Awake!, February 22, 1994

Awake! — February 22, 1994

Source: jw.org

Contents

Page Two

Illiteracy—A Worldwide Problem

Helping People to Read

Literacy Among God’s People

Major Cities of Commerce

A Whale? A Dolphin?—No, It’s a Wholphin!

The Australian Aborigines—A Unique People

Protected by Faith in God

Kiev Reporter Praises Witnesses

Why Do We Have to Move?

Watching the World

From Our Readers

Drugs, Spiritism, and the Bible

“They Dispelled My Doubts”

Page Two

Breaking the Chains of Illiteracy 3-9

More than a quarter of the world’s adult population can neither read nor write. Why are so many illiterate, and what can be done to correct this global problem?

Major Cities of Commerce 10

These include London, Zurich, Hong Kong, and New York City. What happens in these cities affects the rest of the world.

The Australian Aborigines—A Unique People 16

From where did they come? How did they live? What prospects do they now have for the future?

Illiteracy—A Worldwide Problem

By Awake! correspondent in Nigeria

ALMAZ lives in Ethiopia. When her daughter fell sick, the doctor prescribed a bottle of medicine. But Almaz was not able to read the correct dosage—how much should she give, and when? Fortunately, a neighbor could read the prescription. The medicine was properly given, and the child recovered.

Ramu is a farmer in India. When the time came for his daughter to marry, he decided to mortgage his land to borrow money from a local moneylender. Since he could neither read nor write, he used his thumbprint to sign a document that he did not understand. Some months later Ramu discovered that the document was a sales agreement—his land now belonged to someone else.

Michael worked on a large farm in the United States. His supervisor told him to give the cattle a food supplement. Michael found two bags lying in the shed, but he could not read the writing on them. He chose the wrong one. Several days later, the cattle were dead. Michael had fed them poison. He was immediately fired.

Illiteracy—the inability to read and write—cost Michael his job. It cost his employer a herd of prime beef cattle. It cost Ramu his land. It could have cost Almaz her baby.

According to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), more than a quarter of the world’s adult population—over 960 million men and women—can neither read nor write.a In developing nations, 1 in every 3 adults is illiterate. Like Almaz, Ramu, and Michael, these millions are unable to decipher a street sign, a newspaper, or a passage from the Bible. They are denied access to the vast storehouse of information found in magazines and books. They cannot write a letter or fill out a simple form. Most cannot even sign their name. Unable to compete for jobs where basic reading and writing are required, many remain unemployed, their talents untapped, their abilities undeveloped.

These figures do not include the legions of adults who are functionally illiterate—able to read and write at an elementary level but not well enough to handle the more complex reading and writing tasks of everyday life. In the United States alone, functionally illiterate adults number 27 million.

And what of children? Although figures are incomplete, since surveys have not been conducted in all countries, the United Nations Children’s Fund estimates that 100 million school-age children worldwide will never enter a classroom. Another 100 million will not complete even a basic education. In fact, the UN Department of Public Information claims that in the rural areas of the developing world, only half the children receive more than four years of primary education. And in some industrialized nations, many children spend far more time in front of television than they do in school.

Illiterate children generally grow into illiterate adults. What contributes to this global problem? What can be done to help an adult who cannot read or write? These questions will be considered in the next article.

[Footnotes]

An illiterate, as defined by UNESCO, is a person age 15 or older who cannot with understanding read or write a short, simple statement on his or her life.

[Picture on page 3]

More than a quarter of the world’s adult population can neither read nor write

Helping People to Read

WHO are these millions who can neither read nor write? By and large they are responsible, hardworking citizens. In the developing nations, they provide food, clothing, and shelter for the vast majority of the population. In the industrialized countries, they take on the work nobody else wants to do—jobs that are exhausting, repetitive, and menial, yet essential to society.

More often than not, lack of opportunity is the reason why people do not master the skills of reading and writing. As a group, illiterates are not stupid, ignorant, or incompetent. “I don’t have trouble thinking,” said a typical learner. “My trouble is just reading.”

Lack of Opportunity

For many, illiteracy is linked to poverty. At the family level, poverty means that people are more concerned with acquiring food for the table than they are in getting an education. When children are needed at home to work, they do not go to school. Many who do go do not continue there.

Poverty exacts a toll at the national level too. Developing nations burdened with foreign debt are forced to cut back on education. In Africa, for example, total spending on education was reduced by nearly 30 percent during the first half of the 1980’s. While wealthy nations spend more than $6,000 a year on each of their schoolchildren, some poor countries in Africa and South Asia spend only $2. The result is too few schools as well as teachers with too many children.

War and civil strife also contribute to illiteracy. The United Nations Children’s Fund estimates that seven million children languish in refugee camps, where educational facilities are often poor. In one African country alone, 1.2 million children under 15 years of age have not been able to attend school because of an agonizing civil war.

Those who miss out in childhood sometimes have the opportunity to learn to read and write later in life, but not all feel it is worth the effort. Concerning the rural illiterate, the book Adult Education for Developing Countries states: “An adult who has managed without reading and writing is unlikely, except in special circumstances, to have a burning desire to read and write. . . . Whilst it would be completely false to conclude that he is completely contented with his lot, he may not be sufficiently discontented to want to do very much to alter it.”

Yet, many do have a strong desire for self-improvement. Motives vary, of course. Some want simply to improve their education and feeling of self-worth. Others are motivated by financial reasons. Those without a job reason that literacy will help them obtain one; those with a job may seek a better one.

Recognizing the close link between literacy and development at both an individual and a national level, governments and organizations have embarked on programs to teach reading and writing to adults. It is a challenging task that requires empathy on the part of teachers as well as an understanding of the unique characteristics of the adult learner.

Profile of the Adult Learner

Those who teach adults should recognize the differences between adult learners and child learners. Personality, habits, attitudes, and interests are more set in adults than in children, making the adult more rigid and less receptive to change. On the other hand, adults have rich experiences on which to build and are better able to make sense of facts and concepts that can confuse youngsters. Usually they do not have as much free time as children do. Another very important difference is that adult learners, unlike children, have the freedom to discontinue their education at any time.

Many adult illiterates possess unique talents and have succeeded in some areas of life; they simply have not developed the skills of reading and writing. The literacy teacher needs to encourage them to use the adaptability, creativity, and endurance they have demonstrated in other areas of life.

It takes courage for an illiterate to admit his or her needs and to ask for assistance. Although circumstances and individuals vary, many adults approach literacy training with apprehension and a lack of confidence. Some may have a long history of academic failure. Others may feel that they are too old to learn new things. “It is difficult to learn left-handedness in old age,” states a Nigerian proverb.

Teachers can build confidence and sustain interest by being quick to acknowledge and commend progress. Lessons should be structured to minimize learning failure and to ensure repeated successful achievement of learning goals. The publication Educating the Adult states: “Above all, success is probably the single greatest factor in continued motivation.”

Adults generally know what they want from educational experiences and wish to see immediate progress toward their goals. One professor of adult education in Africa stated: “They want to get into class, learn what they need to know as quickly as possible, then get out.”

Sometimes the goals a student sets are overly ambitious. From the outset the teacher should help the learner establish intermediate, short-term goals and then help the student to achieve them. For example, let us say a Christian enrolls in a literacy class because he or she wants to learn to read the Bible and Bible publications. These are long-term goals. In working toward them, the teacher can encourage the student to set intermediate goals, such as mastering the alphabet, finding and reading selected scriptures, and reading from simplified Bible publications. Regularly achieving goals sustains motivation and stimulates the student to keep on learning.

Effective teachers can do much to stimulate motivation by encouraging and commending their students and by helping them work toward practical, achievable goals. Yet, in order to progress, adults should not expect to be spoon-fed. They need to be willing to take responsibility for their own education and to work hard at learning. In doing so, they will learn to read and write, and these skills will transform their lives.

[Box on page 6]

Guidelines for Teaching Adults to Read and Write

1. It is vital to stimulate motivation in the student. From the first session, stress the benefits of learning to read and write, and encourage the student to set reasonable long- and short-term goals.

2. To make progress the student should be instructed several times a week. Once a week is not enough. The student should do homework between lessons.

3. Do not be overly demanding or overwhelm the student with too much material in one session. This can cause him to become discouraged and stop attending classes.

4. Be consistently encouraging and positive. Reading and writing skills are developed in small, sequential steps. The student should find satisfaction in his progress.

5. Encourage the student to apply as quickly as possible in his daily life what he is learning.

6. Do not waste time on side issues. Adults are busy people. Make the most of the instruction sessions to teach the essentials.

7. Always be respectful of the student, according him the dignity he deserves. Never embarrass or belittle him.

8. Be alert to individual problems. A student may be unable to read small print because he needs glasses. Another may be hard of hearing and may thus find it difficult to hear correct pronunciation.

9. The student should learn the manuscript (printed) alphabet before attempting cursive writing (where letters are joined together). Manuscript writing is easier to learn and easier to do, and the letters more closely resemble those on the printed page.

10. A good way to teach how to write letters is to have the student trace them from a pattern. He might trace a letter several times before trying to copy it without tracing it.

11. Progress in reading is often faster than progress in writing. Do not delay new reading lessons if the student is not able to perform the homework in writing. On the other hand, remember that new letters are learned and remembered more easily if the student practices writing them.

12. Although the adult student may be able to perform intricate tasks with his hands, writing with pen or pencil may be a difficult and frustrating experience for him. Do not insist on perfectly formed letters.

Literacy Among God’s People

IN ANCIENT times there was a high degree of literacy among God’s people. About 3,500 years ago, Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. His successor, Joshua, was commanded to read the Scriptures “day and night” in order to be successful in the assignment that God had given him. And God directed that Israelite kings, upon ascending the throne, write out for themselves a copy of the Law and read in it daily.—Joshua 1:8; Deuteronomy 17:18, 19.

Reading and writing were not limited to the nation’s leaders. Though evidently figurative, the instruction to the Israelites to “write” God’s commandments upon the doorposts of their houses implied that the people were literate. Amos was a raiser of sheep, and Micah was a prophet from a rural village; yet, both wrote books of the Bible.—Deuteronomy 6:8, 9; Amos 1:1; Micah 1:1.

Jesus had access to all the inspired scrolls of the Hebrew Scriptures in the synagogues, where, on one occasion, he read publicly and applied the text to himself. His apostles also were literate, quoting from and referring to the Hebrew Scriptures hundreds of times in their writings.—Luke 4:16-21; Acts 17:11.

God’s People Today

Jesus told his followers to “make disciples of people of all the nations, . . . teaching them to observe all the things [he had] commanded.” He also foretold that the “good news of the kingdom [would] be preached in all the inhabited earth.”—Matthew 24:14; 28:19, 20.

Like the Christians in the first century, Jehovah’s Witnesses today have carried out this commission by zealously teaching and preaching by word of mouth. They have also spread the Kingdom good news by means of the printed page. Since 1920, Jehovah’s Witnesses have produced and distributed over nine billion Bibles, books, magazines, and pamphlets in more than 200 languages.

Millions throughout the earth have responded favorably, becoming disciples of Christ. Among them are men and women who neither read nor write. These illiterate ones are not lesser Christians—many have served God faithfully for decades, endured religious persecution, and have shown their love for Jehovah by observing his commandments.—1 John 5:3.

Many of them yearn to read and write, realizing that literacy is a key that will open the way to richer participation in their worship of God. At meetings, they want to follow the reading of the Bible and Christian publications, and they want to read the words of the songs so that they can sing along with their spiritual brothers and sisters. At home, they desire to build up themselves and their families through Bible study. In the ministry, they long to teach others the truth of God’s Word without relying on someone else to read it for them.

Learning to Read

Responding to this need, Jehovah’s Witnesses have arranged to help promote literacy through their congregations and on an individual basis. Worldwide, they have taught countless men and women. In Nigeria alone, Jehovah’s Witnesses have taught over 23,000 to read and write. One of these was Effor. He relates:

“I began reading and writing in 1950 when I was 16 years old. The literacy class was conducted by Jehovah’s Witnesses. We used a manual published by the Watch Tower Society, and we were given reading assignments to do at home.

“I felt that my illiteracy was like a sickness. I wanted to explain the Bible to my brothers and friends, but being unable to read and write, I could not do that well. What motivated me to learn was my desire to preach and to teach others to become Christ’s disciples. I wrote on everything I could lay my hands on, even on plantain leaves. My desire to read and write was so great that I would continue practicing how to read and write in my dreams. I asked others to help me; I was not shy about that. I remember writing letters to friends and giving the letters to those who went to school to check through.

“It took me a year in the congregation’s literacy class to learn. After that I was assigned to teach the class. That gave me the opportunity to help many others.

“That school helped me so much that over the years, I was privileged to translate the Society’s dramas from English to Isoko, my native language. Apart from that, I have served as a congregation overseer since the 1960’s. In the 1980’s, I served as a substitute traveling overseer of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was also privileged to conduct the Pioneer Service School [a school for full-time ministers] and twice to instruct at the Kingdom Ministry School [a school for Christian elders]. I know that if I were still illiterate, all these privileges would not have come my way.

“How I appreciate this arrangement to teach the lowly ones to read and write! Sometimes when I lie down at night, I still thank Jehovah that I am no longer an illiterate in this modern world.”

Our Creator, Jehovah God, has graciously endowed humankind with the capacity to read and write. But these skills are not acquired without effort. The greatest reward for learning to read and write is being able to pick up God’s Word and obey the divine instruction: “In an undertone read in it day and night.”—Joshua 1:8.

[Box on page 9]

How to Help Your Children Develop a Love for Reading

● Set an example by reading regularly yourself. Parents who read are likely to have children who read.

● Talk to your baby from his infancy. Exposure to meaningful language helps children understand words and concepts that will make learning to read easier.

● Read to your children regularly. When held on the lap and read to, infants get the message that words and books are good, even when they are not yet old enough to understand the story being read. Continue to read to your children after they have learned to read for themselves. Schoolteachers help children learn how to read, but parents can do much to help them enjoy reading. Children enjoy hearing their favorite stories over and over again.

● Have books available for your children to read at home.

● Encourage your children to write. A child who writes is usually a reader also.

● Choose a definite daily period for family reading. Take turns reading, and then discuss the material together. These times should be enjoyable and upbuilding.

[Picture on page 8]

God-fearing men of ancient times knew how to read and write

Major Cities of Commerce

ANCIENT Babylon was called in the Bible “a city of traders.” (Ezekiel 17:4, 12) That term would also have been appropriate for ancient Tyre, which today is identified with Sur, a seaport on the Mediterranean Sea between Beirut (Lebanon) and Haifa (Israel).

According to one source, Tyre was “a major Phoenician seaport from about 2000 BC onwards.” By the time the Israelites conquered the Promised Land in about 1467 B.C.E., Tyre was a major sea power. Its mariners and commercial fleet of ships became famous for their voyages to faraway places.—1 Kings 10:11, 22.

A Mightier Fleet

“Rule, Britannia, rule the waves,” wrote 18th-century Scottish poet James Thomson of the fleet that helped make the British Empire one of the greatest commercial giants ever to exist. “Sea power guaranteed the inviolability of Britain from invasion, the security of her imperial possessions, and the peaceful development of her world-wide trading interests.”—The Cambridge Historical Encyclopedia of Great Britain and Ireland.

As Britain’s empire expanded, its trade took on global proportions. Between 1625 and 1783, its imports increased by some 400 percent and exports by over 300 percent. By 1870, British factories were producing over a third of the world’s manufactured goods. With the pound sterling clearly dominating international trade, London became the unrivaled financial center of the world.

Today London means different things to different people. Music lovers think of Covent Garden opera or the Royal Festival Hall, sports fans of Wembley and Wimbledon, theatergoers of the West End. Followers of fashion think either of Savile Row or Carnaby Street, history students of the Tower of London and the British Museum, whereas lovers of pageantry—not to speak of gossip and scandal—may think of the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace.

Paradoxically, none of these tourist attractions are located in the actual city of London. London proper, called simply the City, serves as the commercial hub of a metropolitan area composed of dozens of suburbs. Within “the Square Mile” of London is to be found the Bank of England, affectionately known as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street. It was incorporated by an act of Parliament in 1694 and is one of the world’s oldest central banks. These powerful institutions act as bankers to government, regulate the activity of commercial banks, and by controlling money supply and credit, often strongly influence government economic policy. Also found in the City are the Stock Exchange and the nearby Lloyd’s of London, the international insurance underwriters.

Called Swinging London in the 1960’s because of its carefree life-style, the City has nevertheless had its share of sorrow during nearly 2,000 years of existence. In 1665 the Great Plague—an epidemic of bubonic plague—killed some 100,000 persons, and a year later the Great Fire almost obliterated the City. More recently, raids by German bombers during World War II killed 30,000 of London’s citizens and destroyed or damaged 80 percent of its houses.

Overtaken by a Youngster

Compared to London, the city of New York, founded in 1624 by Dutch settlers and named New Amsterdam, is just a youngster. But today it is one of the world’s largest and busiest seaports; an industrial, trade, and financial center; and the home of many of the world’s largest banks and financial institutions. As a commercial center, it outshines both Amsterdam and London. As if symbolic of this ascendancy, the twin towers of the New York World Trade Center, shaken in 1993 by a terrorist bomb, still proudly thrust their heads 110 floors into the sky.

Like the nation of which it is the largest city, New York is a melting pot of nationalities. Since 1886 the Statue of Liberty in its harbor has beckoned immigrants to a world that promises freedom and equal opportunity.

Some of New York’s streets are more than just names. For example, Broadway is symbolic of theatrical entertainment, setting standards and starting trends that reach out to influence the entire world. And what about Wall Street? In 1792 a group of 24 brokers met there under a buttonwood tree to discuss setting up the New York Stock Exchange. Officially formed in 1817, the Stock Exchange, now the world’s largest marketplace for securities, is today commonly known as just Wall Street.

Broadway offers exciting entertainment, but it cannot beat Wall Street for real drama. In October 1987, when Wall Street took its deepest, fastest plunge in history, all the other top 22 stock markets throughout the world dropped accordingly. A “sense of imminent foreboding” prevailed—so wrote a reporter—nurtured by news of “alarming price breaks in all the early-opening markets: Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, Paris, Zurich.”

A shaky Wall Street, a shaky World Trade Center—what does this forebode for world commerce?

“Wall-to-Wall People”

Hong Kong is so densely populated that it was once aptly described as “wall-to-wall people.” The Mong Kok district has 362,000 people to the square mile [140,000 per sq km]! Much land has been reclaimed from the sea, and yet about 1 percent of the population still lives literally on the water! Known locally as Tanka, they dwell on junks or boats, as did their fishermen ancestors, who came from northern China and set up a tiny fishing village there in the second millennium B.C.E.

In the mid-19th century, the British came and immediately recognized Hong Kong’s strategic and commercially promising location. Its excellent harbor was accessible from both east and west, and it was located on the main trade routes between Europe and the Far East. As a result of the two Opium Wars (1839-42 and 1856-60), China was forced to cede Hong Kong Island and parts of Kowloon Peninsula to the British, and these thus became a British colony. In 1898 the entire area, plus the New Territories to the north, was leased to Britain for 99 years. In 1997, when the lease expires, Hong Kong will return to China.

As becomes a city that National Geographic calls “the world’s third largest financial center and its eleventh largest trading economy,” Hong Kong is preoccupied with making and spending money. “May you be blessed with prosperity” is the usual greeting during Lunar New Year celebrations. And evidently many of its citizens have been so blessed, leading the magazine to claim that “Hong Kong consumes more cognac, per capita, and boasts more Rolls-Royces, per acre, than any other place on earth.”

This prosperity could hardly have been foreseen during World War II, when commerce in Hong Kong was drastically impaired, food was scarce, and so many residents fled to inland China that the population dropped by over half. After the war, the city began a climb that has made it an Asian economic superpower. Its products sell well on the world market because relatively cheap labor and raw materials keep costs down. In 1992 its exports had soared to almost 45 times what they had been in 1971.

What will be the commercial, political, and social repercussions when Hong Kong returns to China in 1997? Some citizens and businesses are uneasy and have moved elsewhere. Others have stayed, but they may well have already stashed their money away in a place where they feel it may be more secure.

“A World-Wide Deposit Vault”

During the 17th century, Switzerland adopted a policy of political neutrality, a policy it has not always successfully maintained. Nevertheless, money deposited there is considered to be relatively safe. The Swiss banking system also offers complete confidentiality. Thus people who want to keep their fortunes hidden—for whatever reason—are enabled to remain virtually anonymous.

At the center of these money matters is Zurich. With a metropolitan population in excess of 830,000, it is Switzerland’s largest city. Its strategic location on European trade routes has served it well for centuries, and today it stands in the forefront of modern world finance. In fact, Professor Herbert Kubly calls Zurich’s principal avenue “the banking centre of Continental Europe and a world-wide deposit vault.”

Zurich has also made its mark in religious developments. A Catholic priest named Huldrych Zwingli preached a series of sermons there in 1519 that led to a controversy with the city’s Catholic bishop. Subsequent debates were held in 1523, and Zwingli emerged victorious. As the Swiss Protestant Reformation gathered force, other major Swiss cities sided with Zwingli and became bastions of his form of Protestantism.

A more recent “son” of Zurich was Albert Einstein, viewed as one of history’s greatest scientific intellects. Although born in Germany, Einstein studied physics and mathematics in Zurich. A thesis he published in 1905 even won him a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Zurich. His achievements are in keeping with Switzerland’s long tradition of scientific excellence, to which Zurich has richly contributed. Its Federal Institute of Technology has produced more Nobel prize winners than any other scientific school in the world.

But for all its wealth, for all its religious and scientific heritage, Zurich is not problem free. The European painted a less-than-pretty picture of the city last May. It noted that although “the city’s infamous Needle Park, once an international magnet for junkies” has been closed, the drug scene has simply moved to an area known as Kreis 5. This area, the report says, “represents the kind of thing that Switzerland is desperate to hide—unemployment, homelessness, alcoholism, an attitude of resignation, housing problems and, most of all, drug abuse.”

Paradoxically, the problem of drug abuse links Zurich with New York and Hong Kong. Probably over 80 percent of the heroin smuggled into New York City comes from the Golden Triangle area of northern Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos, where secret Hong Kong societies known as triads are heavily involved in drug trafficking.a Thus, many of the dollars earned by Hong Kong triads through heroin sales to New York addicts likely end up stashed away in Zurich bank accounts.

The major cities of commerce, aptly represented by London, Zurich, Hong Kong, and New York City, have much in common with ancient Tyre. Prospering at the expense of others, Tyre’s commercial success nurtured conceit and pride and eventually led to disaster.

Will today’s commercial centers fare any better? Is their foundation more sound? The evidence is that they will fare no better than the cities to be discussed in our next installment.

[Footnotes]

Triad refers to a triangle used by one of their forerunners to denote the unity of heaven, earth, and man. Chinese secret societies have existed for 2,000 years; modern versions date from the 17th century. Originally political in nature, they are now criminal gangs. They are said to “command a global membership of 100,000 or more,” and Time magazine quotes a member of the Hong Kong police department as saying: “Triads provide the warm bed for organized crime.”

[Picture on page 10]

Hong Kong

A Whale? A Dolphin?—No, It’s a Wholphin!

By Awake! correspondent in Hawaii

THE birth of a wild animal in captivity is always an exciting event. But May 15, 1985, proved to be an unusually special day at Hawaii’s Sea Life Park.

The expectant mother was an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin whose Hawaiian name Punahele (pronounced Poo-nah-hayʹlay) means “Beloved Friend.” Punahele had been extra large in the latter stages of her pregnancy. So the park staff already had the feeling that something unusual was going on. Their suspicions were confirmed when Punahele’s baby was born. She was named Kekaimalu (pronounced Kay-kai-mahʹloo). Kekaimalu was not only darker than a dolphin but her snout was uncharacteristically short.

Then Kekaimalu opened her mouth.

An Atlantic bottlenose dolphin is supposed to have 88 teeth. But Kekaimalu’s grin revealed only 66 teeth—and they were conspicuously large. What had happened?

The newborn’s mother had been performing daily with several other dolphins in the Whaler’s Cove show at Sea Life Park. One of her costars had been an 18-year-old, 2,000-pound [900 kg] false killer whale.a When each day was over, the aquatic performers were allowed to swim about freely in a single tank.

Well, the unexpected result was Kekaimalu—a creature that was half dolphin and half whale. Park staff delightedly dubbed this rare hybrid a “wholphin.” Her 66 teeth split the difference between her dolphin mother’s 88 teeth and her whale father’s 44 teeth. Although her dark coloration and greater size clearly demonstrate her whale heritage, park officials describe her as “a unique blend of both parents.” Her tapering rostrum, or “beak,” is similar to, but somewhat shorter than, a dolphin’s.

The only other known wholphin had been born at an oceanarium in Japan in 1981. The hybrid creature died several months later. Would Kekaimalu’s prospects be any better?

The 35-pound [16 kg] baby wholphin appeared healthy and began nursing normally. Reporting the comments of a park official, the Honolulu Star Bulletin and Advertiser said shortly after Kekaimalu’s birth: “The youngster’s chances of living to maturity aren’t as good as those of her single-species cousins . . . Hybrids usually are either still-born or develop ailments and die at an early age. Fortunately, . . . Punahele is an experienced and loving mother who has raised two other dolphin offspring to maturity [at Sea Life Park].” The official said: “She’s very adaptable, she’s a real good mom.” Punahele’s reputation as a mother proved to be well-founded.

Kekaimalu has now lived for over seven years. At 650 pounds [300 kg], she dwarfs her dolphin mother. And after a few years as a performer at Whaler’s Cove, the then five-year-old wholphin, presumed sterile by many, made history in June 1990. She became a mother herself. “The common wisdom is that hybrids are sterile,” said Marlee Breese, curator of mammals at the Makapuu facility. “But Kekaimalu is far from it.” Unfortunately, her firstborn—one-quarter whale and three-quarters dolphin—lived only a week.

Kekaimalu apparently did not know how to nurse her baby. “I don’t think being a hybrid has anything to do with it,” says Breese. She feels that the most likely reason Kekaimalu did not nurse her calf was that she was young and didn’t know how to go about it. “These animals usually reach sexual maturity at 8 to 10 years,” says Breese. At the birth of her first calf, Kekaimalu was only five.

On November 8, 1991, Kekaimalu gave birth to a second calf. This time, however, the staff was prepared. After a 24-hour watch to see if the mother wholphin would take the initiative to nurse the calf herself, they intervened. Kekaimalu was lifted out of the water in a sling, and milk was removed from her via a woman’s breast pump. ‘It was especially important to get the mother’s first milk,’ explains Breese, ‘since it transmits antibodies to the calf.’ For weeks the staff routinely milked the mother once a day, obtaining about a quart [1 L] of milk from her.

The wholphin’s milk was then mixed with a man-made formula. It had been developed in Florida, U.S.A., during an effort to rescue a beached dolphin. From six in the morning to midnight, the baby wholphin was fed every two and a half hours through a stomach tube. She gained about a pound [half a kg] a day in weight. In between feedings, grandma, mama, and baby frolicked together in a large holding tank.

As of this writing, the survival prospects seem good for the world’s only known granddaughter of a whale and a dolphin. Perhaps she will one day follow family tradition and perform on the Whaler’s Cove show. In the meantime, the world has been given one more glimpse into the astonishing potential for variety that God has built into his creation.

[Footnotes]

According to a Sea Life Park publication, “false killer whales derive their name from the literal translation of their scientific name (Pseudo = false, Orca = a kind of whale) and are closely related to the familiar killer whales exhibited in many oceanariums.”

[Picture on page 15]

A wholphin with her dolphin companions

[Credit Line]

Monte Costa, Sea Life Park Hawaii

The Australian Aborigines—A Unique People

By Awake! correspondent in Australia

AUSTRALIA can be described as unique, with its magnificent marsupial the kangaroo and its cuddly koala, which is so much at home perched high in the plentiful eucalyptus trees. The original settlers, however, known as Australian Aborigines, are even more unusual than the country.

“Aboriginal” and “Aborigine” are not used in a derogatory sense. The terms come from the two Latin words ab origine, which mean “from the beginning.” These original, indigenous inhabitants of Australia are known as Aborigines—spelled with a capital A to distinguish them from the original occupants of other lands.

When the first European settlers arrived toward the end of the 18th century, the Aboriginal population was an estimated 300,000. Two hundred years later, a 1991 census lists fewer than 230,000 Aborigines out of a total Australian population of almost 17 million.

Who are these original inhabitants of Australia? Where did they come from? Why can they be described as unique? And what hope for the future do many of them now enjoy?

Early Life in Australia

Most anthropologists agree that the Australian Aborigines originally came from Asia. They probably made the final stage of their migration by raft or boat from southeast Asia, landing along the north coast of Australia. “They were not complete nomads,” Malcolm D. Prentis pointed out in his book A Study in Black and White, “but rather semi-nomadic: that is, they camped at different temporary campsites within their own identifiable territory.”

The Aborigines were remarkable conservationists who cared well for the environment. An Aborigine explained: “We cultivated our land, but in a way different from the white man. We endeavored to live with the land; they seemed to live off it. I was taught to preserve, never to destroy.”

Prentis wrote in agreement: “The well-being of the flora and fauna and that of the Aboriginal group were linked: prosperity for one meant prosperity for the other. This was practical: for example, flourishing kangaroos meant better food supplies for the Aborigines but the killing of too many kangaroos was in the long run not good for the Aborigines.”

Aborigines also excelled in other ways. Linguist R. M. W. Dixon noted in his book The Languages of Australia: “In terms of social organisation, however, it is Europeans who appear to be primitive by comparison with Aboriginal Australians; all Australian tribes had elaborate and well-articulated kinship systems with precise rules for marriageability and for specifying roles for every sort of social occasion.”

Music and Hunting

Unique to the Aborigines is a musical instrument called the didgeridoo, sometimes spelled didjeridu. The word literally means “drone pipe,” which fittingly describes the sound it produces. Rather than carrying the melody, the didgeridoo provides a type of bass and rhythm for ceremonial gatherings and night dances known as corroborees. The instrument usually provides a droning background for a songman with his clapping sticks.

Didgeridoos are made from carefully selected hollow tree branches. The most popular length is from 3 to 5 feet [0.9 to 1.5 m], but some instruments range up to 15 feet [4.5 m] long. Usually one end of the instrument rests on the ground while the seated player blows through the other end, which is held to his mouth with both hands.

Since the deep, resonant sound of the instrument is continuous, the player must blow into the mouthpiece end while at the same time taking in a fresh supply of air through his nostrils without any interruption to the sound. This is a skill similar to that which must be mastered by a musician playing a tuba. It is known among players of wind instruments as circular, or cyclic, breathing and is a skill not easily mastered.

For hunting, the Aborigines made good use of something else that is unique—the boomerang. It was developed as a hunting instrument and a weapon of war among the Aborigines. But for many tourists today, it has become another well-known symbol of Australia. The most familiar boomerangs are curved weapons that return to the thrower if thrown correctly. However, there are some varieties that are not the return-to-sender type. These are more accurately known as the kylies, or killer sticks.

Aboriginal Art

To begin with, Aborigine culture had no written form of communication. Thus, Kevin Gilbert, an Aboriginal poet and artist, explained: ‘Art was the most effective language of communication for Aborigines and the most universally understood.’ He claimed: “Art communicates more effectively and has more significance than the written word.”

Therefore, visual and performing art communication became intrinsically bound up with the way of life of Aborigines. This meant that their art served two purposes: It provided a means of reinforcing verbal communication, and it also served as a memory aid to recall stories of tribal history and traditional religious matters.

With the absence of canvas, paper, and the like, Aboriginal art was painted on rocks, in caves, and on bark. The predominance of colors common to the earth stand out in all their art. They used colors that were dominant in the area where the paintings were created. The paints were made from material of the ground.

Probably the most unusual feature of their art is that almost all painting consists of dots and lines. Even backgrounds, which at first may appear as a single color, on closer examination reveal an intricate pattern of dots of varying colors.

A workshop presentation titled Marketing Aboriginal Art in the 1990s says that in the 1980’s “Aboriginal art . . . made the quantum leap from ‘ethnographic art’ to ‘commercial fine art.’” Others tell of the demand for this acrylic dot-style painting and extol its rise in popularity.

Aboriginal Languages

White Australians generally have misconceptions about Aboriginal languages. Some, for example, believe there was only one Aboriginal language and that it was very primitive, consisting of only a few grunts and groans. But nothing could be further from the truth!

Actually, there were at one time an estimated 200 to 250 Aboriginal languages. However, more than half of these have become extinct. Today only about 50 of such languages are spoken by groups of 100 or more Aborigines. And the number of Aboriginal languages spoken by 500 or more persons is now less than 20.

Rather than being primitive, the spoken language of Aborigines is highly developed grammatically. In his book The Languages of Australia, Professor Dixon wrote: “There is no language, among the 5,000 or so tongues spoken across the world today, which could be described as ‘primitive.’ Every known language has an intricate structure, so that description of the main points of its grammar requires several hundred pages; every language has thousands of lexical words in everyday usage.”

Barry J. Blake wrote in a similar vein of Aboriginal languages: “They are highly developed instruments of communication, each just as adequate for describing Aboriginal experience as English or French is for describing European experience.” Supporting this conclusion, Aboriginal journalist Galarrwuy Yunupingu stated: “Very few white people have ever tried to learn our language, and English is incapable of describing our relationship to the land of our ancestors.”

In the 19th century, translation of parts of the Bible into two Aboriginal languages was made. The Gospel of Luke was translated into the Awabakal language and parts of Genesis, Exodus, and the Gospel of Matthew were translated into the Narrinyeri language. Interestingly, these translations rendered the name of Almighty God as “Yehóa” and “Jehovah,” with variations of the name according to the syntax that the language demanded.

Today, much emphasis is being placed on the restoration of Aboriginal languages and the creation of a greater awareness among the non-Aboriginal population of Australia of the value, richness, and beauty of these languages. Therefore, many are now pleased to know that the Australian Minister for Aboriginal Affairs has authorized the production of dictionaries in 40 Aboriginal languages. This will include not only those currently being spoken but also many no longer in use that are to be researched from archives and other historical sources.

Responding to a Marvelous Hope

When whites came to Australia at the end of the 18th century, they almost completely wiped out the native population. However, today there are several rural towns that have a high proportion of Aboriginal residents, and there are still some entirely Aboriginal settlements, mainly in outback areas. Life for these people is often bleak. “We no longer belong to the past,” wrote one Aborigine, “nor have we a satisfying place in the present.” But she added: “The future holds hope for many of us.”

The reason for this is that many original inhabitants of Australia are now rejoicing to read in the Bible—perhaps in their own language—that the wicked will soon be no more and that the earth will be given back to those of mankind who will take good care of it. (Psalm 37:9-11, 29-34; Proverbs 2:21, 22) The Kingdom of God will accomplish this. This Kingdom, for which Jesus Christ taught us to pray, is a real heavenly government. (Matthew 6:9, 10) Many Aboriginal men and women are now busy telling others about the grand blessings that God’s Kingdom will bring to mankind.—Revelation 21:3, 4.

One Aborigine explained regarding many of her fellow Australians: “They are discerning that a view held in common by whites, Aborigines, and most other people on earth is erroneous. It is that Australia belongs to Aborigines by right of original discovery or to the whites by right of conquest. Neither is true. It belongs to Jehovah God by right of creation.”—Revelation 4:11.

Indeed, our Creator, Jehovah God, does own Australia and all the rest of the earth. And in fulfillment of the prayer Jesus taught, God’s Kingdom will come, and the entire earth will be turned into a global paradise inhabited by people of all races and nationalities who love and serve the true God.

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The didgeridoo is a musical instrument unique to the Aborigines

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A display of Aboriginal art

[Credit Line]

By Courtesy of Australian Overseas Information Service

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Many Aborigines are now sharing the good news of God’s Kingdom with others

Protected by Faith in God

IT WAS May 1945, and World War II had just ended in Europe. I had arrived home in Chojnice, Poland, only two days before. The trip had taken almost two months, since I had to walk, and I had made a number of stops along the way to visit people. My previous two years had been spent in the Stutthof concentration camp, located near Danzig (now Gdansk).

Seated in the living room, Mother, my two sisters, and I were enjoying a visit. There was a knock at the front door, and Elaine, my oldest sister, excused herself to answer it. We didn’t pay much attention until we heard her scream. Immediately I jumped from the chair and ran to the door. There stood Wilhelm Scheider and Manfred Licnierski, two fellow Christians who I thought had died soon after I last saw them.

After I stared at them for some time in openmouthed disbelief, Brother Scheider asked if I was going to invite them in. We spent the rest of the day late into the evening getting reacquainted and recalling how Jehovah God had protected us during our imprisonment. Before I share some of these experiences, let me explain how I came to be in the concentration camp.

Faith Tested at an Early Age

My parents became Bible Students (as Jehovah’s Witnesses were then called) about the time I was born, in 1923. The years leading up to World War II were not easy for Witnesses. The Catholic religion was taught in school, and Witnesses were treated harshly. I was constantly picked on by other children, and the teacher would invariably side with the children against me. The preaching work was also difficult. Once while we were preaching in the nearby town of Kamien, at least a hundred townsfolk surrounded about 20 of us Witnesses. Polish soldiers arrived just in time to protect us from the mob.

The persecution intensified when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. Finally, in 1943, I was arrested by the Gestapo for refusing to serve in the German Army. While I was under arrest, the Gestapo interrogated me, trying to get me to give them the names of other Witnesses in the area. When I refused, the Gestapo agent told me that I would probably die in a concentration camp.

First, I was sent to the Chojnice jail, where a couple of jailers beat me with a rubber stick, trying to force me to compromise my determination to stay loyal to Jehovah. This beating went on for 15 or 20 minutes, and all the while I was praying fervently. Toward the end of the beating, one of the jailers complained that he was going to wear out before I did.

Strange as it might seem, after the first few blows, I really didn’t feel them anymore. Instead, it was as if I could only hear them, like the beating of a drum off in the distance. Jehovah definitely protected me and answered my prayers. News of the beating soon got around the jail, and some started calling me “a man of God.” Shortly afterward I was sent to Gestapo headquarters in Danzig. A month later I was taken to the Stutthof concentration camp.

Life in Stutthof

Upon arriving we were told to line up in front of the barracks. A kapo (a prisoner given oversight of other prisoners) pointed to the three huge smokestacks of the crematorium and told us that in three days we would be in heaven with our God. I knew that Brother Bruski, from our congregation in Chojnice, had been sent to Stutthof, so I tried to find him. However, a fellow prisoner informed me that he had died about a month earlier. I was so devastated that I actually fell to the ground. I felt that if Brother Bruski, a physically and spiritually strong Christian, had died, I certainly would too.

Other prisoners helped me back to the barracks, and that is when I first met Brother Scheider. I later learned that before the war he had been Poland’s branch overseer. He had a long talk with me, explaining that if I lost faith in Jehovah, I would die! I felt that Jehovah had sent him to strengthen me. Indeed, how true the proverb is that says: ‘There is a brother born for when there is distress’!—Proverbs 17:17.

My faith at that time had weakened, and Brother Scheider brought to my attention Hebrews 12:1. There Christians are told to beware of the sin that easily entangles them, namely, lack of faith. He helped me to recall faithful ones spoken of in Hebrews chapter 11 and to analyze my faith in comparison with theirs. I stayed as close as possible to Brother Scheider from that time on, and although he was 20 years older than I, we became very close friends.

Once a big fellow wearing a green triangle (which meant that he was a criminal) told me to get up on a table and preach to the prisoners about Jehovah. As I started to do so, other prisoners began making fun of me. But the big fellow went over and quieted them down—everyone was afraid of him. When we assembled to eat at noon and in the evening during the rest of the week, this big guy would have me get up on the table to preach.

The following week some of the prisoners, including me, were assigned to a different barracks. Another prisoner with a green triangle approached me and asked why my God had sent me to this “hell.” I answered that it was to preach to the prisoners and that being here served to test my faith. While with these prisoners, I was allowed to stand before them and preach every night for two weeks.

One day a kapo told a fellow prisoner to beat me. He refused, risking being beaten himself. When I asked him why he did not beat me up, he said he had been planning to commit suicide but had listened to one of my sermons, and it had helped him to change his mind. He figured that I had saved his life and that he couldn’t beat someone who had done that.

Faith Tested to the Limit

In the winter of 1944, the Russians neared Stutthof. The German camp officials decided to move the prisoners before the Russians arrived. The Germans started to march some 1,900 of us prisoners to Słupsk. When we reached the halfway point, only some 800 of us remained. Throughout the march we had heard a lot of shooting, so apparently the rest had been shot or had escaped.

At the beginning of the trek, we had each been given a pound [450 g] of bread and a half pound [220 g] of margarine. Many immediately ate all that they were given. However, I rationed mine as best I could, knowing that the trip could last about two weeks. There were only about ten Witnesses among the prisoners, and Brother Scheider and I kept together.

On the second day of the journey, Brother Scheider became sick. From then on I practically had to carry him, since if we stopped, we would be shot. Brother Scheider told me that Jehovah had answered his prayers by having me there to assist him. On the fifth day, I was so tired and hungry that I felt I could not go another step, let alone carry Brother Scheider. He also was getting weaker because of lack of food.

In that early afternoon, Brother Scheider told me that he had to relieve himself, so I carried him over to a tree. I was looking around to make sure that we were not spotted by German guards. After about a minute, Brother Scheider turned around with a loaf of bread in his hands. “Where did you get that?” I asked. “Was it hanging from the tree or something?”

He said that while I had my back turned, a man approached him and gave him the loaf. That seemed remarkable to me, since I never saw anyone. At the time we were so hungry we didn’t question how it was delivered. But I must say that the request Jesus taught us to make for our bread for each day was afterward much more meaningful to me. (Matthew 6:11) We could not have made it another day without that bread. I also thought of the psalmist’s words: “I have not seen anyone righteous left entirely, nor his offspring looking for bread.”—Psalm 37:25.

After about a week, when almost half way to Słupsk, we stopped at a Hitler Youth camp. There we were to rendezvous with prisoners from other camps. Brother Licnierski had developed typhoid fever and was put in a special barracks with other sick prisoners. Every evening I would sneak out of the barracks I was in and go to Brother Licnierski. If I had been spotted, I would have been shot, but it was important to me to do what I could to get his fever down. I would wet a rag and sit by him and wipe his forehead. Then I would sneak back to my own barracks. Brother Scheider also developed typhoid fever and was put in the barracks with Brother Licnierski.

We were told that the Germans planned to take us to the Baltic Sea, load us on a boat, and transport us to Denmark. However, the Russians kept getting closer. As the Germans grew afraid and began to flee, prisoners seized the opportunity to escape. The Germans ordered me to leave, but since Brother Scheider and Brother Licnierski were too sick to travel and I was unable to carry them, I did not know what to do. So I left, praying that Jehovah would take care of these dear companions.

An hour after I left, the Russians entered the camp. A soldier found Brother Scheider and Brother Licnierski and ordered a German woman who lived at a nearby farm to feed them chicken soup every day until they recovered. The woman told the soldier that the Germans had taken all her chickens. He then told her that if she didn’t feed these men, he would kill her. Needless to say, she promptly found some chickens, and my dear brothers were on their way to recovery!

Continued Refinement of Faith

While in my mother’s living room, we talked about these and other experiences until the early hours of the morning. The brothers stayed a couple of days and then moved on to their own homes. Brother Scheider was used mightily by Jehovah to reorganize the preaching activity in Poland, resuming many of his former responsibilities. However, because of the takeover by the Communists, the preaching activity became very difficult.

Time after time Witnesses were arrested for preaching about God’s Kingdom. Often I was among these and was interrogated by the very ones who had freed me from the Nazis. Then we realized why the authorities were so familiar with our activities. The Communists had planted spies within the organization to keep tabs on us. The infiltration was so successful that in one night in 1950, thousands of Witnesses were arrested.

In time my wife Helena and our growing family decided to move to the United States. We arrived in 1966. While visiting Brooklyn, New York, I was able to present to responsible ones at the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses information that helped them determine who were those that had been planted within the organization by the Communists.—Compare Acts 20:29.

I am now 70 years old and live in the state of Colorado, where I serve as an elder in a local congregation. Because of failing health, I am no longer able to do things as I once could. However, I still very much enjoy talking to people about Jehovah’s Kingdom. When working with younger ones in the ministry, I also take advantage of the opportunity to help them realize that no matter what adversity comes their way, Jehovah is always there to exert his strength in behalf of those who have complete faith in him.

As I look back on my life, I appreciate that Jehovah delivered me and my friends out of perilous situations. These events have made my faith in his protective care definitely stronger. There is not a doubt in my mind that this system of things will soon end in the fast-approaching “great tribulation” and that survivors will have the grand prospect of restoring this earth to a global paradise.—Revelation 7:14; 21:3, 4; John 3:16; 2 Peter 3:13.

I look forward to having a share in this grand restoration of the earth to a paradise condition, and so can you if you do Jehovah’s will to the best of your ability and trust in his promise to protect those who exercise their faith in him.—As told by Feliks Borys.

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A year after getting out of the concentration camp

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With my wife, Helena

Kiev Reporter Praises Witnesses

OLEKSA KURPAS had high praise for the convention held by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kiev, Ukraine, August 5 to 8, 1993. He wrote in Kiev’s Democratic Ukraine on August 10:

“The Republican Stadium has not seen such an attendance for a long time . . . Imagine 64,000 people (among them thousands of foreigners) living in hotels, visiting the stores, taking the public transportation. . . . The congress of Jehovah’s Witnesses was on a high level. The speakers giving the talks were loudly applauded (like the good old days), and tears rolled down my cheeks.

“Not all people know about this religion. In distinction from the Orthodox faith, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus Christ was not more than God’s Son, and the holy spirit is God’s force, or power, (that is, they do not accept the unity of the three in the Holy Trinity). They teach there is no hell. After a frightful judgment, the world will be transformed into a paradise, where the righteous people will live and the sinners will die. The followers of this faith give the family their main attention. This is something holy, the real basis of things, the most beautiful and warmest thing in the world. They have such a friendly attitude toward their brothers and sisters (and what is more remarkable—toward people of another faith). I have not seen such a thing as this. . . .

“A most interesting thing happened on Saturday, August 7. On this day at the International Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses, an unprecedented number were baptized, namely, 7,402. For this extraordinary and important procedure, six large dismountable pools were located on the Stadium’s running track. Sixty spiritually mature men performed the baptism by immersing in water these new preachers of the good news. This whole ceremony lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes. . . .

“The new disciples filed out of five sections in the stadium and were met with applause by those Jehovah’s Witnesses who were attending the convention. The number of those baptized in Kiev outnumbered the previous mark set in 1958 [of 7,136], at the international convention in New York. In general, with such a fine working organization as Jehovah’s Witnesses have, this religious movement in the near future will surely win over many Orthodox souls who have been in that belief for a long time.

“May the leaders of the various religions forgive me, but if they do not discontinue these ridiculous quarrels among themselves, they will lose hundreds of thousands of religious people. This convention showed that the achievement of peace and harmony among people of different nationalities and from various countries is really possible.”

…

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Awake!, February 22, 1994