"The Mission in the Mud"
p. 67 · Read in the full issue
Mud"
Mrs. Standen is Battling On in Western Papua
A LETTER from Mrs. Eva Standen, written in Maipani, on the Bamu River, in the Western Divisipn of Papua, indicates that the “Mission in the Mud” is still making slow, steady pro gress.
Mrs. Standen returned to her work on the Bamu River after the war, and she decided that she would concentrate on an anti-tuberculosis campaign. She was encouraged in this by the late Dr. Ver non; and eventually s‘he launched an ap peal for funds for building the “Vernon Memorial TB Hospital.” She has £4OO in hand, now, but it is a hard, up-hill fight little money, no building mater ials, no transport, little skilled labour.
She has gone 100 miles up the Bamu to find a site for the hospital, to the village of Bibisa, where the land is high enough to escape the salt tidal waters which cover hundreds of square miles of the filthy river flats every full moon.
There is much virgin bush to clear away —but the better soil will help food pro duction.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Standen’s head quarters remain in the mud of Maipani.
Few Pacific missionaries are battling against more discouraging conditions — endless mud, everlasting heat, and in creasing disease among these poor natives —but she says she is encouraged to go ahead bv the sympathy and help of the Papuan Administrative and Health officials.