Clement Marau
1856-1920 19th century
Holding a distant post alone, and making solitude an inhabited place.
Who was Clement Marau?
Born on Merelava in the Banks Islands, he left his island as a trembling adolescent for a mission school. He became a teacher and then a deacon, and spent his life at Ulawa in the Solomons, in a post where for long stretches he was alone. He wrote his own account in the Mota language, one of the few first-hand testimonies of a Melanesian Christian of his time.
In their own words
He is God, He is Creator of heaven and earth, the Maker of everything that is, of men whether white or black.
Ah, how sure is the prayer of faith, when you pray earnestly for what you eagerly desire, and what God will help you in.
God is not far off from any one who sincerely seeks for righteousness.