The Dark Continent: A Lusty Saga set in Colonial Africa by Ron Dawes

Author:Ron Dawes [Dawes, Ron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-11-30T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

After the war, Aston was reassigned to a mission in the Belgian Congo, one of the few protestant missions in BC, where the need for health care and education was great. A missionary was often the primary source of health care for the surrounding area, and the only source of education, and the Catholic missions were unable to provide for the vast territory. There were only a little over three thousand Belgians living in the country, with an estimated twenty million natives.

There were estimates that as many as ten million more natives had died in the pre-war period, under the hand of King Leopold II, due primarily to illnesses contracted from the Europeans, or from insect borne diseases contracted in the forced labor camps. However, huge strides had been made in health care for the natives.

It had been learned as early as 1903 that the sleeping sickness, responsible for so many of the deaths, was caused by the bite of the tsetse fly, and a drug had finally been introduced which could treat the disease without the side effects of the previous, arsenic based treatment. Aston received regular shipments of the drug, Suramin, and much of his time was spent plying the rivers, treating the natives who were forced to work in areas infested with tsetse flies, and simultaneously spreading the word of God.

They were much happier than previously; they had a social network with other white settlers, who were primarily administrators, either with governmental agencies or private companies. The mission thrived, serving a huge number of people in the nearby villages. It was a wild, beautiful area that few white people had ever set eyes upon until very recently, full of beautiful mountains, rivers and jungles.

Aston’s Bantu and Swahili were polished, and he could deliver his sermons with a flair that he had previously lacked. One of Elizabeth’s native piano student proved to be a prodigy, and was able to play traditional African tunes by ear, while translating and adapting the words from the Methodist Hymnbook to the tunes.

During the worship services, the building shook with the stomping, clapping, and singing of the natives. When Aston delivered his fiery oratory, the people stomped at his strong points, and booed loudly when he described sin or evil or mentioned Satan. The services were some of the most raucous, yet inspiring that Elizabeth had ever attended. Aston was at the height of his powers, and his congregation continued to grow quickly.

Aston asked for, and received, a grant of land from the Belgian government that would effectively double the size of the compound. Natives from the congregation helped build a new perimeter wall and several additional buildings. The new chapel held twice as large a congregation. When it was done, they retrofitted the old chapel to be used as an orphanage, which was badly needed.

The African Inland Mission sent a constant stream of supplies for the burgeoning mission, including clothes, school supplies, medical supplies, diapers and more. They were excited by Aston’s success, and invited him back to America.

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