Uganda by Pen and Camera/Chapter 5

by Charles W. Hattersley

well as if they were reading properly. The reason for this is that in country districts, where most of the children reside for at least a part of the year, reading is usually taught from the small reading-book called the Mateka, and, as the children are very poor, only the teacher possesses a copy. This he holds for his own convenience the right way up, but as his pupils sit round him in a semicircle they look on the book inverted or sideways, with the result that they learn to read in these ways as they change their position day by day, and later on, when they possess a book of their own, they hold it in the proper way.

This habit is often a great convenience, for, in church, if a man has not a hymn book, but the worshipper standing behind him has one, he simply turns right round, looks the man behind him in the face, deciphers his hymn book upside down, and sings the hymn. It saves some trouble in passing books about.

As soon as children can read they are taught the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, a number of Gospel texts, and then they are taken on to St. Matthew’s and St. John’s Gospels. They next have to learn a very long catechism, and must pass a stiff examination in all these subjects before they can be baptized, unless, of course, they are the children of Christian parents, and so baptized in infancy; but even then, before they can be confirmed they must know the subjects mentioned, with the addition of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. In all our schools our first object is, of course, being missionaries, to give the children a really good, Scriptural education. From 8 to 9.30 a.m. the teaching is wholly Biblical, commencing with Scriptural repetition, followed by an address to the school on one of a series of topics. Then comes the breaking up into small classes for teaching, reading, and for Scriptural exposition. The teaching of reading is always carried on in the Bible only. Our illustration shows the head Bible class in the boys’ school at Mengo, from which class teachers are taken for all the junior classes, as only one European is in charge of the school, and the number of boys for the Scriptural part averages two hundred.

Taking a Bible class in Uganda is very interesting work, for one always feels that the pupils are there, not merely as readers, but as students. I think the best way of showing the intelligence of the pupils is to give in detail a few of the questions which have been asked by members of this class.

A small boy of eleven, when we were reading the story of the Flood, asked, ‘Sir, it says here that Noah took two animals of each kind into the ark, and that he brought

Mr. Hattersley’s senior Bible class in the Mengo Boys’ School.

them out again, and that of them was the whole earth overspread. It says again that he took food for all animals; now, if he only took two in, and he brought two out, not counting the sacred animals, on what did he feed lions and leopards and dogs, which only eat flesh?’ The one reply to such a question was, We cannot tell; but it says that Noah took food for all the animals, hence we must assume that he took food suited to each kind of animal.’

They not only want to know such things as these, but they want to know a great many details which cannot always be supplied. For instance, one boy asked, ‘Who took the seven baskets of food left over after the miracle of feeding the five thousand on the mountain? Did the people, or did the disciples?’ And again, ‘What was the boy's name out of whom the disciples could not cast out the devil at the foot of the hill, after the Transfiguration?’ Again, a teacher was asked, ‘What kind of oil did the Good Samaritan put on the man's wounds?’ In another case, when they got to the passage, ‘As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began,‘ and it was mentioned that Adam was really the first prophet, the pupil replied, ‘Well, I agree to that, but it puzzles me to understand who he prophesied to before Eve was created, and yet it says, “since the world began.”’

If a teacher goes unprepared to a class in Uganda, he will probably regret it before he is through his lesson, for the natives do not believe in passing over a passage because it is difficult. They want to know all that it is possible to find out about the Word of God, and if at times the teacher cannot answer the question, the interrogator usually says, ‘Well, never mind now; go on with the lesson, and when you have finished I will go home with you, and perhaps you will look it up in your books and tell me what they say about it.’ Even if they do not say this, it usually happens that you will find the boy sitting outside the door shortly after you reach home, and on inquiring as to his business, he says, ‘I am just come down to ask if you will please explain from your books what I asked you about in school.’

The intelligence of the Baganda is quite equal to that of Englishmen; it is only a question of training. They learn to write in an incredibly short space of time, whilst they stick at and master arithmetic in a way that many Englishmen would be pleased to copy. From 9.30 to 10.30 we have, in Mengo Boys‘ School, a very large increase in our attendance, youths and men from other Bible classes swelling our number to 450, 500, 540. The daily average is 450 from Tuesday to Friday, on Saturday there are not so many. Some thousands have been taught writing and arithmetic at this school.

Arithmetic we take as far as vulgar fractions and percentages, which will enable the lads who desire to become Government clerks to transfer Indian coinage into sterling, cowrie shells into Indian currency, and so on. It proves a source of astonishment to many people to see how smart the boys are in working out very difficult examples after very short periods of teaching, many lads in two years’ time having gone from simple addition to very difficult vulgar fractions.

English is taught to boys specially selected by the Church Council as likely to benefit by it and be a credit to the Mission. We do not want to teach English to boys who are only Christians in name. They might go off as servants to Government men, saying that they know English, and have been taught in C.M.S. mission schools, inferring thereby that they are Christians and honest, and yet proving by their lives that they are neither Christians nor honest, and thus becoming a reproach to the Mission. We do not want to Anglicise the people at all, but we believe it is necessary to teach a number of them English; indeed, the Mission has been specially requested by the Administration to teach English in their schools. There is work for this people. God has some special purpose in view in having raised up the Baganda in the middle of Africa to take such an interest in the Gospel. It would seem that this object is, that they should become missionaries to all the surrounding nations.

This, indeed, the Baganda are quite willing to be, and have already been so to a limited extent; but before they can rule and govern their own Church, and learn how to make it self-supporting, self-governing, and self-extending, there must be some well-educated men amongst them. It is neither necessary nor advisable that all the literature they ought to have access to should be translated into their own language, and the simpler plan appears to be to teach a number of them English, and let them have access to our stores of literature. Then, again, there is every reason why those books which need translating into Luganda should be done by the natives; for no matter how good an Englishman may be at the language, he can never hope to attain to such proficiency in idiom as a native. It is always difficult for an Englishman to think as a native thinks, and to look at things from the same standpoint. The whole up-bringing of the white man is against it. Again, before they can become missionaries, natives must know something of the formation of a language, as it would be necessary in many of the surrounding countries to reduce the languages to writing. Many of the languages spoken near the Nile are entirely different from Luganda in formation, not being Bantu languages at all; and it is necessary to show the Baganda that all languages are not founded on the same principles as their own.

Afternoons in school have been devoted chiefly to elder scholars and intending pupil teachers, and a variety of subjects have been taught—Scriptural and general knowledge, including a little geography, astronomy, physiology, anatomy, and so on—all useful in expanding the native mind. At home, in the evenings after school, we have had pupil teachers, and given short Bible expositions, with very profitable results.

It is always a pleasure to missionaries to receive visits from their young pupils, and to receive trifling presents of a few coffee beans, or a few eggs, or a fowl, not for the value of the things received, but as an assurance that the pupils have regard for them, and that the affections are being won. The Baganda are naturally unselfish, and many instances of this are afforded. When children come to the house they do not care for sweets, but if you will give them a little salt in the palm of their hand they thoroughly enjoy eating it. Yet never will you see one of a group eat all his salt. He invariably passes it round, for all his companions to have a taste with him. On one occasion a child who had received a slate pencil in response to his request, made the remark, ‘Oh! I did not think you would give me a whole one; but, now you have, I can break it up into five pieces and give each of my little friends here a piece,’ which he immediately did.

The next illustrations will show what a variety of scholars we have to deal with. The boys at the back, though tall, are not so old as might be imagined. In tropical countries everything grows quickly, and boys of seventeen are practically men. Many of these older ones have been coming

A group of scholars in the Mengo Boys’ School.

to school a far shorter time than the younger ones, and, in many cases, know less. They are being trained, some as teachers, some as clerks, or store-keepers, for the most part for chiefs, but some few intend to try for situations under the Administration. Some are drafted oft" to our Industrial Mission, and are taught trades. Many of them, some only 10 or 12 years of age, hold important chieftainships, and will be great men in the country in a few years’ time. For them especially we would ask much prayer, that they may learn to rule their people in a Christ-like way.

The old man of sixty and the young boy of three both began to read about the same time, though the old man has made far quicker progress than the child. One of the most pleasing features of work in Uganda is to see the way each one wants to hand on to some other what he himself has been taught. It is probable that, to some extent, this is the outcome of vanity, and a desire to show off; but it is to a far greater extent, in many cases, a desire to do something to show the love they have for their Saviour, when once they realise His love for them.

When Christ restored sight to the blind and performed other miracles, we are told that those receiving benefit desired to follow Him and to serve Him ; and this is so in Uganda. When a Buganda has received his sight and come out of darkness into light, as a rule, he desires to show his faith by his works. This has been especially marked in the way in which our attendance has increased in the school. In the early days we noticed an increase of more than a hundred after one Christmas holiday, and we found that many pupils had spent most of their holidays in telling others of what they had learned, with the result that their hearers were induced to come to

1. Some notable pupils.—A Prince; An Old Chief.
2. A boy teaching an old man of sixty to read.

school with them on their return. A most pleasing sight it was, in two instances, to see fathers sitting in a class being taught writing and arithmetic by their own sons, aged respectively twelve and seventeen, the fathers not considering it at all infra dig. A boy teaching an old man to read, and explaining to him difficult passages in the Gospel, is always a pleasing picture, and one always feels full of joy to see the lads so willing to pass on to others the teaching one has been privileged to impart to them.