Mary Slessor 8
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mslessor8.1.mp3
There were 2 things that caused Mary a great deal of trouble. The first was superstition. The people believed that there were a lot of evil spirits around and that they made people ill.
The second was sorcery or witchcraft. They thought that one person could curse another person or put an evil magic spell on them to make them ill. They thought that if the spell was strong enough the person might die.
Now these ideas may seem crazy to us because we know that if we are ill this is probably caused by germs but most of the people of Africa did not know this. If someone became ill they thought that black magic was to blame.
One day a chief called Edem took ill. He had an abcess on his back. An abcess is a swelling with fluid inside.
Picture of Witch doctor.
mslessor8.2.mp3
A witch doctor came to see Edem. He showed people some strange things: shot, powder, bones, teeth, seeds and egg shells. He said he had taken all these things out of the chief's back. The witch doctor said some people had caused all of this and he gave their names. These people were then put in jail and it looked as if they would all be killed.
mslessor 8.3.mp3
Mary told the chief that all this was rubbish. He would not listen and he got so angry that he sent the prisoners away to a farm. he would not let Mary go near.
But some people believed what Mary said and they did not want the prisoners to be killed. Now there was an African Christian pastor and they thought that he might be able to help. They came to Mary and asked her to write to him. Mary wrote the letter and sent it to the pastor. He spoke to his sister who was a nurse and she went to help the chief. When she treated him he got better and the prisoners were released. Their lives had been saved.
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