n his return to England after his trans-African journey, Dr. Livingstone appealed to the public to send out missionaries to Central Africa. This caused the London Missionary Society on 10 February 1857 to decide to send a mission to the Matabele. The party consisted of the Rev. William Sykes, the Rev. and Mrs. Thomas Morgan Thomas, and the Rev, and Mrs. John Smith Moffat; with them as guide travelled Dr. Robert Moffat who had already befriended Mzilikazi, King of the Matabele.

he mission set off in their ox-wagons from Kuruman in two groups during the July and August of 1859, and joined up at the borders of Matabeleland late in September. The united party arrived at Mzilikazi's temporary quarters on the Bembesi River on 28 October. In the Christmas week of 1859 the missionaries settled down on land granted to them by the King at Inyati. Their crudely-made huts faced on to a patch of relatively infertile veld, and this they had to farm if they were to live. Even so for many essential foodstuffs the missionaries were still dependent on the whims of the unpredictable Mzilikazi who was inclined at best to regard Europeans as his servants, and at worst as wizards, since their arrival in Matabeleland had coincided with poor rainy seasons.

ut the missionaries persevered with their work although it was many years before a convert was made. Their mere presence in Matabeleland made Europeans familiar to the war-like Matabele, their friendship led to the present good relationship between the two races in Rhodesia, and their endurance laid the nation’s foundation stone truly.

n the hundred years which have passed since the arrival of the first L.M.S. missionaries in Rhodesia the Inyati Mission has established a network of schools which have educated many thousands of Africans. Inyati moreover was the forerunner of hundreds of missions of all denominations which brought to Central Africa the knowledge of the Gospels, the written word, and modern medicine.

he panel depicts Robert Moffat (centre), John and Emily Moffat (left) and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas. The faces of the Moffats are copied from their portraits in Mission of John and Emily Moffat to the Matabele.