RH0DESIA
liARCIA TAY THOMSON. 0. Box 117
Chi.r cds i 5 Hhodo s iaAfrica
FOr.V/ARDI"r!G AGSI'TSsI-ITo c; Krso Vilford E, Lcas"urcRoute
1Vfost Union, Illinois 62^77
Aug-ust 1969
-Dc^r Chi^rstian Friends-, - -
Arc you praying for the woric in Chircdzi? I hope youtarobecausc
the task is so groat that \!c can only carrj'- on withGod^s
strength,
Sincc Fohr-uary Jth v/hen I arrived "bad: in Rhodesia,
MarilynRichards an d I have moved into an apartment in Chircdzi.
Viehad rcq-jeEtod a tvo-hedroor.i apartment5 "but as fast as
Chircdziis groi'/ing, v/c felt fortunate to have a one bedroom
apartment#V/cj^also, use our apartment as our offico I have a desk
andfiling _cabinet in the living room and Mariljaa has a desk
andt7/peT';ritcr on the front porch uhich has "been enclosed.
V/hcn you are ai/ay for a uhilo. you realize how fast things
haiopcn,1 have been trying to find out all the tings that
happenedwhile I was away and to get the books up to date. Our
schoolscontinue to grow and are improving their school
building.They start each day with devotions and then have a Bible
class.On Sunday the schools arc uqed :Zot church services.
"\/c havo_ a large number of Euro'ocans" liT Chircdzi* " Our
SundaySchool ..has boon running around ^forty in attendance. These
arcall children from three years to high school age. The highschool
children crc away from Chircdzi in boarding school. Itcach a class
of second and third graders. My class would bovcr^' large if they
all camc the same daj'" but I have from nineto twelve in
attendance.
During the month" of July, I had the f lu, rr;d" it'wa:;
discouragingto Icnow that rorc work vac.piling up while X lay in
bed.
It is a big job gettin g to know the people in Chirodaic as
morepeople arc moving in all of the time. To give you an idea ofthe
task v;c have to do I would like to share with you thiscondensation
of an article about our area that appeared in aRhodcsian magazine
called Rhodesia Calls.
R>:CDI]SIA CALLS ilOv.-Dec. 1963
Rhodesi.aJs South-Eastcrn Lowveld
V/hcn Rhodesia was opened up in the" 1890s. development
firsi:too]z place on the highvcld, where a grea-feer rainfall and
lowertemperatures made life and agriculture more of a propoc^tion
inthose early days. Much was spoken-then of the Lowcld as
beingunsuitable for European settlement, and at that time it was
true.
The key to the Lowvcld's richcs lay in the provision of
watcrjand as the area's rainfall v/as low it would have to be
suppliedb5'" irrigation. But how?
The first irrigation water flov/ed to the lowcld in 1931 -^t
thepresent time there arc 58,OCOacroF of sugar cane, 10^000 acresof
wheat, 1,200 acrcs of citrus and over 35OOO ncrus of mi.^^odcrops
under irrigation.
infrastrucl^ure for much of the Lowold^s futiircis already in
exjstencc. Tarrud roads hr^ve boon built
The basicexpansionconnecting the region with the .-vi; t)).?
fonnLrvj e.nd
linking then vith the Rhodesir.i |He.ilv;rys s-^stom r.nd rhc
Ec.st Cor.stport of Lourcnco ilarqucs. Plads ere in hand for the
Loweld tobe connected to the nr.txonal cjlectricity grid in 1970-
powerbeing supplied c.t the present tlr.ie by locr^l
goncrrtors.
Chiredzij the present ad^inistrrtivo ocntrenecessary facilities
for the -ore2,000 EtTropcansj 2 '^r 000 onvloycC.
5 provides all thesent Loweld popul::tion ofAfricans, and their
dependants,'
uined for rapid growth,ion and customs
5 u,7 ^cueduled flights to theRhodesian and international air
^letworlcs.Tremendous advances have been made in the transformation
of theLov/veld, but it is in the forccc. sts-made, not by
starry-eyedenthusipsts but b3'- sober economists, thai the truly
enormouspotential of the great area is realised.
They clain thct the utilisation bf nearly a million acres
ofirrigable land v/ill crcate cnployraent for 30.000 Europeans
and400,000 Africans, who will suppOft a population of nearly
twomillion. V/ith secondrry industries and services needed to
'proc' ss the primarj^ products andare confident the Rhodesia*s
gro\pressing problcn in developing cOuntries-can be maintained
inproductive eraplo^ment
Thanlz you so mfich for your prayers and su'o'oort of my "oart
in thework for Christ in Chiredzi and -(^h^oughout' the Rhodesian
Loweldarea
serve the large population, they7ing population-pcrhaps the
roost
Because of Christ,
''yrcia Kay Thomson
p. 3. I have sent sonc pictur;s Wo'tho States which you
shouldiTlt-h'- the-rt'iDt^lpts-]^r(3m my fon/ardlng-agents."
C 0 II T R I 3 TORS
First Christian Church, Anna, Il|]JinoisCentral Church of
Christ, Kt. "/el|nonj IllinoisFirst Ch ristian Church, Ses-ser^
Illinois? irs t C1ir i s t ir. n Chu r ch, J^r j.ghton., II1 in oi
s'Church of Christ, Palestine. IllinoisFirst Christian Church,
Cr.rt...rville, IllinoisJefferson Countj^ Youth Asso. .r.ickory
Stre,^-t Christian Church, i CenFirst Christian Church, Valley
Cc-nter,Christian Church, Carterville, iij'Cartcrville Missouri
Hission.aryMr. c: Mrs. Dean Hughes
Mr. c: Mrs. Wilford LeasurcR. R. ;.= 1l.-est Un ion Illinois
62^77
Centrelia, IllinoisKansas
ssourirou"o
. iki-
Scc 3^65 (e) P. L. cH.U. So Postage PaidPermit No.-H-Uest Union,
111.TTon-Profit Org.
AI
Mission SerriceJ Asso.Box 968, 509 W. JeffersonJoliet, 111. 60
433
