RABIA

No. 174 JANUARY-FEBRUARY-MARCH 1936

“BELLUMS" ON ASHAR CREEK IN FRONT OF MISSION PROPERTY

Annual Report of the Arabian Mission

_ for the Year 1935

E d ite d b y M r s . P a u l W . .H a r r is o n

Yale Divinity Library i New Haven, Conn. i i The Arabian Mission

REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA A n l 25 East 22nd Street, New York City

Officers of the Board of'Foreign M issions Rev. Edward Dawson, D. D., President F. M. Potter, L. H. D., Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer Rev. L. J. Shafer, Litt. D., Associate Secretary Rev. W. J. Van Kersen, D. D., District Secretary

MISSIONARIES Rev. James Cantine Stone Ridge, N. Y. Emeritus Rev. and Mrs. S. M. Zwemer Princeton, N. J. Retired Rev. and Mrs. F. J. Bamy Kuwait, via Iraq Evangelistic Work Rev. James E. Moerdyk Amarah, Iraq Evangelistic Work Rev. and Mrs. J. Van Ess Basrah, Iraq Educ. and Evan. Work Miss J. A. Scardefield 25 E. 22nd St., N. Y. C. Emeritus Miss Fanny Lutton Amarah, Iraq Emeritus Rev. and Mrs. D. Dykstra 174 W. 15th St., Holland, Mich. On Furlough Dr. and Mrs. C. S. G. Mylrea Kuwait, via Iraq Med. and Evan. Work Rev. and Mrs. G. J . Pennings Muscat, Arabia Evangelistic Work Dr. and Mrs. P. W. Harrison Muscat, Arabia Med. and Evan. Work Rev. and Mrs. G. D. Van Peursem Bahrain, Pers, Gulf Evan, and Med. Work *Mrs. Sharon J. Thoms Baghdad, Iraq Educational Work Miss Sarah L. Hosmon, M. D. Muscat, Arabia Medical Work Miss Charlotte B. Kellien Basrah, Iraq Educational Work Miss M. C. Van Pelt Kuwait, via Iraq Medical Work Dr. and Mrs. L. P. Dame Bahrain, Pers. Gulf Med. and Educ. Work Miss Ruth Jackson Basrah, Iraq Evangelistic Work Miss Rachel Jackson Basrah, Iraq Educational Work Miss Cornelia Dalenberg Amarah, Iraq Medical Work Rev. and Mrs. B. D. Hakken Bahrain, Pers. Gulf Evan, and Educ. Work Dr. and Mrs. W. J. Moerdyk Amarah, Iraq Med. and Evan. Work Dr. W. Harold Storm Bahrain, Pers. Gulf Medical Work Rev. and Mrs. George Gosselink Basrah, Iraq Evangelistic Work Dr. and Mrs. W. W. Thoms Bahrain, Pers. Gulf Med. and Evan. Work Miss Mary V. Bruins, M. D. Kuwait, via Iraq Language Study Mr. J. W. Beardslee Basrah, Iraq Educational Work Miss Esther I. Bamy, M. D., Bahrain, Pers. Gulf Medical Work Miss J ennie Bast Bahrain, Pers. Gulf Medical Work Add "Via Bombay” to address of Missionaries in Muscat. Postage to all Stations is 5 cents for first ounce, 3 cents for each additional ounce. A special air service is available for Stations in Iraq and Kuwait ensuring quicker delivery. Letters must be marked "Via Air Mail, London—Iraq" underscored in red ink. The Special Air rate is 7 cents for each half ounce in addition to above rates. The Arabian Mission which was organized in 1889 as a separate mission, was amal­ gamated with the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in America in 1925. The change did not affect the work in Arabia or the organization in the field, but concerned only office administration and legal status. All former contributions should be continued and sent to the Board of Foreign Missions. They may be specially designated "For Work in Arabia" if desired. ♦Member of the United Mission in Mesopotamia, in which we cooperate with the Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Church in the United States. N e g l e c t e d A r a b i a

Missionary News and Letters Published Quarterly

FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION AMONG THE FRIENDS OF THE ARABIAN MISSION

Annual Report of the Arabian Mission for the Year 1935 As God looks at Arabia it is a unit. The Arabs are His children who have not yet come to know Him as He is and to love Him. His heart yearns alike over the Bedou in his tent and the Pasha in his castle. But for the world Arabia is disintegrating, and even for us who are in the world but not of it the face of Arabia has changed. We see in it “econ­ omic developments,” “political divisions” and “social trends.” Muscat and Oman, lying at the extreme southern end of eastern Arabia, have as yet been untouched by the currents of world upheaval. Here old-fashioned and orthodox Mohammedanism obtains. Men pray and fast with minds undisturbed by worldly knowledge. No one travels, they are all too busy trying to eke out a meager existence. A young Sultan gladly accepts British authority. Only the few can read. No one asks any questions about the outside world. Bahrain and Kuwait are tiny, separate kingdoms. Protected by British warships they have been able to laugh at their enemies who would have swallowed them up. The British may be infidels but they >^are very useful. And now from the great West comes the likewise use- ^ ful prospector who draws oil from the depths of the sand. The Arab smiles as he sees the oil turn to gold. In his joy he forgets to pray and * fast and think of God. Thrice has Iraq celebrated its Independence Day. It is a member of the League of Nations. Iraq streets hum with the voices of school children. Men step into an airplane and visit Europe. World news is heard over wireless sets and printed in its newspapers. If the myth £ of Mohammedan greatness is gone so too is gone the myth of western £ goodness. Italy’s campaign in Africa proves that nations are ruled by <1 pride and greed. Iraq is filled with a desire for self expression and is ^ following the trail of Nationalism blazed by Turkey and Persia. In this Arabia that is so old and yet so new the Gospel of Christ is ^ being preached and lived. The past year thirty-three workers have " labored to bring the Good News—through the work of healing and the way of teaching, by the open Word and silent prayer. Out of the thirty reports submitted the following has been written in order to share with the church at home the joys and difficulties of the task. 4 NEGLECTED ARABIA

Muscat-Matrah Oman is a land of barren mountains where Bedouin tribes roam. It is also a land of fertile valleys where families live in date-stick houses. Dr. Hosman has answered the call of the villages. “My desire,” she writes, “is to select by prayer some important town that will give me access to a large area of villages, then to settle in that town and live^a normal missionary life among the people. In the dispensary my plan is to present Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and avoid all reference to their book and their Prophet. I try very earnestly to get their attention on the beauty of our Blessed Lord, on His Holiness, His purity, His love and the power of the Blood of Christ to cleanse. On Thursday afternoons when we received the women they came in numbers that filled and sometimes overflowed my hut.” On being requested by the ruler of Sohar to come and treat his wife, Dr. Hosmon left Khabura and spent a month in Sohar. There her Bible talks were listened to by Koran teachers, judges, sheikhs, mer­ chants and Bedouin. And in that same place this year three hundred Gospels have been taken by the people. This is the second year of the Knox Memorial Hospital and it has begun to draw patients from distant towns. It too has reached into the inland country. “In spite of unspeakable roads,” writes Dr. Harrison, “a weekly trip was made to Birka fifty miles west of Muscat.” A little room loaned by an Indian formed the dispensary. Homes were visited by other members of the missionary staff. A month was spent in Sur eighty miles to the south. It took four days in a sailboat to get there and as many more to return. Settled in a native house they received the sick and the needy. Women as well as men were operated upon and treated. The work was so successful that a yearly visit to Sur is planned. Everywhere poverty is the burden of the people. Children are thin and stunted by undernourishment. Women and babies die by the scores. Men are old before their time. The whole population is ravaged by malaria and eye diseases. Dr. Harrison says that never before has he seen such a large ulcer clinic. With Mrs. Harrison helping, women and children come to the morn­ ing clinic in greater numbers. This work gives her an opportunity to get acquainted with the women of Matrah. She finds them not only willing to take quinine but also ready to be friendly and hospitable. Dr. Storm is on an extended tour along the western and southern coasts of Arabia. After a busy time in Taif he has carried out a splendid project of exploration and medical work in the Yemen, Hadramaut and Dhufar. Mrs. Dykstra writes of house visitation, Bible lessons and entertain­ ing in her own home. She asks our prayers for some who have attended services regularly and have shown a desire to learn of Christ. The darkness of ignorance and fear and prejudice is great. “Somehow,” she writes, “there has been that silent, unexpressed yet stolid opposition to being influenced.” Reading lessons have been given and to each one who has learned even a little there has opened a new world of ex­ periences and it has brought food for their starved souls. NEGLECTED ARABIA 5

“Evangelistic work among men has been encouraging,” writes Mr. Dykstra. The morning service in Muscat has had a small but regular and appreciative audience. A Sunday School for boys and girls pre­ ceded this service and an adult class for men followed it. The after­ noon service in Matrah has had an average attendance of sixty. We thank God with unspeakable gratitude that the object of all these activities is being realized before our eyes. The earnest group of four open Christians has grown in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Classes for Christian instruction have been given. A weekly social night has been useful and very enjoyable. They pray and work together and we with them. God is being glorified in their lives and enquirers are being drawn into their radiant circle. Bahrain In the flourishing city of Bahrain the extent and volume of the medical work has continued to expand until, as Dr. Thoms says, “We wonder which will break first, our buildings or our staff. We are clearly coming to a critical time when either we will have to expend a large sum of money to enlarge and repair our medical plant and increase our staff or seriously curtail our work. This past year shows a con­ siderable increase over the previous year in number of in-patients, out- calls, operations and clinic patients. During five months of the past year our staff was divided into two units, one in Bahrain and one in Nejd. For one month we were three units, the third being in Katar.” About a year ago several citizens of Hidd asked us to open a dis­ pensary in their town. It is a diving town and most of the inhabitants are destitute, undernourished and diseased. A merchant offered the use of an empty storeroom on the main street for our clinic and we started in. It was a combined evangelistic and medical project. While the doctor got out his medicines the evangelist read a portion of scrip­ ture, gave a short talk and prayer. Hidd has been noted for its fanat­ icism but never has anyone made a disturbance or shown any disrespect to the preacher or his message. Sheikh Hamad sent a voluntary contribution of three hundred rupees to help with the expense. The prolonged tour into central Arabia was of primary importance. “The tremendous change,” writes Dr. Dame, “that has come over Riadh and Nejd generally can perhaps best be illustrated by comparing the treatment accorded the first doctors and the first preacher. The doctors visited there in 1917, 1919, 1921, 1923. Though welcomed for their medicines they were cursed and reviled and sometimes spat upon. On this trip the preacher had the freedom of the city. No stones were thrown at him neither was he cursed. That does not mean that his message was accepted. It means that bigotry is decreasing.” After some weeks in Riadh the doctor and the evangelist and his wife went on to Hail and Aneiza. Aneiza had been visited in 1924 but never before had anyone of the mission been as far as Hail. Since the Women’s hospital is still without a woman doctor a large share of the women’s medical work has fallen on the shoulders of Mrs. Van Peursem. It is earnestly hoped that a woman doctor can be sent 6 NEGLECTED ARABIA out so that Mrs. Van Peursem can be left free to her appointed position of supervisor of nursing and also to give her more opportunity to use her friendship with women in evangelistic work. In* commenting on his trip to Riadh and Hail Mr. Van Peursem writes, “A minister should accompany the doctor if Government per­ mits. The minister’s presence gives a religious as well as moral tone to the tour and he can answer scores of questions that the doctor has not time to answer or even hear about. Our ways need a lot of ex­ plaining.’’ Seventy Moslem girls are receiving a Christian education in our Girls’ School in Bahrain. Mrs. Dame writes, “We feel we are giving a comprehensive, substantial, practical and cultural course adapted to the needs of our pupils. We only wish all our pupils would finish this much education before their marriage or leaving school. It is safe to say that most of the women on the Islands have nothing near the attainment of even our third grade requirements, so that a sixth grade pupil is equivalent to a college graduate comparatively speaking. With her characteristic energy and resourcefulness Mrs. Dame has erected a large date-stick room for the kindergarten and first grade. It has re­ lieved the over crowding and greatly increased peace and order. “English instruction was again the attraction this past year in our Boys’ School,’’ writes Mr. Hakken. “It is impossible for anyone to get a position as clerk these days except he knows English. The Oil Com­ pany has accepted five of our boys and one has gone with the Company to Hassa. For another year the Gospel has been faithfully taught. It is interesting to note that the longer the boys stay in school the less they resent Christian teachings. It is the new boys that have the most objections and feel most confident in Islam.” A real Christian community is growing in Bahrain. “Once a month,” writes Mrs. Hakken, “we have what at home would be called a con­ gregational meeting. We gather in the men’s mejlis for our social time and we usually expect fifty-five, including children. Two of these ‘get togethers’ were after the marriages of our converts. Two wedding were witnessed by large audiences and Moslem friends were deeply impressed by the solemn ceremony.” Three school girls were baptized and two more are asking for baptism. A building has been remodeled for the orphanage and Um Miriam is in charge. Being near the hospital many women stop there to see the Orphanage and visit Um Miriam, whose radiant life is a glorious witness to Christ. Beside the regular Sunday services a weekly inspirational service has been held. It has maintained its high level of communion and fellow­ ship. It gives opportunity for the new Christians to express them­ selves. At the beginning of another year we ask the prayers of our friends for the ten converts and the five inquirers. The Lord hath wrought a great work in our station. We feel confident that the Great Shepherd of the sheep will guide and keep His little flock in the future. NEGLECTED ARABIA 7

Kuwait The large city of Kuwait has found a way out of its poverty and loss olrtrade by smuggling. “During, the summer/’ writes Mr. Barny, “it was said that ten thousand bags of sugar alone went out from here monthly. No wonder that neighboring countries protest bitterly. The long looked for oil development came a step nearer when the concession was signed but there is no news as to when operations are to begin. This year the pearl season brought little profit.” While the reading room in the Bible shop is a popular place sales of Scriptures or religious books have been small. Orders have been issued to school teachers to forbid their pupils buying our books. Men and women still attend the Sunday service in the rented building next to the bazaar. Their voluntary attendance and interest is encouraging.

A STREET SCENE, KUWAIT Courtesy of Dr. Paul G. Culley .

Mr. Barny has two classes in school work, enrolling twenty-one boys. He reminds us that with the coming of the Oil Company a knowledge of English will be an asset to the young men of Kuwait, and if the Mission could occupy the field with a good school this is the time to do so. A few young girls of Kuwait are not content to be uneducated and unlearned. While their friends are at the hospital they sit with Mrs. Mylrea and learn to read and write. On Sundays a few women leave their work to listen to Bible readings and talks. One woman has to make excuses to get away from her mistress. “I do not want to lie for 8 NEGLECTED ARABIA

I know that God would not be pleased, but if I tell where I have been they will arrange my work so that I cannot go on errands on Sunday.” Telling the Gospel story at the hospital dispensary is also a part of Mrs. Mylrea’s work. Of her medical work Miss Van Pelt writes, “The city of Kuwait is not so fanatical as it once was but it is more demanding, more conscious of us as a missionary hospital . . . and it will not be ignored. The willingness of women to stay in the hospital during confinement and for problems of infant feeding is very gratifying. Twelve hundred vaccinations is a figure which speaks for itself. Six years ago scarcely two dozen families would accept this service, but since Kuwait laid some four thousand children under the ground ¿luring the smallpox epidemic of 1932 they have come to be more willing to believe that vaccination out of smallpox season may not be in vain. There have been a great many Bedouin in and out of Kuwait these past months. Several thousand tents were pitched at the wells of Jahra. As ever medical Work is but the bridge, the wedge. Years have given priviledges of friendship so that there are times when one can share his Christ.” “The past year has been the busiest in the history of medical work for men in Kuwait,” writes Dr. Mylrea. “During the hot month of June nearly thirty-five hundred treatments were given. The women of Kuwait are at last beginning to tolerate and even welcome the services of a man doctor,; This year some thirteen obstetrical and gynecological operations were performed. One obstetrical case was a wife of a member of the royal family." Accidents happen even in Kuwait, and Dr. Mylrea describes a typical one. Some men from the desert were in town to buy gunpowder. The leader of the party was in a shop inspecting a sample. The shopkeeper claimed it was English gunpowder, so to test the claim the buyer re­ sorted to the customary experiment. Pouring out a small quantity into the palm of his hand he put a match to it. If it had been English gunpowder it would have burned away so rapidly that the palm would not have been burned but as it was some cheap imitation it burned slowly and scorched the buyer's hand. Apparently in pain or in anger or both he shook the smouldering powder off his hand. The embers fell into a large box full of gunpowder. An explosion followed, killing four men outright and blowing out the front of the shop. Some eighteen men were brought to the hospital. Nine of them died within a day or~ two including both owners of the shop and the buyer. The nine survivors kept two men busy all afternoon for some weeks doing endless dressings. The results were excellent, albeit some of them were rather piebald in colouring when they left the hospital. NEGLECTED ARABIA 9

Basrah While Dr. and Mrs. Van Ess were on leave in America Mr. and Mrs. Pennings were stationed in Basrah. Speaking of the fast changing Basrah Mr. Pennings comments as follows: “The Islamic religion is less evident than in any of our other stations. All last year I hardly ever heard the voice of the muedhin; it is as though the roar of progress and business drowns out his voice. Islam is still a mighty factor, how­ ever, in the social life of the people for it is a kind of badge of national­ ism. Many who pay little attention to the demands of their religion become bitterly antagonistic when they see anyone desire to become a Christian. Our colporteur reports that this year his work in the date gardens has been harder than ever before. From some he was shut out; in others he was openly opposed while in others he was pelted with dates. This last he had never experienced before.” While there may be less fanaticism in the city it is just as hard to reach the people as ever. The more enlightened consider religious discussions or zeal for it out of date. The common people live in the same thought systems of years ago. Bible sales are not high, most portions being bought by Government school boys. Mrs. Pennings and Mrs. Gosselink co-operated in all the work in Ashar, and the Bible woman gave part time. The Thursday afternoon evangelistic meetings for women were attended by forty or fifty. The sewing club for girls has also continued to flourish. The gifts of warm clothing and dolls were much appreciated by the girls and women. While the women as a whole were socially friendly there was no oppor­ tunity to teach regular Bible lessons to individuals. Ruth Jackson has continued her club work with girls in Basrah city. The sewing that the girls completed was shown to mothers and friends at an exhibition in May. When school closed at the end of June the girls were unwilling to stop, so their classes continued a few weeks longer. The groups divide themselves according to need. Some small girls who are sent on other days to read the Koran come Fridays to the Mission for their games, sewing and Bible lessons. There they learn to wash their faces, brush their hair, talk without swearing and have their eyes treated. Another group consists of girls too big to go to school (12-15). They not only tell Bible stories but also learn hymns and passages. Some village girls come on Wednesdays. When they leave they not only carry a warm feeling in their hearts but a tin of free water on their heads. With Miss Kellien and Rachel Jackson working in the Girls’ school we know that many a poor girl in Basrah is getting a chance to live a new life. And because most of the girls are poor and because dirt and germs flourish with poverty there is a daily inspection of ears, hands and clothing-—with sometimes a necessary head cleaning. Writes Miss Kellien, “Wre are here to minister to their needs even when they present problems outside the usual school routine. For girls who will be allowed only two or three years in school we try to make the lessons as practical as possible, adding health talks and plain sewing to the three R’s, singing, kindergarten work and Bible lessons. We ask your prayers for these seventy girls.’’ 10 NEGLECTED ARABIA

Mr. Rylaarsdam postponed his furlough for a year in order to help Mr. Gosselink in the Boys’ school. Mr. Pennings also taught three Bible classes. “Being in charge of the school,” writes Mr. Gosselink,” "has given me a great appreciation for the amount of thought and effort that must have been expended to bring the school to its present position.” ~ One young man who was in school a few years ago came to read some books from the small Christian Literature Library. After reading one book indifferently he felt a desire for another. After devouring all there were he then asked to be permitted to have private lessons in the evenings. Mr. Rylaarsdam Y Sunday School class of fifteen boys met regularly. On Friday evenings nine or ten young men met with Mr. Gosselink for prayer meetings. Later on that group asked for another meeting more in the form of a church service. Because there did not1 seem to be a time when they could all get together on Sunday they met on Tuesday evening in the chapel. These meetings provided a chance for real spiritual self expression. Five of this group are earnest and sincere enquirers. Amarah Up in Amarah the pleasant compound with its well built hospital, chapel and house overlooks the Tigris river. Five years ago the Wo­ men’s hospital began its work and now there are few women in the town itself and in the surrounding villages who have not in one way or another come in touch with the Mission. This year thirty-four out of the one hundred and fourteen obstetrical cases attended came to the hospital. Some were brought in from out-lying villages by boat, or horseback or taxi—most in a precarious condition. This past summer Miss Dalen- berg specialized in work with babies to help them through the long hot months. Seventeen women and one child are being treated in the leper

RELIGIOUS CENTER, AMARAH NEGLECTED ARABIA 11 colony. A large central hut serves as a meeting place for treatments and daily preaching service. One woman has asked for baptism. Miss Lutton spent much time in the hospital and helped in Sunday School. The convert who came from Basrah last year has been tireless in teaching and preaching. On Sunday mornings after the church service four converts and enquirers met with Miss Dalenberg for Bible study and prayer. She also gave lessons to the sixteen year old daughter of the Basrah convert who last year vowed she would never go to Amarah with her Christian mother and father. She came, however and soon asked to be a follower of Christ. Working in the hospital she has learned the lesson of Christian service, a very hard lesson for a Moslem to learn and a very powerful one for others to see. This year Dr. Moerdyk rejoices in a greatly improved staff of hospital helpers. Two young Christians have been taken on as dressers. They have commended their humble service to the Moslems in the dispensary and wards. The leper colony which Dr. Moerdyk started a few years ago has grown to the capacity of the camp. Out of the forty-six men the one who shows the most marked signs of recovery and is very close to a complete cure is the one who also claims that Christ has healed him from the leprosy of sin. A fire one hot day in July completely destroyed the camp of date-stick huts. But with the help of friends it was built up again. The Arab’s belief in hypodermic injections is shown by the fact that over three thousand came for their “needle.” Statistics show a high incidence of bilharzia, venereal diseases, dysentery, tuberculosis and malaria. The Government has established dispensaries in a number of places among the tribe Arabs. Most dispensaries are in charge of dressers, while two small towns boast of a doctor between them. In addition a doctor has been appointed whose main duty is to spend his time among the Marsh Arabs. While the routine work of preaching and holding classes has gone on in a satisfactory manner, Mr. Moerdyk writes that the country has been closed for trips among other towns. Uprisings along the Euphrates necessitated martial law for a while. This had its effect on the Tigris side, and police insisted that there should be no visits or travel without their special permission. In spite of this the colporteur made two short trips down the Tigris and part way up the Euphrates. Daily preaching in the leper camp has been followed by the conversion and profession in Christ by two of the patients. Mr. Moerdyk asks our prayers and sympathy for them as they endure the opposition of their fellow patients. In the year that lies before us we know we face new and great opportunities. The need for spiritual power and divine guidance has never seemed so great. We ask the friends at home to uphold us with their prayers and intercession. PERSONALIA

Dr. Esther Barny, after an extended stay in this country; has returned to Arabia under an appointment which it is hoped may become permanent, all expenses at the present time being met on the field. Dr. Barny sailed M arch 17th, following by one month Miss Jennie Bast who sailed under_a similar appointment February 18th. Miss Lutton, Miss Rachel J ackson and Miss Dalenberg are returning to this country this spring, stopping for a short time in Europe en route. The party sailed from Beirut April 11th and will arrive about M ay 10th on the S.S. HANSA. Miss Ruth Jackson has taken up her work in Bahrain. Rev. and Mrs. George Gosselink, who are returning on furlough this year, will arrive in.New York May 13th on the S.S. EXOCHORDA of the American Export Line. Charles George, the youngest of their three children, was baptised at Christmas time by Dr. Van Ess in Basrah. Arrangements have beeri made for Mr. and Mrs. Hakken to join the United Mission in Mesopotamia, with assignment to Baghdad^ after their furlough which is due this spring. The date of their sailing is not yet known, nor is that of Dr. and Mrs. Dame who are also expected home. Special memorial services were held in the Mission chapels in Kuwait and Bahrain on the day of the burial of H. M. King George V. Mr. Van Peursem was in charge of the service in Bahrain where about 125 attended, including the Sheikh, his two brothers and the Crown Prince. Dr. Mylrea’s brother, Rev. Clarence Mylrea, was in charge of the service in Kuwait.