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JAMES LEONARD
“PAPSIE” MONCHO 1907—1995
he year is 1956, the place, the town
of Mafikeng in racially divided South Africa. Under the cover of darkness a car approaches the house of the Moncho family and Hashes its headlights. In response Mr. James Moncho goes to his window and waves an oil lamp. In the car are John and Audrey Robarts, Knights of Bahá’u’lláh for Bechuanaland; inside the house are the African members of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Mafikeng. Mt. Moncho, the first chairman of that Assembly, is signaling to the car that it is
safe for white people to come into his house in an area reserved under South Africa’s racial laws For Africans.
Another occasion, that same year, this time in the part of town reserved for whites, Mr. Moncho and his wife, Stella, are holding an animated discussion about the Faith in the Robarts’ living room. Some white neighbors appear at the gate, coming for a visit. In an instant Mr. Moncho becomes a servant in the kitchen washing the dishes; his Wife becomes a maid sewing in a back room. It would have been a scandal if black servants were to be seen chatting in the living room with their masters!
Mr. Moncho was loved and respected by both high and low alike and was known as “Papsie” by everyone, including President Sir Ketumile Masire who once worked as a schoolteacher under his jurisdiction.
Papsie came from a family of religious pioneers, so it is perhaps not surprising that on December 26, 1955, he became part of that first small group of Africans in Mafikeng to accept the Faith from the Robarts. His father, Lepodisi Moncho, was one of the first Christian missionaries to the western Kalahari Desert. Papsie, who was born on July 30, 1907, in Ganyesa, South Africa, traveled with his father on some of the arduous missionary journeys, long before any roads existed in the shifting sands and acacia—thorn scrub of the desert. Travel was then by ox wagon, with many stops of a day or more to send the oxen either back or ahead to the nearest watering place. At night Iarge fires were lit in the middle of the camp to ward off marauding lions. Later on in life Papsie traveled these same roads again, this time as the first “native” inspector ofschools for this remote region. The British colonial administration for Bechuanaland, for whom he worked, at first gave him a bicycle for his travels, but later he was given a lorry
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fame: Leonard “Pdprie” Mambo
and a driver—a privilege normally reserved for Europeans.
Where no schools existed, Papsie established them. Where children stayed away from school because of hunger, he successfully pushed for the introduction of feeding programs for pupils in the remote areas.
Many years later after his retirement, Papsie traveled these roads one more time to bring the Bahá’í teachings to the people of the Kalahari. An indelible memory of this trip is of the old man sitting on a rock atop a huge sand dune in the village of Tsabong. A minister and his congregation who were on their way to church were gathered around him, delaying their church service so that they could listen to him explain how Bahá’u’lláh fulfills the promises contained in the Bibles they were carrying.
I’apsie married Stella Motshedi in 1938, and they had four Children. They came to be the first Bahá’ís of Botswana when the border between South Africa and the Bechuanaland Protectorate—the
THE BAHA’I’ WORLD
future Botswana—was marked by the boundary commission, that mistakenly placed it along the wrong river leaving the administrative capital, Mafikeng, inside South Africa. Thus the Moncho family lived under apartheid rule in South Africa, even though Papsie worked for the Bechuanaland administration. When the Protectorate gained independence as the Republic of Botswana in 1966, Papsie was stationed inside its boundaries, and the family chose to remain there, not only as citizens of the new country, but also as its first Bahá’ís.
Believers were few and far between in those days, and there was no Bahá’í community that the Monchos could be part of. Nevertheless their firmness in the Faith was constant throughout these years, and a Bahá’í community with a Local Spiritual Assembly later grew up around the farm where they lived. They did their best to bring up their children as believers, and their daughter, Lally Lucretia Warren, later became the first native Tswana to be appointed to the Continental Board of Counsellors in Africa.
It was in these early days that Papsie started translating some selections of Bahá’í Scriptures. In June 1972, during their visit to Botswana, the Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l—Baha Rúḥíyyih Khánum and Violette Nafljavani met with the Monchos, and in 1986 Papsie and Stella were able to return the visit when, in their late seventies, both made a pilgrimage to the Holy Shrines.
Papsie typified the Bahá’í Virtues of uprightness, honesty, and steadfastness in the Faith, combining a sparkling wit with a lack of self—importance. When worn out during his final years, he seemed to gain a new life when given the opportunity to talk to someone about the Faith.The lasting legacy of Papsie will be his contribution to
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IN MEMORIAM I 992—1 997
the translation of the Holy Writings into the Setswana language. His command of English, his deep knowledge of Setswana, and his unwillingness to compromise standards ofaccuracy and beauty in translation meant that he could always be relied upon as a final arbiter of the nuance ofa certain Setswana word or the appropriateness of a certain phrase. He leaves behind him a priceless legacy in the form ofa published book of extracts from Cleaning: fiom the Writings ofB/z/Jd'u’lla’l} called Dingledz' £56 411' P/mtrkimzmg ('Ihe Brilliant Stars). It is a masterpiece of Setswana literature as well as a befitting translation of the Holy Word. In addition he leaves behind draft translations of both the [thb—i-fqrin and the entire Gleam'ngs, completed during the twilight years of his life.
He slipped away from this life on September 5, 1995, in his eighty—eighth year, surrounded by his family. As he lay semiconscious the prayer “Create in me a pure heart. . .” was read to him in Setswana, and as the last word of the prayer was uttered, he breathed his last. On September 7 the Universal House of Justice paid him the following tribute:
We were saddened to learn of the death of Mr. James Moncho, who served the Cause of God with unHagging ardour across some four decades and who is particularly remembered for his translations of the Sacred Texts into Setswana and for his valiant efforts in promoting the Faith among the people of Botswana. Be assured ofour ardent prayers in the Holy Shrines for the progress of his radiant soul in the
Abhá Kingdom.
Gerald and Ld/ly Warren
