OCR Text |
Show dry, in a fertile valley, crowded with villages containing, it is said, 600,000 people. Wai is a county-seat, and on every Monday, bazaar-day, it is jammed and crowded with villagers who come to sell and buy. Besides being the market-town of the countryside, it is also the religious center. The Krishna River, one of the large rivers of India, is here at its source. And there are countless temples and shrines along its banks, just here. One sees the Hindu devotee (always a man), sitting, half-clothed, often in a silk cloth, in some retired spot on the bank, wrapped in deep meditation, or muttering occasionally some sacred mantra. The women devotees spend their time in performing ceremonies in the temples, the sprinkling of holy water over the idols, offering flowers and walking round and round the idols or sacred trees, or bathing and washing. We are almost every day urged on to the development of our Maternity Ward. Up to now we have not had enough staff to do the work there satisfactorily. But that won,derful gift of the Thank Offering from the W. B. M. P., and your increased appropriations, have put us on our feet, have inspired us with new courage and faith; and with God's help we are pressing forward, content in the thought of your backing and increasing help. We are searching India for nurses. We are confldent that you are bound to send us an American nurse. And instead of being unable to do this work, we are looking forward to making our Maternity Ward fill the needs of our community. In our main hospital, too, we need your help. It is crowded in an unseemly fashion, and we turn away nearly as many patients as we take in. We could immediately fill another hospital building as large as the one we have.'' MICRONESIA Nothing could have been more natural than that our Board should have made much of this work. We saw the small craft building in our great harbor; we welcomed the native Christians to our programs, we sold "Morning Star" stock to the children, and commissioned one of our own daughters. Miss Louise L. Wilson, who is with us for our Jubilee, and gives us this sketch. [ 69 ] |