| OCR Text |
Show _ 2 - of taking the school to the laymen and training them in their own environment and it is quite the happiest experience yet. In the first place we went, there were few Christians and many bandits who lived there and life, for the people, was one round of fear, suspicion, quarreling and worry. In the second place, life was safer but there was a great deal of anti-Christian feeling and opposition to the church and many families forbade their children to come near us and, while many became increasingly friendly, even to the end of the time, as we would go down the street, some folks would just disappear rather than speak to us. But in Fu Jen Chai there is a large group of splendid Christians and they have the wholehearted sympathy and support of the whole village. It was a joy to work there for the folks are so enthusiastic and appreciative and ready to cooperate in anything you suggest and so considerate and kindly to us and each other. So far, where we have been we have not had a regular organized school but we have tried to study the needs of the town and church and do whatever needs doing most. For instance, when we went to Fu Jen Chai it was the custom there to have a meeting every evening. If one of the paid preachers were there, he would take the service and if not some one of the young men would lead. In the morning they would meet for prayer before breakfast. We took ever the evening meeting pretty largely and used it as a combination of teaching and worship. We usually had a half hour or so of singing, learning many new songs and hymns. After this, every other evening, our nurse gave a half hour talk on hygiene, the cause and cure of sickness and practical health habits, using large pictures and charts to illustrate it. We always had a devotional hour and talk often on the Bible and on life problems. Sometimes we had special music on the victrola of which they were very fond, sometimes illustrated lectures on geography, hygiene, the Life of Christ, better farming and stock raising, sometimes talks on current events and common knowledge to give a broader outlook. For the children we started a half-day school, sort of an elongated Vacation Bible School, with some reading and writing but the real emphasis on Religious Education by means of stories, games, hand work and songs. The children gave three special programs to which all were invited when they told stories, sang some of their songs, gave little plays, etc. The children were marvelously regular in attendance and such a joy to work with. There were none of the discipline problems that we had last year in Shih Tang. Out of school hours wherever you went you saw the children playing the games they had learned or heard them singing the songs. On Sundays we combined with the boys of the primary school and had the big school room packed. Many of the boys were from non-Christian homes but they all enjoyed the Sunday School. In the afternoons some of us taught classes in Phonetic and religion and Bible in Fu Jen Chai and some of us went to other villages nearby for Religious Education classes and discussion groups for the Christians there. Out of our work in the town two-thirds of a mile west has grown a full time school for the children and a night school for the men. We organized some six or seven Literacy classes in the different villages using the Thousand Character books as texts. These are taught by local volunteer teachers with only supervision and encouragement from us. In none of our classes did we make any distinction between Christian and non-Christian. Anyone was welcome who cared to come. These classes, like those all thru our field, are entirely self-supporting, taught by volunteer teachers, the students buying their own books and furnishing their own classroom, heat, light and blackboard with only a grant-in-aid from Lintsing of |
