Jobat is a welcoming and peaceful place. By the time Presbyterian World Service and Development committee member, Rev. Laura Kavanagh, Presbyterian missionary, Michelle Verwey and I arrived at Jobat Hospital last September, it was already evening, but we were greeted warmly by a large number of hospital staff and local friends. One of our first tasks was to fill out a form for the local police so they know who is present in the area – three copies done with carbon paper. I like to think it was for our safety.
Every time I visit Jobat, one of the highlights is the privilege of spending time with Pauline Brown. Jobat and Pauline Brown are well-known names in our constituency. Ms. Brown, as people call her here, arrived in India 60 years ago to contribute her nursing skills to people living in the tribal areas. Although she retired in 2006, she still lives in her house by the hospital. In 2000, Ms. Brown was chosen to be a Member of the Order of Canada due to her service in Jobat. Although Ms. Brown was in Canada during the time of our visit, we could see the impact of her life and work.
We visited the Helen McConnell Nursing School where Ms. Brown was the first principal. The school has over 20 young women in their first year of nursing studies. One of the teachers is an alumna. The girls stay in the residence located within the hospital and school compound. In our discussions with the current principal, Mrs. Arthur, we were pleased to discover that the funds sent for nursing scholarships through PWS&D are providing girls from the poorest families in the surrounding villages with the opportunity for a nursing career.
In the hallway, the photos of the graduating classes are displayed. We found Ms. Brown’s photo, along with that of Mercy Ravikant. After graduating, Mercy worked in the community health programs linked to the Jobat Hospital. She became the leader of the program in Mendha, about an hour away from Jobat, which reaches out to 70 villages. Thanks to these programs, maternal mortality has dropped dramatically, children are cleaner and better fed, and youngsters get immunized against diseases. The next challenge is to replicate the program in new villages where the health conditions are comparatively poor, and help people access local government programs to improve their lives.
To be a Christian in Jobat can be a challenge at times, but people generally live together peacefully. Now a new generation of nurses is emerging. Our missionary, Michelle Verwey is teaching at the nursing institute in Indore, helping nurses become leaders and acquire community health expertise.
As we left Jobat, we saw the future with hope: new villages will be added to our program, a new hostel is about to be built for the Christian school (thanks to the Women’s Missionary Society), the nursing school will admit another batch of students in a few months, and the hospital’s critical care unit will soon be staffed. For this dynamic and vibrant partnership we give thanks to the decades of service by mission staff of the PCC, the commitment and service of Christians in Jobat, and the willingness of Canadian Presbyterians to support this relationship with prayers and offerings to Presbyterians Sharing and PWS&D. In this place, I can feel the strong bond between Canada and India, in its most humble and genuine form.
