One Face in a Million Book 1: Mu Shangaaniana. William Bond
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the two of them standing with their luggage near the freighter that was to take them to America. Christine had not smiled in that picture because she had been filled with anxiety when she had been told that the long voyage to America was due to take four and a half weeks! Some pictures had been taken as they were leaving Lourenço Marques, and similar ones had been taken as they sailed away from Cape Town. Rising up behind Cape Town, one could see a dramatic landscape which she had come to know as Table Mountain.
There were pictures of them standing by various railings on the ship, and there were pictures that included the few other passengers who had booked passage on the freighter. There were photos of Christine with various crew members, and there were some mealtime pictures that had been taken at the captain’s table. There were pictures that showed only sea and sky, and there were some dramatic photographs of sunsets that might have been beautiful—if they had only been in color!
Christine’s favorite picture from their first voyage was where the captain was holding her on his lap. He was wearing a costume of some kind, and she had later learned that he was portraying Father Neptune for a little ceremony where those crossing the equator for the first time underwent some kind of an initiation. Christine had no memory of any initiation that involved her, but she vaguely recalled that there was a party of some sort that ended with everyone eating cake.
Some pictures had been taken when they had first viewed the American coastline, and there were pictures of seagulls that had circled overhead as they made their way up a broad water body called Chesapeake Bay. Mother had also taken some harbor pictures as they arrived in the port of Baltimore.
Then, there were pictures of houses, streets, and spacious landscapes that were covered with snow. Christine had never seen snow, and she was fascinated with its beauty, but she did not like cold temperatures. She recalled that Mother had said that most of the pictures showing hilly terrain had been taken in western Pennsylvania while the flatter areas represented landscapes that they’d seen in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.
They had traveled by train from Baltimore, Maryland, to Lansing, Michigan. At the depot in Lansing, they had been met by one of Mother’s relatives. They had disembarked from the train into a dark, frigid evening and had ridden several miles in a touring car that seemed unable to protect them from the cold or the blowing snow. To help keep them warm, they had been given blankets, but neither Christine nor her mother were dressed appropriately for winter in Michigan, and before they had reached a rural farmhouse that was to be their destination, Christine had cried and told her mother that she wanted to go back to Africa!
There were pictures of various relatives who had meant little to her, at the time. There were a number of pictures of her mother’s parents and there were pictures of the house and other buildings on the farm where Mother had once lived. Those pictures showed snow-covered roofs and a landscape that was virtually buried beneath a blanket of snow.
One picture showed Christine and an “uncle” seated in a horse-drawn sleigh. The well-meaning uncle had wanted to entertain her, and he had taken her for a long ride across the snow-covered landscape, but Mother had acknowledged that the experience had made her four-year-old daughter cry. Apparently, Christine had been afraid that she was being taken away from her mother and would never see her again.
A picture of a tall evergreen lit with many candles brought back memories of the Christmas they had spent in the United States. The tree which stood in her grandparents’ living room had been decorated with handmade decorative items, painted pine cones, strands of white popcorn, and strands of something Mother had called cranberries. Beneath the lovely tree there had been many beautifully wrapped Christmas presents.
Christine could not recall who had been present at that Christmas gathering, but she still remembered that the largest present had been for her. The beautifully wrapped gift had contained the loveliest doll that she had ever seen. The doll had a lovely porcelain face and an elegant dress. It was far more beautiful than any doll babies that she had at home, and her grandparents must have been pleased that this doll had made such a hit with their granddaughter.
For Christine, the rest of their time in America had been pretty uneventful. There were pictures of other people and places that they had seen, but they had held no meaning for her. One meaningful picture, however, showed Christine by a ship’s railing holding her beloved doll in her arms. Mother had undoubtedly taken the picture to show that she had played with her doll a lot as they made the long trip back to Africa. That doll had been named Betsy, and she had been enjoyed for many years. Betsy was now well-worn, and she was still resting in a box somewhere in the back of Christine’s closet.
Their second trip to America in 1920 was, in many ways, like their first trip. The seemingly endless voyage had taken them from Lourenço Marques to Baltimore, Maryland, and they had again traveled to Michigan by train. A few pictures taken from the train indicated that they had arrived sometime in the late autumn, for most trees had lost their leaves but the ground was not yet covered with snow.
Mother had known that her father was in failing health, and she had hoped to see him again, but upon arriving in Lansing, she learned that her father had passed away and his funeral had already occurred. Most of the family pictures that had been taken of relatives during their second visit to America had shown them to be very serious people. These hardworking relatives in Michigan looked like a joyless group of people, but in retrospect, their somber faces probably reflected a general sadness that prevailed in the family following her grandfather’s death.
Although they had come to America to see relatives, the main reason for the furlough was so that Mother could do some deputation work in various churches so that those congregations could know about the kind of work that was going on in the mission field in Africa. This necessitated her visiting churches in several states, and during the time that her mother was doing her deputation work, Christine had remained on the farm in Michigan with her grandmother and her aunt and uncle. Because of her extended stay with them, she had grown to truly love her grandmother. She also loved her Aunt Ida who was very much like her mother, but her recollection of her Uncle Delbert was that he smelled like a barn!
One picture was taken of the church which Mother had attended as a girl. Another showed a group of about seventy-five members of that church standing on the front steps of that church. Christine had later learned that that Michigan congregation was one that had long given support to her mother and the work that was being done at Tavani. She had later learned that some of their clothing had been sent to them by that congregation, and that they had also made a love offering and stipulated that Mother should have a piano in her home. Moreover, they had also given Mother a camera and a quantity of film. Presumably this had been given to her so that she could take pictures of mission work in Africa and of other things that would be of interest to that particular church and to other congregations when she did her deputation work.
Other pictures had been taken of other churches and people that Mother had seen during her furlough in 1920, and they were of no interest to Christine. However, she liked looking at the pictures that had been taken aboard the ship as they returned to Africa. She liked one where she had posed with a young crew member. He had been very kind to her, and the picture revealed that he was one handsome fellow! There was another picture of Cape Town and Table Mountain, and there were some coastal pictures that had been taken as they were passing the Cape of Good Hope. Mother had taken a few pictures as they came into the harbor at Lourenço Marques, and one had been taken of the Limpopo River just before they had crossed the long bridge that spans that wide stream. The final picture had been taken by someone as they posed in front of their home with their luggage.
Mother should have taken other furloughs in recent years, but they had been postponed.
She had become the senior member of the mission, and Christine suspected that because some of the other missionaries were probably not as capable or responsible, her mother had been needed in Tavani to keep things running smoothly. She had also known that Mother had voluntarily given up some furlough opportunities because she had not wanted to take Christine out of school. She had said that she would take her next furlough after Christine had finished her schooling at St. Mark’s. Christine suspected that postponing her furlough had been a real sacrifice on her mother’s part. Surely, she was anxious to see many