Ann Smith: “Interview with Rita Chapman”

Interview with Rita Chapman

by Ann Smith

Rita was born in a mission hospital in what was then called the Belgian Congo. Her parents were American Baptist missionaries in an area of the Congo River basin known as Sona Bota. Her parents were stationed at Kinshasa, a short distance from the hospital. She grew up in the Congo except for two years when she came to the United States with her parents when they were on furlough.

Her father sometimes taught high school and sometimes acted as the school’s administrator. But his joy was his opportunity to train village church lay leaders. Her mother also taught high school as well as writing books for adult literacy and to help her husband with his program of training for lay leaders. On the side, Rita says, her mother taught people to raise chickens and rabbits, to garden, and even to raise tropical plants and fish which the young men could sell to foreigners in the capital. Rita has two older sisters. Her oldest sister, Miriam Noyes, is a graphic artist. Rita served in Congo as an American Baptist missionary working with adult literacy and developing tracts, as well as traveling with a Congolese team to train adult literacy teachers. Her middle sister, Evelyn is a graphic artist and illustrator who worked with Partners International for a number of years.

She was homeschooled by her mother from preschool age until she turned ten. Then she went to the American School of Kinshasa until she was eighteen. She lived with children of other Baptist missionaries in a hostel until she graduated from high school.

Rita met Glen while they were at the school in Kinshasa. For a time, they were both residents of the school’s hostel. She says the two of them developed a special friendship in High School but implies that it was not especially romantic. They did keep in touch after they left the school.

In high school, Glen had a very shy friend who thought he wanted a romantic relationship with Rita. But the boy decided he needed some help. He asked Glen to help him get to know this attractive girl who had piqued his interest. Rita and Glen soon found out that they were much more interested in each other than in Glen’s luckless friend. Twice, Glen biked through the African bush for 3 days to visit Rita while they were separated during summer vacations.

Seven years after graduating from High School Rita and Glen were married. The ceremony took place in the First Baptist Church of Santa Cruz, California.

Rita says that her first memory of church was of the singing at the mission church her father served. The hymns were in the Kikongo language. The sisters did not know the language and soon got tired of listening to the singing. They learned to entertain themselves quietly by rolling their mother’s handkerchiefs into “babies in a cradle” and by folding paper into cranes and “cootie catchers.”

When Rita was 7, she wanted to be baptized. Two years later, when she was a 9–10-year-old, she was finding comfort in the psalms. She says both Sunday School and Good New Club kept her faith growing. She was impacted by a strong youth group in Santa Cruz, California when she was in 7th grade. She was baptized there.

In 2017, when they were home on furlough, Rita and Glen came to see his parents, Orville and Virginia Chapman. They were happy to be part of our congregation. They were glad to reconnect with is when they completed their missionary service in Congo.

Rita says she has a hard time picking a favorite Bible story. But she says she is amused by the story of Adam and Eve in the garden. She points out that not much has changed. Humankind’s relationship with God in the story becomes so strained as a result of rebellion. She sees God’s redemption story begin there and runs through the whole of the Bible.

Her favorite hymn is How Great Thou Art (number 21 in our hymnal). She is moved by the first line: O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hand has made. She says she never ceases to wonder at all the worlds the Lord has created – down to the tiniest unseen worlds under the microscope.

Rita says she felt especially close to God while she was going through radiation for cancer. She spent part of her mornings in her daughter’s sunny bedroom for her devotions. Many of her scriptures during that time focused on trust and thanksgiving. She says it was truly a time of blessing.