Mendi, 1952
In the first full year with the new staff in Mendi, the mission group had to stay in the area close to Unjamap because the government patrol officers thought that it was not safe yet to go further away. They were busy with new buildings for a small hospital. Rev Roland Barnes and his wife Miriam came to work in Mendi with Gordon Young. Roland Barnes was another experienced minister. Between 1948 and 1951, he worked in New Guinea Islands Region, at Pinikidu on New Ireland.
Roland Barnes wrote about the building work, and about the young men who were interested in the mission:
“Our relationships with the people are improving continually. Today’s attendance at school was with 48 children. During last week and this, we have been erecting temporary hospital buildings (round houses each with a diameter of 28 feet). We need accommodation for patients coming in, which there have been quite a number, and because there have been some cases of dysentery, including deaths in the surrounding areas. This now seems to be on the wane. The people are supplying timber without cost and are working on the buildings without pay.
A considerable number of young men from near and far have come wanting to live here and go to school, but as yet we are unable to take many as boarders. The committee felt that we could well take advantage of improving relationships and begin to station teachers out in the new areas in the near future. Our station program here is a heavy one for this year. The present school will take the full-time of at least one teacher.
We are beginning to form a group of young men who will receive special attention with a view to their being our first helpers and teachers from this area. This will take most of the time of another teacher. A large part of the of the time of another, we anticipate will be spent in assisting Mr. Johnston in the agricultural work. Timoti Newai is fully engaged with pit sawing. Our building program is still heavy and though Mendis will be doing all the blind-making, there is a great deal that can be done only by teachers or Europeans.”
Sister Joyce Walker was slowly gaining the trust of some Mendi people with her medical work. In 1952, she wrote:
“At last the people seem to have grasped the idea of why we are here and just what help and blessing modern medicine can be to them. Even if at present, they wonder why, we feel the time will come when we will be able to speak of Jesus, whom we represent, and so bring to those who seek healing the full blessing of the gospel.
About eight weeks ago, a ‘boss boy’ of some importance in an area about six hours’ walk away, was wounded in the jaw by an arrow and was sent to us by the patrol officers for treatment. He progressed very well, and when discharged spread the story of his healing far and near. While he was here on the station, we showed him a motherless baby, who is living with us, being bottle fed and cared for, which was found in a nearby hamlet, almost starved to death. He was very interested in the baby, and its story, particularly in the method of supplying nourishment per bottle.
When he went home, he sent in a young lad, a relative of his about six years old, so wasted and emaciated with dysentery and pneumonia, that he weighed only 18 pounds. Many a child of six months weighs as much as that. The people who brought the child said, ‘It is going to die, it is nearly dead now’, but Kiluwa, the boss boy said, ‘If only we got him to you in time you could make him live’. To us this seemed a heaven-sent opportunity, and in spite of all outward appearances, we felt blessing would result from this act of confidence. So, with a fervent prayer for help, we assured the people that he would live. Looks of amazement passed over their faces as they said to each other, ‘She says he will live’.
We worked and prayed as never before, and not only did the child live, but gained 3 pounds of weight a week, and before long, was walking about and eating, something it had not done for months. This to them was a miracle and word soon spread. People came from near and far to see the evidence and wondered.”
The teacher Elsie Wilson was working in the school with the pastor-teacher Setepano Nabwakulea. She was also doing her best to learn the Mendi language. Elsie Wilson was the most skilled at this work of the mission group, and David Johnston also did well with speaking Mendi Angal. By the middle of 1952, Elsie Wilson sent a list of Mendi Angal words to Sydney, and the General Secretary passed this list to an important linguist, Dr Capell, at University of Sydney. This was the first survey of a language in the Southern Highlands. The newcomers discovered that this language was very difficult and complex, with several different dialects between the north and the south of the valley.
Margaret Reeson, 2023
Sources:
Rev Roland Barnes, The Missionary Review May 1952, Page 9
Sister Joyce Walker, The Missionary Review, May 1952
Missionary Review, August 1952
Margaret Reeson 