Visit to Umzumbe, September 3, 2008
From our e-mail to Athol Congregational Church reporting on our visit to Umzumbe Congregational Church, UCCSA:
Sanibona, Athol! Greetings from Durban, where it’s Monday morning. We are back in the city after our journey yesterday, a hundred miles south down the Indian Ocean coast to ‘your church’ at Umzumbe. It was a long day, but under the bright early Spring’s sun and with the chance to revisit what we think to be one of the most beautiful settings among the old American mission churches here, it was a very good one.
We have made the drive down to Umzumbe at least once, sometimes more, each year since 2004, so are familiar with the route along the superhighway for the larger part and then cutting onto the old coastal road that winds through the beachside communities, to where one of the dirt and gravel roads cuts inland into the hills through the sugar cane fields up into the valley of the Umzumbe River. And we thought we had a handle on the likely time for the drive, so with the service at Umzumbe stated to be at “10:30 for 11:00” as they say, we were assuming we’d get there a bit after the 10:30 initial gathering time, giving us time to mingle and compare notes on our participation in the service for this Sunday before things got underway around 11:00.
However. When we pull down the offramp from the superhighway onto the old coastal road, all goes well until, right in the middle of the little beach town of Hibberdene, the road is blocked because a bridge is out. We are immediately reminded of the very bad floods which this area of the province in particular experienced during the last rainy season. There is a detour set up, which we follow hopefully. This sends us through second-home residential areas, back across the (no access) highway and then inland up to a cross road which we think might – but there are no signs, and we’re not sure – intersect, somewhere, with one of the cane roads that runs southward towards Umzumbe, maybe. But we’re not quite that brave, so when the detour turns back to the coast we follow it and, eventually and some 20 kilometers or so on, we rejoin the old coastal road at a point no more than several football fields’ length south of where we’d been blocked by the damaged bridge. At least we were on the other side of the bridge. There aren’t that many roads down here, it is clear.
We continue from there on the route we’re familiar with, but when we then turn inland on the dirt and gravel road that we know well as leading to Umzumbe, we see more evidence of the effect of the torrential rains that caused the flooding and, presumably, knocked out the bridge at Hibberdene. This road has been worked on quite a bit recently, but it’s remedial work at best. You can see large areas where dirt has been gouged out of nearby hillsides to repack the roadbed, and on some of the steeper slopes of the road it’s quite an adventure to contemplate our little rented Nissan slipping into the side ditch, which is more like a gully, or side canyon, also wondering whether this all might constitute taking the car ‘off road’ so as to make the rental company unhappy. There’s also been quite a bit of scraping done on the road, to reset the roadbed, but an upshot of that is that rocks and boulders are now coming through the surface, so it is somewhat like driving a north woods road after a frost heave. And we’re trying to make up time, so it’s an exciting drive. It’s thankfully dry, as we’d never make it up some of these hills in the wet, but if the church members at Umzumbe were looking out from the hill on which the church sits, they’d be able to see us coming from quite a distance by the following dust cloud in our wake.
So it seems to be further, this trip, than we recall. But eventually, from a couple of rises away, we spot the old Bridgman mission house, behind which is where the mission church building sits. We cross the couple of one-lane low bridges (still in place) spanning the branches of the Umzumbe river at the bottom of the valley, and then pull up the rutted driveway towards the church, as we hear the singing from inside the church. There are a few cars parked around on the grass, and no one outside. Almost unprecedented in our visits to Zulu churches, we’re late. Mrs. Edith Dlamini, the late minister’s widow and still very much the ‘mother of the church’, is standing by the side door as a lookout, and comes down to greet us. We apologize for our lateness, but hadn’t known about the bridge …
We come into the sanctuary, and up the aisle to greet us comes Louis Gumede, the church’s (elected) Secretary. Same explanation. Nods of understanding. We have with us in two boxes the packages for the confirmands, and there are brief discussions with Mr. Gumede and Mrs. Dlamini, to one side as singing proceeds from the gathered congregation.
We are not actually late for the worship service as such. As we know from the moment we see the congregation inside mainly attired in the khaki uniforms of Amabutho with only a few Isililo and Iziphika members in their white, this is designated as a ‘Soldiers of Christ’ organization Sunday, and it quickly comes clear that they’ve started the day with that organization’s meeting. Amabutho ka Krestu – literally, Soldiers of Christ – is sometimes referred to as a men’s group; Isililo – ‘the bloused ones’ – being the women’s group; in the rural churches especially, while men are usually only members of Amabutho, women are often members of both, and there will be more women than men in the Amabutho ranks and they can serve as officers. At Umzumbe, in fact, the Captain of the local group is Mrs. Dlamini.
The numbers present in the church, the benches being full, suggested that it is a general gathering for the Circuit, and there will be people present from the outstation branches as well as those who regularly attend the central church. And during the meeting, there’s a sort of roll call of the branch churches, to count the attendance from each. As their branch name is called, one of them will start up a chorus, which they first and then the assembly sing as the Amabutho officers count and record that branch’s attendance numbers in a notebook at the front table. It’s a particularly fun time for us as visitors, as each branch seeks to outdo the other in the appropriateness of their choice of chorus, and the vigor with which they lead the entire congregation in their chosen music.
After the Amabutho meeting has concluded, we were informed by Mr. Gumede that it is our time, take as long as we wish. We’ve been reasonably short, in context, during the church visits here this year, as we’re not making a long explanatory presentation about the church to church connection effort nor seeking to preach. And while we do have a few things we have wished to say to bring greetings to each church here on behalf of their relationship church in the US, as well as our personal greetings and some words of witness, even taking as long as we wish, it isn’t very long as such things are seen here. We had an additional, special task this day, however: the delivery of the confirmand Bibles from Athol.
Jan took the responsibility to array these 21 packages, each marked with a label for a confirmand on the list that Claudia had provided to Judy, on top of the front table in the sanctuary, as the congregation acknowledged the transition in the proceedings with a chorus.
We’ll provide pictures, once we’re home, of the packages and from the day, but for now here’s a description of what had been brought as gifts to the Umzumbe church to provide to the confirmands:
We had prepared bookplates with a picture of the Athol church and the legend “Presented by Athol Congregational Church to a new friend in Christ at Umzumbe – September 2008” and the recipient’s name. Each bag in which the materials were presented had one of these bookplates on the outside, and inside each was a Zulu language copy of the Holy Bible – Ibhayibheli Elngcwele -- with one of the bookplates affixed to the front flyleaf; one of the congratulatory letters/cards/Sunday School cards from Athol; a color copy of Judy and Skip’s explanatory brochure; and for the boys their Bible marks (with glass cross) with their name on the back, and for the girls a picture of a Bible mark with a note that a mark (with beaded cross) is coming from the US (the marks for the girls are in the mail to here from Judy).
Jan began by speaking one of the few phrases he’s fully confident of in Zulu, words of greeting in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and launched into a brief rendition of the ‘Ibandla lami linge lakho’ chorus. Then, with Mr. Gumede as translator for those in the congregation who were less comfortable with English, Jan greeted your friends at Umzumbe on your behalf, and announced the special purpose of this visit. He first explained that the packages with the Bibles were a gift from the Athol church to the Umzumbe church intended for the confirmands at Umzumbe, as a way of sharing in this important step in the faith journey of the young people of the church also here. And the ties between you and them are beautifully described in the brochure, which as read aloud explained the significance of the cloth for the Bible marks and the trim, and the cards and letters. Jan also explained the efforts and leadership of Judy Wirth in crafting the Bible marks (and the brochure), and spoke of the many children and young people who’d taken part in crafting the cards and writing the notes and letters of congratulation, and of how the funds to purchase the Zulu Bibles when we got to KZN had come through the Vacation Bible School offering that evening in early August when we visited Athol, and the memorial contribution from the family of Marge Porter. (We are contemporaneously sending a picture and note by air mail to Robert Porter.)
After all had been explained and one of the bags opened and an example of each of the separate items displayed for all to see, it was time for the handover on your behalf to Mr. Gumede as the officer of the church and Mrs. Dlamini as confirmation teacher. We prayed thanks for the love and work of all at Athol in the creation of these items, and for the way in which this demonstrates your love of God and his Word, as well as the special connection you have with the people at Umzumbe. We prayed God’s blessing upon the confirmands who would receive these Bibles, that they might, with access to the Word, find guidance and strength for their faith journey and their joining with others here and at Athol in the full life of the one church.
We had not known, before we’d arrived this day, whether the confirmands for whom the 21 packages were intended would be in attendance. But there they were, almost all of those on the list, including not only young people from the central church but from the outstation branches as well. The packages were presented by Mrs. Dlamini and Mr. Gumede to each confirmand, who came to the front as Jan moved aside to take some photos of the event. One of those honored was Simphiwe Dlamini, who is Mrs. Dlamini’s and the late minister’s grandson, who was seen using his new Bible later during the service; she asked for a special photo with him. There were only a couple of Bibles unclaimed this day, and these will be kept by Claudia Cele to assure their delivery.
There was applause as the confirmands returned to their seats. Jan started another short chorus, to set the mood for our personal greetings and moments of witness. For this, Mr. Gumede motioned to the lady who we’ve seen translate for our missionary friend Scott Couper, the outgoing acting minister, in prior years. Jan and then Ruthann spoke with her assistance as translator. After Ruthann had spoken and given a closing prayer, we were done. And THEN the worship service began.
This was a service led by the Amabutho members, so besides a number of hymns, prayers, and the offering, a short time for church announcements to be read out, and a homily by Mr. Gumede, there was scripture reflection and witness by two of the Amabutho, and – we were thinking how many of these we’ve seen, over the years – a ceremony to accept new members of the organization who’d completed their probationary period. This last involves their bringing their uniforms to be blessed, and then retiring from the church to change into this garb, returning with much singing and joy to receive their membership pins and be welcomed with the right hand of fellowship into this evangelistic group which is one of the backbones of the life of the church here. The singing around this tends to be particularly lively.
In the end, there was a conclusion, and at Mr. Gumede’s request Jan delivered the benediction. This was the short Zulu ‘the Lord bless you and keep you’ that you’ve heard at Athol as well. And in the manner of the churches here, the choral response was an Amen sung by the congregation.
We met a number of folks after church, including the head deacon from the Odeke outstation, which has been aligned with the Royalston churches but with communications often a difficulty there. Ruthann had been trying, for some time, to reach the Sunday school teacher at that church, but without success, and through others including the deacon, it had been hoped that the message about our being at Umzumbe that day would have reached her. But Goodness Jeza had not made it to the central church that day. While we were there the deacon tried to call Goodness on his phone as well, but still no luck. We hope that she’ll hear about the visit.
Perhaps she will, by a different means. While we were outside, a young man in the uniform we think of Amadodana (“the sons”), the youth auxiliary of Amabutho, came up to us and spoke to us, very softly. Honestly, we at first couldn’t figure out whether he was speaking English or Zulu; it is a difficulty we’ve encountered from time to time, more so in the rural areas, that particularly where they don’t use English every day, folks will speak it sometimes very well but only in a whisper, perhaps because unsure of themselves. Anyway, we asked him to speak up, and he did a little bit but not enough, and it sounded like he’d switched to Zulu. And he pointed back at the church. And we weren’t sure whether he was asking us to come back for the meal, or what. We were at a loss, but just as he was turning away, Jan spotted Mrs. Dlamini and asked her to come over to help out.
With her help we learned that he’d been asking for his Bible. Oh, so he was one of those on the list? Neither we nor Mrs. Dlamini had the list at hand, and she didn’t think so, though she didn’t know each of the confirmands from all of the branches so wasn’t sure. He was from Odeke, and his name was Mfanafuthi Ngwati. Mrs. Dlamini figured he was just in the Sunday school there, and had misunderstood about the Bibles. But the name sounded vaguely familiar, and we went back inside to check the undistributed Bibles, and yes, there was one designated for Mfanafuthi Ngwati. He had evidently arrived late for the service (it is quite a ways from Odeke, and timing can be difficult with minibus taxis as the means of transport) and had missed the distribution. But he now received his Bible, and a separate explanation of the contents and their significance, and had his picture taken with his package from Athol.
As we gathered our last materials to prepare to leave, we were invited to join in the meal prepared for the day. With the usual fare of a beef stew and chicken available, served on rice, with mashed butternut squash (‘pumpkin’ here), beets, and coleslaw as sides, with juice to drink, this sort of meal will generally be provided when there’s a service gathering folks from across the circuit, since many of them have long journeys to and from the central church. As did we, and as guests we were asked to sit at the table with the deacons. It had, by this time, been a while since breakfast, and while we’d snuck a nutrigrain bar during one of the hymns, it was helpful to have this sustenance before, at around 3 p.m., we waved goodbye and headed back down the rutted drive from the church and swung back onto the dirt road towards the sea.
When we reached Umhlanga, north of Durban where we’re staying, it was almost dusk. It was a long day, but a very good one. We are blessed to have the opportunity to visit places such as Umzumbe, and more blessed still to worship there. The singing, which we can hear in our memory still, was to warm the soul. It penetrates deep, and strengthens. It is good to have come, if only for a short while, to this other church home.
Our best to all at Athol. Thank you, so much, for the vigor of your mission, including through your relationship with ‘your church’ at Umzumbe. – Jan and Ruthann.
P.S. – This is a long message, but it’s text rather than graphics, so easier on the somewhat uncertain internet access we’ve got during this year’s visit. So you’ll forgive us if we defer sending pictures and such from the visit until we’re back in the States. We’ll be back in a few weeks, now. We’re hoping to get this message off to you sometime during the day on Monday.
Ibandla lami linge lakho / My church is your church
Ruthann and Jan Tore Hall