Phawk Khak Loh Missionary

Posted by: "Gin Khan Nang" nanggk@yahoo.com nanggk
Sat May 30, 2009 11:51 am (PDT)

[Attachment(s) from Gin Khan Nang included below]

Lawmte aw,
     Zogamah missionary a sem dinga hong kipia mi tamzaw in i phawk khak loh ding ka upmanin hih lai-ah laikhak khat attachment ah hong thun ing.
      Nelson in hong paikik ciangin Zato leh College hong ding ci-in geelna (project) nei ahih manin tua a sem dingin missionary innkuan nih medical doctor Dr. Norman and Jean Abell te nupa leh Rev. & Mrs. Leon Emmert te American Baptist Board of Missions in la hi.  Ahi zongin Nelson hong pai theih loh ciangin amau zong  (Dr. & Mrs. Abeel te nupa leh Rev. & Mrs. Leon Emmerts te nupa) Zogamah missionary dingin visa ngah loh uh hi. Tua ciangin 1954 kumin Africa gamah kisawl a, kum 30 val tuak a sep khit uh ciangin khawlnga-in (retired) Abell te nupa pen Florida-ah om uh a, Emmert te nupa pen Arizona Fort Wayne khua-ah om uh hi. Dr. Abell zong a khe zaw (paralize) a, wheel chair zangin a nungta ahi hi. Zomite in i phawk loh kalin ei ading a thu hong ngetsak om hi cih i phawkna  ding leh amau zong thu i ngetsak ding deihna tawh hong pulak ka hi hi. Lungdam. GK

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009 9:01 AM
From:
"Norman Abell"
View contact details
To:
nanggk@yahoo.com
Dear Rev G. K. Nang,

Thank you for your message.

Yes, we have been very interested in your country and your people since the 1950s. My wife and I were interested in becoming missionaries from the 1940s when we were in university and medical school. First we felt God's call to go to China. When we became candidates to missionary service, the American Baptist Mission appointed us to Burma for service in the Chin Hills. In consultation with the mission secretary we heard that we would probably be sent to Falam, so as to serve the Haka and Tiddim areas in a central location. We had the privilege of talking with Dr and Mrs Chester Strait who were living in the Berkeley area in 1953-54. We also met Robert Johnson in Chicago when he was recuperating from the Jeep accident in Chin country. We studied the Burmese language and linguistics for a semester in Berkeley. Our assignment to Burma was changed when the refusal of a visa became definite in 1954. We were disappointed not to be able to go to the Chin Hills and set up a little hospital there as planned. It never occurred to us that Chin Christians would be expecting us and would be disappointed too! Then we were assigned to the Belgian Congo and began serious study of French and departed for Belgium in 1955. After 6 months in Belgium for Tropical Medicine and French study we traveled to Congo arriving in April 1956.
The Belgian Congo became Republic of Congo in 1960, and was renamed Republic of Zaire in 1971. In 1996 it became the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was during the time of President Mobutu that the name Zaire was used in an effort to use traditional names. The name Zaire is actually a Portuguese version of the Kongo word for Big River, "Nzadi". After Mobutu was deposed in 1996, Kabila became president and renamed the country Congo.

Our service was in several mission stations, Sona Bata, Moanza, Vanga, Kimpese and Kikongo. In 1961 at Moanza, I was sick with Poliomyelitis and partially paralyzed. After convalescence in the USA for 18 months, I was able to return to Congo, 1963, to work at Vanga hospital, in teaching nurses and administration. In 1965-66 I served at Moanza again although unable to do surgery due to a paralysis of the left arm.

In 1967, I took part in a survey of 31 hospitals, Christian and Government, in Congo and was asked to become the Medical Secretary of the Congo Protestant Council in Leopoldville (Kinshasa). I was in this office until 1971 when I was able to find a Zairian medical administrator to take the position. Then I returned to hospital work in Sona Bata for a year. Then in 1972-73, I returned to the USA to follow the course at Johns Hopkins in Public Health for a Masters degree.

In 1973, we served in Kimpese at the Institut Medical Evangelique, IME, a union hospital and training institution, where I was in charge of Public Health and Rural health for the Administrative zone of Kimpese. There was considerable refugee influx from Angola just to the south of Kimpese. I continued there until 1984, involved in the development of the Rural Health Zone program for Zaire as a whole.

In 1985 I was again at Moanza then at Kikongo, small rural hospitals, mostly involved with Rural Health Zone work and Nursing education at Kikongo. We terminated our service in Zaire in November 1990, leaving the work we had been involved in the hands of Zairian physicians at each of the hospitals mentioned. There was a coordinating office of medical work of the Baptist Community of Western Zaire to which all the hospitals affiliated with American Baptist Mission work were connected. Also the Medical Office of the Church of Christ of Zaire (formerly Congo Protestant Council) was actively involved in the Rural Health Zone Program of the whole country and continues to this day still with American Baptist medical missionary leadership.

My wife, Jean, was involved in teaching in general subjects for nursing and paramedical personnel at each of our assignments. Also she taught missionary children including our own 4 children. In several locations she taught in primary and secondary schools.

Our children, 2 boys and 2 girls, were home schooled, attended local schools in the local languages, and finished their secondary education at the American School of Kinshasa before returning to the USA for college. The eldest became a physician and now teaches family practitioners in Oklahoma City USA. The second, a daughter, married a research psychologist who has done research in Zaire, Uganda, and other countries and now is on the staff of Michigan State University. The third, also a daughter, is married to Rory Clark, whom you know at USCWM. The younger boy became a missionary pilot with the Mission Aviation Fellowship, first in Zaire, now in the MAF headquarters in Nampa, Idaho, USA.

We retired from active service in 1991 and moved to a Christian retirement community. Since 1988 I have been progressively more disabled from my polio. A condition called Post Polio Syndrome has been increasingly limiting my ability to move so I now use a wheelchair to get around the house. Fortunately, with the help of the computer and internet, I can keep actively involved with the work of our colleagues in Congo and other countries.

For instance, I have just found an article on "In Search of the Lost Souls of the Chins" by Rev Dr. Chum Awi, written in 1999. It gave me some new information. http://www.burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199903/msg00258.html
I presume you are familiar with this web site.

May I ask you to share with us your work especially the dissertation on "Zomi Revival"? We continue to be very interested in what is happening in Myanmar. Our neighbors, Rev. and Mrs, Gilson, who were missionaries in Rangoon in the 1950-60s, have recently been back for a short visit. The Emmerts are in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Their health is not good. Blessings on you in your work at Fuller. When will you rejoin your family?Norman (and Jean) Abell


Sia Nang,

Zaaknop peuh mah ei nong laikhah khiat.
Kei zong Nelson Tonu kamit tawh kamuh hi-in Zomite (Kam Hau) ong it zia pen
kammal aa genkhiat theih hilo hi. Zomi te ading, Thu ong ngetsak leh ong
deihsakna lianlua ahihman in acii ling keuhkeuh in akhitui taak deudeu hi.
Zogam leh Zomite thu kigen leh za nuam mahmah in nuih mai hiuhiau hi. A tanu
tezong tua bangmah ahihi. US atung Zomite leh Pawlpite thu azaak ciang
alungdam mahmah aa amau bang lungsim pua Thu-um mi hizah om, aci hidingin ka
sehsak hi.
Hih Gammial nasemte ii lungtang sung ah alamdang itna, abei ngeilo itna om
ahihlam, tua hangin bangzahta in hamsa ta seleh, lungdam takin Topa na asem
zo uh ahihlam leh, ei mahmah inzong hihbang itna bangci neih theihding cih
tatsat lo in Topa tung ngethuai mahmah sa-ing.
Congo gam bang aa gal leh sa tawh kidimna, thah leh suam, molhtum leh thau
leh teei, thatanghat na ii thuneihna tawh kidimna gam, tuni dong it zo lai
cihpen alamdang itna ahihi. Kawlgam sang aa asuuk zawlai gam khat in kaza
ngeihi.
Khat veivei:
Zogam ah hibang itna anei mi 10 om zolo ihitam kacihtha ong suak hi.
Banghanghiam cihleh, om hi lehang Topa'n hibang liang tuakding ong phallo in
ka umhi. 10 kingah hi lehang Topa'n hibang tuakdingin Minam khat aa ong
piansak hilo khangel ding hihang.
IhPu ihPa te mawh suut aa, ihkhua ihtuui te ihsiansuah laitak, tua sangin,
tutak ihkhua, ihtuui ah Gammial nasemte itna anei mi 10 ih omding, tua hileh
ih khua ihtuui, ih minam abit zaw keitam kacitha ong suak zelhi.

hangkhanlian