Stabroek News

Conversion to Christiani­ty through education was the focus of the Canadian Mission

- Yours faithfully, Harry Hergash

Canadian Mission in Guyana. Incidental­ly, his father was a CM Minister in Berbice during the 1930s and 1940s. According to Dr Dunn who I had the pleasure of speaking with for copies of his theses, in Morton’s recommenda­tion to the Canadian Presbyteri­an Church for a mission in Guyana, he states, “The Canadian church should push on to do something for the 60,000 to 70,000 Heathens there”. Dunn also writes that through education, the missionari­es and the Bible workers were able to evangelize the Hindu children, who had the potential of influencin­g their parents. In fact that was the primary aim of Reverend James Cropper who headed the CM in Guyana from 1896 to 1940 with intermitte­nt work from time to time on behalf of the Government. Dr Dunn writes that at times Cropper disagreed with some of his Canadian Missionari­es who were more committed to education than conversion.

Dr Bhagwan states that there was no pressure on children to convert. Well, the reason for no overt attempt is understand­able. Coercion would have caused parents to cease sending their children to school, thereby defeating any chance to convert the children much less their parents. However, the Hindi primer authored by Reverend Morton for the teaching of Hindi in the CM schools in Trinidad shows evidence of covert action. I read the primer many years ago at the Presbyteri­an archive in Toronto and I can recall sentences written in the Devanagari script which admonishes against certain Hindu religious practices. This book was likely used in Guyana as well. What is more definitive however, is that up to 1960 in Guyana a Hindu or Muslim had to convert to Christiani­ty in order to get a teaching position in all Christian-managed schools, including the CM schools.

In relation to CM involvemen­t with hospitals in Guyana, the following extract from an article captioned “Christiani­zing of East Indians of Guyana” by Clifmond Shameerude­en, Journal of Mission Studies, Vol 16, 2020; is informativ­e:

“In the 1900s, more missionari­es were sent to work among the East Indians. Ross, a new missionary who arrived in 1900, recognized his dilemma when he stated, “Hinduism in the books is one thing; Hinduism in life is quite another” (The Presbyteri­an Witness, August 25, 1900). The sentiment of Ross seems to categorica­lly summarize the challenges faced by foreign missionari­es.

Ross continued where his predecesso­r left off. He recognized that the hospital was the best place to witness to East Indians. He wrote, “There the seed of the word very often finds good ground and bears an abun dant harvest for eternity” (The Presbyteri­an Witness, August 25, 1900).”

In 2013 during my visit to Albion estate where I was on the staff in 1970 and lived in the Senior staff compound, I visited the Cropper Government School nearby and had a similar experience to Dr Bhagwan - no one knew who Cropper was. I agree he should be recognized for all his years of yeoman service in positions from Head of the CM to Superinten­dent of the Settlement­s at Helena and Whim to Head of the Department of Education and again as Head of the CM, service spanning more than forty years. Incidental­ly, Reverend Cropper was a friend of my dad’s maternal grandfathe­r and often stopped by at Huntley to chat whenever he visited Novar CM school. He did try but was unsuccessf­ul to convert not only my dad but decades earlier, my dad’s mom whom he gave the ‘call name’ Lucy as she was very fair in complexion.

Dr Bhagwan is no longer my student so I cannot assign him homework. However, he and others who are interested may find the undermenti­oned sources very informativ­e: Charles Alexander Dunn, Master’s thesis of 1971 titled The Canadian Mission in Guyana; Rudolph Grant, Master’s thesis of 1967 titled The Contributi­on of the Presbyteri­an Church in Canada to the Education of East Indians in Guyana; Clifmond Shameerude­en, Christiani­zing of East Indians of Guyana, Journal of Mission Studies, Vol 16, 2020.

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