Tools of Christian Missionaries: Influence of Education and Medical health among

the Zo people in Chin Hills1

Dr Pum Khan Pau

Christian missionaries were some of the most influential actors which brought significant
changes in the host environment. They came as stranger, but psychologically and professionally
prepared, to an unfamiliar environment with the objective to bring transition in the host society.
The primary tools often used by them to facilitate transition were the introduction of education
and medical health. It is from this perspective that the present paper seeks to study the influences
of education and medical health in order to understand the whole gamut of Christian conversion
among the Zo people in colonial Chin Hills.
The earliest Christian missionaries in Chin Hills, Rev. Arthur E. Carson and his wife Laura
Hardin Carson from the American Baptist Mission, reached Haka on 15 March, 1899. They first
laid the foundation of Christianity in Chin hills. Though it took some time to gain substantial
results, ultimately it was this missionary couple and their successors who apparently brought
spiritual as well as physical enlightenment to the indigenous people. The socio-economic,
cultural and religious developments of the Zo people today can thus be truly attributed to the
works of Christian missionaries who first spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Missionary activities may be closely intertwined with educational and medical activities.
One of the foremost tasks of the missionaries among the Zo people was to heal the soul as well
as the body. “Building a house and a schoolhouse were the first concerns of the Carsons’,2 wrote
Robert G. Johnson, which clearly underscored the importance of education to evangelical work.
He further says that Carson was very much concern about extending medical services to the
people who were badly in need of them in order to bring them to Christianity. In his letter to the
Mission Board, Carson addressed:
Every disease, and they are heir to them all, is assigned to possession or influence of evil
spirits, and sacrifice and feasting is the remedy…We are sure that a medical missionary,
beside the immense amount of suffering he could relieve, could unlock the hearts of this
simple people as no other could.3

Dr Erik Hjalmar East, a Swedish born American, was the first medical missionary, who reached
the Chin Hills on 22 March, 1902. Barely after staying for two months Dr East soon left the Chin
Hills because of illness. His first impression during his brief stay, however, intelligibly stressed
the need for medical work:
My first impression was that the Chins certainly were in need of help, as the blind lame,
wounded, fever stricken, lepers and skin diseases came. Secondly, I was convinced that
this people were in need of a thorough cleansing from top to toe as I had never seen
human beings so completely encrusted with a covering of dirt. In the third place I was

1
 convinced that the soap I brought would come in handy and more so as I was told that
they never wash themselves or their children. 4

On 28 December, 1903, Dr East, this time with his new bride Emily Johnson, returned to Haka
with a strong conviction “to break down the influence of the priests and the witch doctor”. He
started giving treatments to sick persons, distributing drugs to villages and at the same time
preaching the Gospel. In 1904 alone treatments were given to 4,000 patients. Dispensaries were
opened up in important villages. Medicines were stored in schools where teachers, who had been
trained to give treatment on certain common diseases, also performed basic treatment to patients.
The most common diseases were malaria, rheumatism, toothache, goiter, fever, eye trouble etc.
Since it became quite expensive and difficult for the medical doctors to make tour to the
villages it was proposed that the sick persons should also be brought to the Haka hospital for
treatment. The Emily Tyzzer Memorial Hospital at Haka was established in 1907. The hospital,
however, did not really serve the purpose as it was believed. Report of 1909 revealed that only
21 inpatients had been registered at the hospital that year whereas there were more than 5000
new patients on record. “The reason for so few have availed themselves of the hospital
accommodation”, wrote Dr East, “is due to the fact that it is looked upon as a calamity to be
away from the hearthstone in case that death should come while away. To be happy after death a
Chin must die in his home and by his fireside.”5 Besides the people also had “prejudiced against
a man who claims to be a medicine chief and cannot cure all his chronic troubles with a pill or by
rubbing something on two or three times”. A time comes when they lost all hopes in their
traditional methods. “They come to us as a last resort”, lamented East, “when hope, means and
strength are absolutely gone.”6
Education also played significant role in evangelism. The first school was introduced by
Carson at Haka in June 1900, which was later closed down because of strong opposition from a
Burman sergeant of the Military Police.7 It was, however, reopened on 21 March 1902 after the
arrival of Dr Erik Hjalmar East, a medical doctor, and Saya Shwe Zan, another Karen preacher
and teacher. That same year a second school was opened at Tedim with one Po Ku as the teacher
followed by the third school at Khuasak in the Tedim Subdivision on 31 March 1904. It was at
Khuasak village, which Dr East described “one of the most Godless places on the earth”8, that
wonderfully the first converts —Thuam Hang and his wife Dim Khaw Cing, and Pau Suan and
his wife Kham Ciang—were gained. On hearing this great news Dr E. H. East, who later
baptised them,9 jubilantly exclaimed: “Truly, when this letter came from Schwe Zan, Mrs East
and I laughed and cried and shouted: ‘the King of Glory had surely made His entrance into the
Chin Hills. The bells of heaven were ringing as the Shepherd brought home the lost sheep.’ It
was too wonderful!”.10
Having been strongly encouraged by the permission given by the Kamhau Chief Hau Cin
Khup of Tonzang, a school was started there in 1904. The Chief also gave permission to build a
schoolhouse and a teacher’s house. Po Ku, the Karen teacher started the school with two students
namely Son Vung and Hen Za Kam from Tuitum village. These two students later became the

2
first Christian from Tonzang area. They were baptised by Dr East on 27 February 1906 in the
presence of Chief Hau Cin Khup and all the villagers. The same year another school was started
at Zokhua with Saya Ma Kya as teacher. Thus by 1905 there were altogether four schools with
an attendance of 132 pupils. The small number of attendance also shows that there was an
economic disadvantage in having children to go school because by sending it parents lost the
service of their children.
In the early stages of its growth there were no girls enrolled in the school. In fact, Zo
people seemed to have seen no value in the education of women. According to them girls had to
work in the fields and in the home and so could not be spared. Educating a girl was
nonproductive, for they thought girls would only get married, have a family, and be occupied in
agricultural and domestic chores. Besides they considered educated girls would not be properly
submissive to their husbands. Knowing this, Laura Carson devoted her considerable energies to
getting hold of the girls:
My plan (she wrote) is to attract them at first by starting a sewing class and telling the
girls that as soon as one is able to cut out and make a jacket neatly she shall have it.
While teaching them to sew I hope to be able to teach them a good many other things and
to get them interested in learning to read and so to open up a new world to them.11

Laura Carson succeeded in getting the girls in her sewing classes. Mah Seh a woman teacher was
brought up at Haka. There was, however, only one girl student in 1906.
When the Baptist Mission Burma in Boston reorganised the Chin Mission into the
northern and southern regions on 1 October 1909, a second station was established at Tedim and
John Herbert Cope, who recently arrived at Haka, was placed in charge of it. Unlike the situation
in Haka12 there was considerable opposition by the chiefs to schools in Falam. What the chief of
Seipi village told the Superintendent and Dr East at a conference in June 1909 explains why:
“Chong In Kadu Vantsung Jesu Kan dulo. Ar le vock Kan tshoi lo a stshun Kan thi lai, she ranga
Jesu thorng Kan duh la” (school I want, the Heavenly Jesus I don’t want. If we do not sacrifice
chickens and pigs we die, therefore, I don’t want the Jesus custom).13 Evidently, the chief wanted
education without Christianity to which the missionaries could not agree. Dr East thus told the
Superintendent that “we would not for a moment consider any school without religious teaching,
and that our prime object was and is to spread the Gospel, and while doing so, we are willing to
educate the people also”. The Superintendent remained unmoved. The school at Laizo and
Lumbang were accordingly closed. Disappointed with the Government attitude Dr East wrote:
The whole thing goes to show that even here, among wild tribes, the powers that be
representing a (sic) Christian Missionaries are not always as they should be; but on the
contrary try to block their work wherever possible by veiled diplomatic tricks, for such I
am sure this was. But we have no right to blame the British Government, as in the
farflung provinces it usually depends upon some unfriendly sub-officials who must
elevate himself by hindering such as are willing to rescue the perishing and care for the
dying.14

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 When Dr East left the Chin Hills on October 1910 for failure of his health there were 5
primary schools with 231 students including 20 girls. The medium of instruction at that time was
Burmese.
In 1911 there were 6 primary schools of which two registered with the Government
namely, Khuasak (I January 1911) and Haka schools. However, there was a sharp decline in their
number. In 1912 only two schools remained functioning. The number of students dropped from
180 in 1911 to a mere 60 in 1912. It is possible that the four unregistered night schools ceased to
function; one of the causes of the decline was certainly the opposition of Chief Hau Cin Khup
who gave permission for the school but became nervous with the growth of Christianity in his
tract. He was uncompromising towards Christians and even ordered Po Ku, the teacher, out of
the village. He also dismantled the Tonzang School which eventually ceased to exist.
The functioning of the schools was again interrupted by the Haka uprising of 191715 that
resulted in the closure of a few schools. But these reopened again after its suppression and in
1920 there were 6 primary schools with 175 students and 11 teachers. In 1922 the Haka school
was upgraded to middle school (7th standard) and the following year Khuasak school was also
raised to secondary standard. In 1935 the statistics of the educational schools show that there
remained only 3 primary schools with the Missions having 75 pupils. The fall in the number this
time was due mainly to Government’s absorption of the schools.
It was nearly after a decade of the first Mission school that the British Government took
some interest in education. The first Government primary school was established at Falam in
1908. In the month of January in the following year the Government sanctioned an allowance of
Rs. 2 per month for each student. The Government too started providing pupils with meals which
had been the long demand of the Zos. This remarkably improved the attendance.16
On 25 June 1909 a Government Vernacular School was opened at Tedim.17 In 1913 a
boarding school was introduced in Tedim. The opening of Government schools adversely
affected the Mission schools and Dr East lamented that this totally wiped out the “golden
opportunity” for the missionaries.18 There was much rivalry and little cooperation between the
Government and the Mission in the early years of Dr East’s period. While the Missions
employed Christian Karen teachers who strictly followed their policy to inculcate Christian faith
through teaching and preaching, Buddhist Burmans and Hindu or Muslim Indians who were in
the service of the Government also became a stumbling block to the progress of education. Even,
as Dr East remarked: “A certain Roman Catholic Government official did all he could secretly to
undercut the mission program, while feigning friendship on the surface.”19 Matters improved
under Rev. John Herbert Cope who began to work in collaboration with the Government. He
established personal friendship with the officials at all levels including Burmese and Indian.
After 1921 the Government began to take a keener interest in the education provided by the
Mission. The attitude of the Chiefs and headmen too gradually changed and they became, after
many of them were converted, helpful to the Mission.

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 In June 1921, Colonel L E L Burne, the Superintendent and the Battalion Commander,
held a meeting at Falam to discuss the merits of change of the medium of instruction in the
schools. It was attended by Herbert Cope, and the Assistant Superintendents. Burne reported the
view of the conference:
The opinion of the majority was that the present system of education was not the best
suited to the needs of the people of these hills, and that Chins should replace Burmese as
the medium of instruction. Burmese would not be abolished altogether, except in the
village schools, but would be taken as a second language.
The technical school at Falam continues to impart instruction in carpentry and masonry,
and the question of extending the subjects to be taught is receiving attention.20

Writing to his friends Cope also said:

I am very glad that the present officers are advocating the education of the Chins in their
own language. Now we are educating the Chins through Burmese. This month we all held
a conference on the question. Most of the political officers are in favour of the change.
The new idea is to produce textbooks in Chin, erect a school house in every village of
considerable size, place a teacher there who will teach the boys and girls to read in their
own language and, through that, other subjects to the fourth year. In the meantime,
Burmese will still be taught at the stations (that is, in Tiddim, Falam, and Haka). In the
mission schools all the children are now taught to read little Chin, enough so that they
can sing and read the few portions of the Bible which have been translated.21

The meeting resulted in the change of the medium from Burmese to the Zo language at
the primary level. Burmese was, however, continued to be used in the higher grades in the
schools at Tedim, Falam, and Haka. The following year another conference, held at Maymyo,
recommended the use of Laizo or the Falam dialect, and that English and Burmese to be the
second languages. As there was no consensus on orthography a sub-committee, one of the
members being Cope, was formed, which also could produce no agreement. The Maymyo
recommendation did not prove satisfactory as the Laizo dialect was not popular in the Tedim
area. Accordingly Colonel Burne asked Cope in 1924 to prepare text books in two languages-
one in Kamhau-Sukte for Tedim and the other in Laizo for Falam and Haka. Cope was elated for
reasons he had explained to the Field Secretary of the Baptist Mission in Rangoon:
We have the opportunity of a lifetime here in the Hills and want to take advantage of it. It
means also an advance in our work even if there were no more missionaries or helpers.
At first the large majority of teachers in the Haka and Falam subdivisions will be
Christians and everyone will be an evangelist. It means also that one language will slowly
come to dominate the lower two-thirds of the Hills and one in the Tiddim subdivision,
thus doing away with the most exasperating obstacle to the progress of work here in this
field. It will mean more so solidarity in the work and in the people.22

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 The relationship between the Government and the Missions had now become healthier and
a new policy of streamlining education was set in place. In May 1924 Cope was offered and
accepted the post of Honorary Inspector of Schools by which all schools came under his control.
This meant that the Mission schools also came under the Government. The Burmese script and
language was dropped altogether and replaced by the Roman-alphabet and vernacular language.
Cope was commissioned to write textbooks from primary to the fourth standard in local dialects
on all subjects taught in the schools for three subdivisions of Falam, Haka and Tedim. He
ultimately wrote thirty five textbooks and readers in six different Zo dialects, on different
subjects such as geography, hygiene, nature study, history and arithmetic. What Cope achieved
in practical terms was the reduction of over forty dialects into three lingua franca namely:
Tedim, Falam and Haka.23
Government subsidies to Mission schools ceased in 1925. Till the year 1924 Mission
schools all over the Chin Hills received Rs.833 from the Government and Rs. 455 from local
contributions. The changeover from Burmese to Zo language as the medium of instruction made
the schools into Anglo-Vernacular Middle Schools with upto the 7th standard, which appeared
more attractive to the boys and girls. Meanwhile, for Gurkhas, Chinese, Burmese and Indian
children who could not understand the vernacular a Non-Zo School was established in the
cantonment area of Falam. Subsequently, in 1935 the first high school with 8th standard was
started in Falam. It was a result of the persistent efforts made by three students from Tedim viz.,
Song Pau of Tedim, Neng Za Gin of Phunom, and S T Hau Go of Lailui. The Falam high school
became the basis, as S T Hau Go noted, for forging the unity of the Zo people of Haka, Falam
and Tedim in spirit, language and other nation-building activities.24
Since the American missionaries were not able to visit every village, their work was
extended by the Karen Christian teachers. Gradually educated Zo people continued the work of
evangelisation. Those who became Christian and were trained and educated were employed in
the ministries. Statistics show that numbers of organised Churches soared up from 12 in 1924 to
60 in 1937 in the Haka, Falam and Tedim areas. After the incorporation of Pakokku Hill Tracts
into Chin Hills in 1930, villages in the south including Matu, Khrum, and Kanpetlet had been
visited by northern missionaries. In the Kanpetlet subdivision there were three Government
schools, all teaching in Burmese. Curiously there was one Christian in the whole Kanpetlet
area.25
It has come to light from the foregoing discussion that Christian missionaries had
effectively employed education and medical health to cause transition in the socio-cultural and
religious lives of the people. Strikingly enough, the influence of education and medical health
had transcended beyond the cosmological arena of the indigenous Zo society. While it is apt to
say that education opened the mind medical health no less transformed the heart and healed the
body. The influences of the two undoubtedly facilitated Christian conversions among the Zos.
1
This article is part of my paper “Religious Conversions Reconsidered: Christian Mission and Indigenous
movement among the Zo people in Colonial Chin Hills,” presented at the International Seminar on, Encounter and
Interventions: History of Christian Missionary endeavour in British North East India, organised by Department of
History, Assam University, Silchar in collaboration with Queen’s University, Belfast during 17-18 March, 2008.

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2
Robert G. Johnson, History of the American Baptist Chin Mission, Vol.1, Valley Forge, USA, 1998, p.54.
3
Johnson, p.58
4
E.H.East, Burma Manuscript, Edited by C. Thang Za Tuan, Yangon, Myanmar 1996, p.49.
5
Johnson, p.274.
6
Johnson, p.273; Dr East thus wrote; “They often tell us, we have now done all our customs teach us, and all that
our witch doctors know. We have sacrificed mythun, cows, pigs, goats, chickens, and dogs, and still we are no
better; now we are as fools, we know no more. Now we come to you. Your are like god. What can you do for us?
We will give you a rupee if you cure us.”
7
For detail analysis of missionaries encounter with colonial rulers, see Pum Khan Pau, The Chins and the British,
1835-1935, Unpublished PhD thesis, Department of History, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, 2006.
8
E.H.East, pp.60-61.
9
Laura Hardin Carson, Pioneer Trails, Trials and Triumphs, Calcutta 1927, Reprint Aizawl 1997.pp. 180-181. It
was at Khuasak that the first hill Chin Christian converts had been baptised.
10
E.H.East, pp.60-61. The British Superintendent of Chin Hills L.E.L.Burne in 1908 reported that when Rev.
A.E.Carson died on 1 April 1908 there were already 55 Chin Christians, Report on the Administration of the Chin
Hills for the year 1907-08.
11
Johnson, p.140
12
See Shwe Zan’s letter date 25 July 1904 from Khuasak village to Dr East quoted in Laura Hardin, op.cit. pp.180-
181, in which he inter alia says of the converts: “One man name’s Tum Harm (Thuam Hang); he is chief among the
three chiefs. Now he begin to believe Jesus. This night he come up to me for praying God. Dear master, please
remember for Tum Harm in your prayer. O my dear master if you arrive here this time, how you will be very glad
for Christ.
“As to school the people begin to build the school now. They got some post to the school place; in a few
days I think school will finish. Some time I wrote about to stop school until the school (house) finish, and you tell I
must stop; but I think in my heart it is better to learn every day so that I have school in my house”.
13
E.H.East, p.193.
14
E.H.East, p.194; A Zo leader Rev. Max Vai Pum in his work “The Beginning of formal Education in the Chin
Hills”, Falam High School Diamond Jubilee Magazine (1906-1981) also writes the attitude of the Chins and chief
thus: “Unfortunately things did not turn up so, for formal education at the onset did not seize the fancy of the people
and the state schools were abominations to the arrogant Chin chieftains. To them this education business was
nothing less than a form of coercion, a virtual seduction towards change of religion, culture and tribal customs. The
chiefs especially feared the prospect of losing their customary tributes”.
15
The uprising was a culmination of anti-colonial feeling which had been developed following annexation. For more
discussion, see Pum Khan Pau, “The Haka Uprising, 1917-1918,” in Chin Students Association Golden Jubilee
Souvenir, Lamka, 2006, pp.62-67.
16
L.E.L.Burne, Report on the Administration of the Chin Hills for the year 1908-09.
17
LEL Burne, Report 1908-09, The buildings, which include a large class-room, quarters for the teacher and a
dormitory for the boys were erected entirely at the expense of the Zos, who not only supplied all the necessary
materials, but employed Zo labour for the actual building work. There are now 50 pupils attending the school and
about another 30 seeking admission which it is impossible to grant. The services of an additional teacher are
required.
18
Johnson, p.287
19
Johnson, p.283
20
L.E.L.Burne, Report on the Administration of the Chin Hills for the year 1920-21
21
Johnson, p.458
22
Johnson, p.461; Cope’s letter to Wiatt, the Field Secretary to Rangoon, 24 April 1924.
23
Sukte T. Hau Go, “How Falam Got Her High School” Falam High School Diamond Jubilee Magazine (1906-
1981) p.66.
24
S T Hau Go, p.67
25
Johnson, pp.540-541