Jessie's House of Needles

by John Algate

  Graduation ceremonies were always a big deal, and from the tone of her letters Jess was both bemused by the local enthusiasm for the events and excited by the prospect of attending and seeing her young charges celebrate their achievement.

  The midwives in the Dagi Valley had been happily planning and shopping for the big day of their graduation for weeks. Questions and answers daily on the radio. Yes, I have bought the rice and noodles; Yes, we can stay four hours; Yes, I have ordered the helicopter for the right day and on and on. Suddenly a bombshell hit when we heard that both helicopters were down and needing parts not locally available. Our flight would probably be cancelled. What a disappointment. Everyone started to pray for the situation and for the needed parts to be found. I told them to go ahead with their festivities just the same. The night before we were to go the pilot called up on the radio and said that maybe, just maybe he could get the parts together, do a test run and still come and get us. I sat by the radio all morning and at noon he called to say they were on their way. He dropped us off in the village and went to refuel. The weather quickly deteriorated and he couldn’t get back so we were stuck there for the night. The graduation went smoothly. We gave out their work packs and a message. We were then given a chicken each as a thank-you gift. I stayed the night with Epsin, one of the midwives. (September 2000)

  After retiring from active service in West Papua, Jessie kept up with news from her friends and former colleagues. Little pleased her more than news that the network of midwives and clinic workers she had trained were providing an ongoing legacy of medical care in the highlands.

  I do praise the Lord for recent news from Irian that the men and women I trained at Sela Valley and Korupun are continuing to work faithfully in their clinics and serving their people well. Sue Trenier was in the area recently to hand out midwifery kits/bags from the health department to the midwives. She wanted to explain how to use the new equipment. She was encouraged to see that both the midwives and the clinic workers were doing well. Continue to pray for Sabil as he continues to have the responsibility and oversight of the 41 clinic workers. (July 2002)

  In 1998 Jessie was inducted as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM): ‘For service to international humanitarian assistance in the Central and Eastern Highlands of Irian Jaya for more than 30 years.’

  The Order of Australia is the pre-eminent way Australians recognise the achievements and service of their fellow citizens. Nominations for awards in the General Division of the Order of Australia come directly from the community.

  The midwife program was one of the important humanitarian initiatives that underpinned Jessie’s nomination for this prestigious award, one of the highest honours Australia can bestow upon a citizen.

  16. Staying connected — staying well

  My mail is very spasmodic and some seems to have been lost.

  While the western missionaries lived and worked with National evangelists and local tribes’ people, they also maintained contact with the outside world and their own small network of expatriates within West Papua. It took some getting used to because compared to life in their home countries; life in the mountains was remote, rustic, dangerous and difficult.

  In the early days, mail could take months to arrive or not arrive at all. In the wet conditions Jess was requesting thongs, footwear that was relatively new and as yet unavailable in West Papua. Most of the parcels went missing. Jessie’s sister Jean resorted to filling 44 gallon drums with various foodstuffs and goods that weren’t available ‘out there’. Sent by boat, they often took more than three months to arrive, sometimes failed to arrive or turned up damaged.

  I have heard that my fridge has arrived at the coast but have been told it is badly damaged and may not be any use. At long last parcels sent airmail are beginning to arrive. The first I received had been posted five months previously. (Air freight is very reliable and only takes about three weeks. This goes direct to West Irian and not via Indonesia as all mail does). (April 1967)

  While basic foods were hard to come by in the mountains Jessie did receive support from her network back home where sister Vera Ewins helped rally the troops:

  ‘Many people have asked me ‘What can I send Jessie’. When she was on furlough I put the question to her. Although she was reluctant to answer here are some of her suggestions. Firstly remember – there are NO SHOPS which means you haven’t the choice of varying your diet as goods have to be ordered by the case load! So go around your local supermarket and buy a variety of goods in small quantities, i.e. 105 gram tin of salmon, very small tins of baked beans, spaghetti etc. Remember packets weigh less to post and Jessie has to pay freight from Sentani into her on all articles we post. Don’t put soap, talc, perfumes etc. in the same parcel as packed food. Wrap all packet foods separately in glad wrap. Cake mixes, instant puddings, packet soups, sweets, chocolates.’ (1984)

  You will be pleased to know I received a big box of goodies from you when the plane arrived. Thank you for all the special things. They are much appreciated and well enjoyed. (November 1984)

  I received two more parcels from you when the plane last came. It is hard to see the labels but I think it was posted in March (five months before). I was very pleased to receive the books as I do need reading material. The chocolate bars and lollies travelled well. The little tins of salmon and lamb tongues are a treat. We had a packet of the Red Dragon long soup last night for tea and enjoyed the change. (August 1985)

  We have recently been having problems with Customs changes. It is illegal to send clothing. I am sorry for those who have faithfully sent clothing for the people; we have appreciated it. Other packages have high duty if it is over five kilos. NCV [presumably No Commercial Value] is not accepted as they say you wouldn’t send it if it wasn’t worth anything. (January 1995)

  Jessie was a prolific letter writer. She wrote about five or six personal letters most evenings during her 35 years in Papua, only occasionally missing these writing sessions because of unforeseen circumstances, and had friends in every Australian state and abroad. This was her wider family. She was never idle and used every spare minute to write, though unreliable mail services meant her letters and responses often went astray.

  I wrote over 100 letters the week my permit came through, haven’t heard from anyone so guessing they have all gone astray. Sometimes if the planes are down or the weather is very bad we will send mail over the trail by carrier if we know a plane is scheduled elsewhere. In February this year I received a fruit cake posted 12 months ago! It tasted OK. (1986)

  Communicating with the outside world was a constant problem. Mail was delayed or simply went missing, sometimes by the bag loads it seems. In September 1986 Vera informed friends and supporters:

  ‘Further to Jessie’s remarks regarding letters not getting through we have received very few since May. This prayer letter has come via the Philippines. In an accompanying letter to us Jessie wrote: Thank you for your letter that arrived on the last plane. I was rather flabbergasted to hear that you haven’t been getting my mail. I am also assuming that you didn’t get my last prayer letter written in June either. (We didn’t).’

  Because of the lack of pilots and planes at present we have only been getting a plane every two or three weeks. My mail has been very spasmodic and some seems to have been lost. If you haven’t heard from me please write again as I probably did not get it. Occasionally the next valley has a plane and then I can send mail over to catch their plane. It is a day’s walk. (September 1996)

  The situation improved little over the years as shown by this email from Pat and Mike Clark to Vera and Ken in October 1999.

  ‘In the last email I received from her (Jessie) a few days ago she said that she has had no mail since her sister died. So I think that she is feeling a little dejected and lonely.’

  Jessie’s good humour sometimes masked the anxiety that went with her work. In her letters she often reflected on the responsibility of decision making in life and death situations. S
ometimes she asked supporters to pray for the community clinic workers and midwives making decisions with their limited skills and knowledge. Occasionally she revealed her own doubts and concerns, for needs were great, resources limited and judgement calls often had to be made.

  Last week a runner came from a village eight hours walk away to say they had a lady who had been in labour for three days and what should they do? I quickly sent off the local stretcher, a rice bag with holes cut in the corners to put poles through, to carry her. Also sent a clinic worker with an injection of pethidine for her. I was very thankful when she delivered a healthy baby boy. It is a hard decision whether to call a helicopter or not, they cost so much and especially on a Sunday when the pilot is off duty. (1968)

  Such responsibility always weighed heavily on her, even with the great experience that went with her many years of service.

  Last week I had a letter from a village three days walk away to say that a lady was haemorrhaging (like a tap). Could I please get the helicopter? The helicopter was in the area and the pilot tried for two days to get her out. The fog would settle down on the village and he couldn’t find it. I am thankful that she has improved, but will probably need surgery later in her pregnancy. Do pray for me in making these decisions. It can be an expensive decision if it is wrong. (September 1996)

  Jessie, the health service provider, also had her own bouts of ill-health, enduring many of the same risks and the same primitive conditions that affected her patients.

  Three months has now passed since it was discovered that I had hepatitis and bed became my constant companion. The first week when I was a lovely shade of yellow, my Dani friends were very anxious, but when I returned to my normal colour they could not understand why I was not working again. (May 1968)

  Rest and recuperation were foreign concepts and didn’t come easily to the normally energetic nurse.

  It seems that I will have to rest more during the next six months to try and get my liver back into shape. This would have been impossible a few months ago, but now another nurse, Mary Freizen, from the Christian & Missionary Alliance (also recuperating from hepatitis and on light duties) has been able to come and help us here in the hospital for four months. It is not easy to sit and watch others take a heavier load. (June 1969)

  Shortly before returning to West Papua from furlough in Australia in 1983 Jessie was rushed in for surgery, reporting the experience in her normal, jovial and optimistic style.

  My unexpected and sudden visit to hospital for surgery put a very definite end to my jaunting around in such a carefree manner. It certainly was an experience being on the other side of the sheets for a change. I was thrilled to find that the anaesthetist is a Christian doctor. The specialist was amazed by my rapid recovery but I know it was in answer to prayer. She allowed me home on the sixth day after surgery… something she told me she had never done before.

  I still have to return to Indonesia on 19 December because my papers expire. Instead of going direct to Korupun I will go to the language school in Bandung for three months. This will be to upgrade my Indonesian while I recuperate. I will be staying with a Moslem family who live close to the school. I understand that the regular meals on the menu are fish heads and rice; so maybe you had better pray for my digestion (or indigestion). (December 1983)

  The ‘unexpected’ surgery was a hysterectomy. While her sisters can’t recall the exact details, they think the procedure was performed so urgently because she was returning to such an isolated place.

  ‘Her doctor in Melbourne did express concern from time to time about her returning where she could not have access to good health care. This was particularly so when she had nephritis and really should have had more frequent checks on her kidneys. Amazingly they did recover to a large degree. On another occasion she caught Hepatitis B from a needle prick. For months she dragged herself down to the clinic in the morning and slept all afternoon. I don’t know how she kept going. She was not sure what her condition was and it was confirmed by blood test when next she was home. Again, amazingly, she did not suffer liver damage.’ – Thelma Minto

  Yes, I am home again for further medical tests regarding my kidneys. This time the verdict is I have nephritis (a kidney disease). The specialist is happy there is no further deterioration of the kidneys but I do have a high uric acid level that is giving concern and I will need to continue medication. (October 1994)

  Thelma recalls that quite early on Jessie also contracted Filariasis, a parasite introduced by mosquitoes. The parasites block the lymph system if left untreated:

  ‘Before treatment was available it was known as ‘elephantitis’ as it caused a swelling of the arms and legs to the point you where it affected mobility. Unfortunately the cure was almost as bad as the symptoms and many times over the years she would be feeling terrible, recognise the symptoms and take the tablets that left her feeling wretched for a week - but of course there was no choice. Jess never considered not going back.’

  On 9 May 1996, Jessie celebrated 30 years of medical missionary work in West Papua. She had arrived as a young woman prepared to live an arduous life in remote and difficult circumstances. In many ways the physical conditions had improved somewhat from those early years. Nevertheless, hers was still a rustic existence, and the work remained physically demanding as shown in her report on a trip to Lolat around that time:

  The helicopter dropped us off, and it was due to come back in three days but due to needs elsewhere it turned out to be four days. We divided up into teams of three and each team went in different directions to different villages. We walked out to a village two-and-a-half hours away. The trail was slippery, muddy and steep. We arrived at 9.30 am and we worked non-stop until 2.30 pm. We had immunised 63 children against TB, measles, polio plus triple antigen injection. They had prepared chicken and vegies for us which we were very ready to eat by then. We left at 3 pm. I was tired so it took us three hours to get back, right on dark. The last steep climb from the river was the worst. One of the young men pushed and pulled and helped me over the slippery rocks and hard places. I was so thankful for his help, even when he nearly pulled my arms out of their sockets. The old grey mare ain’t what she used to be! (May 1996)

  Jessie was amazingly resilient coping with a kerosene refrigerator that sometimes needed spare parts. She would write with details and requests and either wait the three months or more for parcels or if anyone was coming to Papua, ask them to bring the parts with them. Fellow missionaries, neighbours or visitors who were at all practical were roped in to help out with anything not working.

  Staying connected was a massive undertaking. Jessie’s regular prayer letters were distributed to more than 600 people.

  17. Clash of cultures and beliefs

  The myth that primitive people have such a relaxed, enviable existence away from all the pressures of modern life takes on a very different view when one gets to know their tensions, drudgery, constant fear of evil spirits and the hopelessness of it all that binds these people.

  The missionaries who first ventured into the swamps and mountains of remote parts of the island of New Guinea were driven to reach the ‘unreached’ and be the first to bring the good news of the Gospels to remote tribes’ people. Each new tribe was an entity unto itself. The missionaries were also at the vanguard of a much bigger movement as post-war Christianity struggled to reassert itself after the tragedies and devastation of two world wars, a great depression and the post-war ideological struggle between east and west. Christian faith had been challenged and undermined by these catastrophes and Christian churches were re-examining, refreshing and re-inventing themselves to meet the secular challenges to their faith and legitimacy.

  After World War Two a new evangelical zeal swept the protestant world. This was the era of Billy Graham, the great Christian crusades and street ministries seeking out the lost and disenchanted generations who were questioning and leaving their faith. The call to overseas mission was embraced by a similar zeal a
nd enthusiasm. The Catholic Church too was probing its own relationship with the modern world at Vatican II to see how best it should respond to the challenges of modernism. These were the times and the context in which the missionaries of West Papua were operating. It is hard to imagine two worlds and two concepts of spirituality more different than that of the western missionaries and the people they evangelised in West Papua and rarely have evangelising Christians been subject to such intense scrutiny of their interactions with Indigenous people.

  People say why don’t you leave them as they are, they are happy as they are. But once you live with them you find they are not happy. They lived in constant fear. Fear for the spirits, fear of sickness and fear of getting caught by the enemy, killed and eaten. If you got sick you had to give a pig to the witchdoctor then cover yourself with blood and sing and dance all night to keep the spirits happy. If someone died all the close women relatives had to chop off a knuckle to try and appease the spirits. If twins were born, you had to kill one. Either throw it in the river, bury it alive or bash its brains out. Would you like to live in their shoes?

  Jessie was an evangelical missionary nurse, not an anthropologist, but she was a keen observer of local customs and duly reported her observations to her prayer network. Often these observations were tinged with her natural optimism, routinely contrasting the joy that came with new Christian values to the decadence and fears of the old ways and religions.

  As Christmas draws closer our people are getting excited and planning a big feast to celebrate the birth of the one they now love. Previously they would have had a feast to appease the ‘spirits’ and for war victories. Since their lives have been changed so miraculously, their motives and attitudes in life have also changed. Now, a feast means a time of fellowship, of hearing the Words of God explained to them, sharing, praying and singing together. (June 1966)