A Trip to Egbe

Last month I took a surprise trip to Egbe with Phil Tait, the SIM director of Nigeria, and Tobias, one of the Swiss medical students studying at Evangel. Phil sent out an email saying that he was traveling to Egbe for the Centenary Celebration of 100 years of the gospel in Egbe and invited anyone who wanted to come along. Tobias and I decided to go because we were interested in seeing the mission hospital at Egbe. We did not know much about the celebration, but Phil explained that it was a celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the missionary Tommie Titcombe bringing the gospel to Egbe. Tommie Titcombe was a small man, barely 5’2” and 100 pounds, who applied to SIM back in the days when Africa was still considered to be the “white man’s grave” and SIM (still Sudan Interior Mission) was only accepting the hardiest individuals. SIM turned him down repeatedly, but he applied so many times over the course of several years that they finally gave up and accepted him. Tommie Titcombe started the first church in Egbe and his wife started a maternity care clinic. Beginning with the Titcombes’ effort in Egbe, the gospel spread to all of Nigeria. Eventually the churches founded by SIM became the Evangelical Churches of West Africa (ECWA), which is the dominant denomination in Nigeria today. The Centenary Celebration was a week long event celebrating the anniversary of Titcombe’s arrival in Egbe. It included dramatic reenactments, sporting events, speeches, traditional dances, and every night a worship service. Each night thousands of people attended the service, all seated on lawn chairs arranged in a semicircle around a central grandstand.

In addition to Phil Tait, Tobias, and me, there were two other groups from outside of Nigeria. One group was led by Don Campion, the son of the doctor who founded Egbe Hospital. The other group was accompanying Dr. Kantayya, who was the medical director of Egbe Hospital a few years ago. Dr. Kantayya, Don Campion, and Phil Tait were highly honored guests at the ceremony because they represented the missionaries who had over the years brought Christianity to Egbe. Even though Tobias and I had only come to visit the hospital, people saw our white skin and assumed that we were related to one of the famous missionaries being celebrated. I was asked if I was Phil Tait’s daughter, Dr. Campions niece, and even if I was a granddaughter of Tommie Titcombe himself. Tobias and I became guests of honor in a ceremony we knew nothing about. We were given seats in the grandstand, served meals catered by a company in Lagos that specialized in American food, and hailed like heroes as we walked down the streets.

The whole week was full of long ceremonies and important people dressed in fine robes. But the grand finale was the final closing ceremony. Whenever there is a wedding or an important ceremony, there will be an official cloth for the event. Everyone who is attending the ceremony buys the official cloth and has it made into their particular style. The official fabric for this event was blue with a big portrait of Tommie Titcombe on it. When we came to the ceremony there were thousands of people wearing this fabric. Tobias borrowed an extra shirt from Phil and I got an extra outfit from the Kantayyas.

At the evening worship services the pastor who spoke got so excited and was shouting in Yoruba so fast that the translator had to yell over him to keep up. At the beginning of his sermons he would start calmly, but by the time he reached the end of his sermon he was screaming in Yoruba, the translator was screaming in English, and the whole thing was completely unintelligible. The services each evening always started at least an hour late and went well into the night. On the last day, the final ceremony lasted 5 hours. During that time I managed to read the entire biography of Tommie Titcombe, a book I got from Phil the day before. The copy I read had a funny story associated with it.

Especially for the occasion SIM reprinted 1,000 copies of the biography of Tommie Titcombe written by Sophie de la Haye, “Tread Upon the Lion.” When the artists showed Phil Tait the cover art they had designed. They gave him two options for the cover that were exactly the same, except that inside the “O” of the word “LION” one had a picture of a lion and the other had a picture of a tiger. Phil selected the one with the lion, but instead the company proceeded to print 1,000 copies of the biography with a tiger on the cover. My family has jokingly been calling the book “Tread Upon the Tiger.”

- Emily