Kamwendo

Josephine Cunnington Edwards

"During the years we were missionaries in British Central Africa, my husband and I heard many stories of the long, long ago. It was a great pleasure to the old grandfathers and grandmothers to find someone willing to listen to tales of the dark and terrible days before the white men brought both curse and blessing to the native people.

"Some would be eager to tell legends and stories of strange ways long forgotten, with the hope that perhaps their stories might be written so that the old days would not be lost forever. Some of the legends are contained herein, just as I have heard them told again and again.

"The main story of Kamwendo is as I heard him tell it himself, proud that he was privileged to come early to a Christian mission to learn better ways than the old customs. Of course, some of the old ways are good and should be kept; but others, full of superstition, should be discarded. And they are being laid aside as the people learn better things."—Josephine Cunnington Edwards