Bantu Beliefs and Magic / With particular reference to the Kikuyu and Kamba tribes of Kenya Colony; together with some reflections on East Africa after the war

by C. W. Hobley

The Christian missions are very varied; there are the Roman Catholic, and Church of England faiths, [[291]]Methodists, Seventh Day Adventists, also a loosely knit group of nonconformist type known as the Inland African Mission and others.

To obviate undue competition in any particular area, Government has in Kenya Colony agreed to spheres of influence being arranged between the various mission groups, and withholds approval of the establishment of a new mission too near an already established rival. The only argument in favour of this practice is expediency, for on ethical grounds the State has no right to decide that the people of any particular area shall only have ready access to the doctrines of any particular church.

The Roman Catholic missions, as is often the case, have acquired more land than any other religious body, and there is a marked tendency on their part to attempt to set up imperia in imperio on their estates on the plea of internal discipline, thus usurping to some extent the rights of government. It will be remembered that in the early days in Uganda this led to armed struggles between Catholics and Protestants: such, however, are unlikely to recur under modern conditions.

The Catholics have perhaps more than any other mission suffered from shortness of funds since the expulsion of the religious orders from France, and up country in Africa they generally endeavour to grow coffee or some other crop to help to support the mission; such efforts are praiseworthy and useful in the educational sense. They are a great contrast, for instance, to the neglected estate of the C.M.S. at Freretown.

The missionaries, taking it all round, have in spite of unrivalled facilities contributed but little to our knowledge of the country; but they have, it is true, recorded the construction of various native languages. With one notable exception in Uganda, who, in spite of discouragement from his fellows, persisted in his researches, no missionary in East Africa has thrown much light on the ethnology of the natives; it is said that they have been inclined to consider researches of [[292]]this nature as somewhat irreligious, but this view has, it is believed, died away.

Upon the plea of combating the spread of Mohammedanism, the missions have, except at the coast, declined to teach the Swahili language, which is the lingua franca of East Central Africa, and have perpetuated and are still endeavouring to perpetuate a host of tribal languages, which, although interesting as linguistic curiosities, prove a barrier to civilisation and progress. It may be, of course, that English will on this account come into general use quicker, but that result, if it comes, will not be due to the missions.

The main qualification for a missionary in Africa appears to be what they term “earnestness,” but it is to be feared that the possession of this admirable trait is an inadequate equipment for the task of regenerating the black. It is to be regretted that there are not a greater percentage of scholarly men with liberal ideas among their numbers. It is not to be inferred that such men are absent; it would, however, be invidious to mention names; there is a leaven of men of wide vision, and the missionaries as a whole afford examples of purity of life which cannot fail to have a good moral effect.

This short review of the missionary position may seem beside the point, but the character of the influences which affect the native are of no little importance.

The missions all claim to play a great part in the education of the natives, and the local government has, through paucity of funds, found it convenient to acquiesce in this claim, and to a great extent leaves native education to mission effort. The results leave much to be desired, and naturally the primary mission ideal of education is to impart to the native a sufficient knowledge of reading and writing to enable him to read such portion of the scriptures as have been translated into the vernacular of the tribe.

Very few missionaries understand the philosophy of education; very few even have much knowledge of [[293]]educational method. As a brilliant educationalist has written, “the function of education is to foster growth”—the aim of the teacher should be “the development of the latent powers of his pupil, the unfolding of the latent life.”