlng o.nd is a growing school. This year
v/e have increased their teach-.,c?/.- from Z to 4c V/e v/ere
forced to cut our visic short on that day as: a0.1'jud burt:t was
threatening and we knew that; if it hiit v,ro,uld get stuckon uho
viaY home, ^
I'na -a^7,pan^oro school v/ill soon be near a lake and the
vvholo school "may'.aave --JO be moved. This school has a very
large, enrollment .this year butv;.aen the .dam is com.pleted many
of the people will "have bo move to a newarea^M^mere we have
applied for a new school to open in 1966^School would not.be
complete without, exams. Most of the eighth grade examscK-cept
scripture, are sent out by the government. The .vifth, sixth,,
andsevench~grade^exams are memographed here and sent to the
schools. Enock
" seminary student who works for Mr Pemberton, typed the
stencilswn.^cn numbOx '^ed, more-than 20. The night before the,
exams v/ere to be giveni.-ie^ c:;.ssi.stc^nt manager and I helped
him cut the exams apart and count andp;.-ckage uhom for each
class^- Each subject must be seperate s.o that theycan,be opened
just as the exam is supposed to start., After the exams areOv'er..
they are brougnt back to tne mission and the toachers come in to,
helpmark them. This means that a teacher does not mark al3 the
papers from hisclass. -
^oho end of school v/e had decided where to place most of the
teachersAfter thes.e decisions, the government forms were submitted
so"" that theTTeachers could be approved before school started in
January," Some of the '
moved from one school to another and a schedule v/as made so"
that".he.Lr goods could be moved virith mission trucks-, \'/hen
possible vire would
have the driver take the belongings of one teacher and pick up
the gooc's c.f::ie- -ceacher that v/as leaving, A cdup-le of days
he moved 3 teachers. Since-this was during the rainy season there
were many days the the uruck couldnoG go to some of the
schools.
on-ii3u.ma3 \/a3 celebrated here at Mas.hoKO niuch as in America
but the. weatherwas hotLjer^ On Christmas eve v/e went caroling in
the hospital and to theDomes on the missione Gifts sent from the
States wei'e wrapped and given tobhe hospital s^aif and the
patients., School v/as closed aiid most of the-.eacners were gone
but there v/ere many patients in the nospital^ We had a -imrty at
our house to begin the new yeare It also marked the beginning
ofinventory for the bookstore^ storeroom^ and schools. Later in
January newstocks arrived for the bootcstore and the two rooms of
the bookstore v/orepacked... There were -many boxes that could not
be unpacked until some of theoooKS were sold The last of January
and the first part of February are theousiest time in the
bookstore, lYithin four weeks they - - -sold 2,400 notebooksox one
e used by ;he older children for Lnglish and almost as many
that
-2"are ruled for arithmetic ahd used by the same age group,
'
Our achool year opened on January SSth, There v/aa niuch
activity on that daywith the enrolling of students, collecting'of
achool feea, and selling books.Everyone on the mission v;as busy
Tv/o days later the, teachers from all thevillage schools v/ere at
the mission, to collect their January pay and bring
^in school fees that they had collected.
The Pruetta and I vrent to meet the,Pembertons who arrived back
in SalisburyFebruary 5th after.a years absence from the field. Many
of you may haveseen them while they were in the atateg:. It took a
few days for them tocatch up on what had happened while they v/ere
gone. Since that time ouroffices have been a beehive of activity.
Conferences with the teachers always take a lot of time and many
people had been waiting for some time todiscuss their problems
v/ith Mr. Pemberton. Besides the v;ork at Mashoko wohave work in
other areas and it has been necessary for Mr. Pemberton to
maketrips to Hippo Valley, Fort Victoria, Outu, and Umtali.
The Education Department had approved 4 schools to open in Hippo
Valley inJanuary but we only had one building. They let us uae the
teachers at otherschools until v;e could get the buildings. Since
then two other buildingahave been built by the Estates. There is
still a little rod tape before weget permission to build the school
in the Township. V/e are hoping to havethis school open in May.
Approval has alsp been obtained for a fifth schoolnear the settler
farms. At the present time they are meeting under a treewhile the
building is being, built. Recently we have been preparing
articlesand reports Lu give more details on the work in Hippo
Valley.
cu the 11th of February v/e were honored by a visit of the
Minister of- Education, and the Provincial^ Education Officer for
the Victoria Province. Thistrip was planned by the Provincial
x^ducation Officer who could have takenthem to any of the schools
in the bush within his Province. They seemedwell pleased with our
schools and also went through the hospital^^On February 28th my
father had a fatal heart attack. On March 3rd I was ableto talk to
my mother and brother in hit.Fort Victoria. I appreciate the many
o^rds and letters that I have receivedsince that time. Knowing that
you care;
Vernon, Illinois, by telephone from
is of great help to me, thank you
Dr. Tiorris Nathan from ifew Zealand came to work at the
hospital for 3 weeksin riarch. He and his family lived at our house
during that time. GloriaCob arrived during March to work with us
for three months. Margret Denniscam.e to teach in the PTE, The
Cyril Sitapicins family arrived in SalisburyApril 1st to work with
the Bible college, they are at Mashoko for the present time.
Ammermans visited with us for a while aa their first son was
born at Maahofco/April 3rd. It is about a500 mile drive to
Chidamoyo Mission where theywork.The school inspector from Fort
Victoria was here the week of April 5th. Eavisited 5 schools and we
were p,ble to talk to him about the educational work.We are
fortunate to have an experienced man that is helpful and has a
concernfor the education of each child.
Last Saturday afternoon I was able to go to Hippo Valley so that
I could'attend the Easter Sunrise Service there. Mr, and Mrs. Day
have a home atopthe hill overlooking Ch?redzi Township.- The^/
offered their lawn for the aer-vice and served breakfast
afterx'vard to those in attendance. I^s. Pembertonlead the singing
and Dr. Pruett was the preacher of the morning. At the close-of the
"service Jos.elyn Van.Dyke, was baptized into Christ in the
swimming poolin the lawn. There was a good crowd, uiany of whom
were employees of theHippo Valley Estates.I wish to thank you for
your faithful financial support and the prayers of-/fered on our
behalf. The money that has been given in excess of my salary /has
been used for office eriuipment and payments on the car that I
drive. / jThe payments will continue for another year and I have
not paid back the / /dov/n payment aa yet. I have vvritten on this
letter over a period .of twomonths so i must close and send it on
to you. '
Yours in Christ, Marcia Kay Thomson ' / if-' .:-LE; ILL,
Dr. & IVIrs. Richard Lee201"Californla St.Carterville,
Illinois 62918