Page 32 - History of Arabian Mission 1926-1957

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Dr. Ham ”on made frequent tours after this, and in 1931 Dr, Sl.omj
made one of three months, covering a large area, and treating many people v...j Along Sauqira Day and the Gulf of Masira the party visited a cuccen- /09^
had never seen a missionary nor heard the Gospel message. The motor car was sion of fishing villages, where hospitality and real Arab friendship were en­
used part of the way, other sandy tracts had to be negotiated by camel, and countered universally, and the doctor was made to feel at home by even the
occasionally a whole day had to be spent laboriously climbing a narrow poorest people. This region is famous all over southeast Asia for its
mountain path on foot. Effie and Rustaq were visited and likewise Jebel fishing, and small, sailing craft from Ja'alan and Sur call regularly for their
Akhdhar - the famed and inaccessible Green Mountain of Oman. fi6h. There are no bazaars from Dhufar to Sur-five hundred miles-and all }
supplies are bartered for and purchased from passing sailboats.
A Tribe Dressed In Yellow Dr. Hosmon was making trips to many outlying towns in Oman during these
years. Khabura and Sohar were each visited by her for weeks at a time. A
In 1932 Dr. Stora made a tour into the hitherto unvisited Ja'alan weekly trip was made by Dr. Harrison "in spite of unspeakable roads" to Barka,
country, on independent state south of Muscat, extending along the coast from fifty miles west of Muscat, and a month was spent in Sur, eighty miles to the
Sur nearly to Dhuraf (the frankincense country) and far into the desert on the south - four days each way by sailboat. Settled in a native house they re­ !
other side. The Ja'alan Arabs were easily distinguishable because of their ceived the sick and the needy, operating upon and treating both men and women.
yellow greasy clothes, which were dipped in saffron, supposedly to ward off
smallpox and other diseases when going on a journey. They had been coming to These visits to outlying towns were continued systematically over the
Muscat and Matrah for years for medical attention, and our doctors were im­ years, by both doctors and clergymen.
pressed with the absolute lack of medical care among their tribes. These
tribes, the Beni Bu All and Beni Bu Hasan, were in a constant state of feud,
and the Aair of one of them, who sent for the doctor to come and treat his Silhouettes Appear
brother, was in terror of attacks from his enemy. "Fear reigned everywhere,"
wrote Dr. Stora. "Fear of self, fear of tribal attacks, fear of foreign powers, Mr. and Mrs. Dykstra made an evangelistic tour of two weeks to Kuraiyat,
and fears for the doctor guest. Everywhere one encountered fear. He wanted us fifty miles south of Muscat. After a moonlight picnic 6upper one night, we
and he did not want us. It took a long time for him to make up his mind and he are told, "Soon shadows detach themselves from the solid darkness of the palms
did it only after being assured over and over again that the doctor wore +'"1 and shrubs and converge upon our camping place. A group of silhouettes inspect
proper Arab dress, possessed a beard of the proper size, spoke Arabic, wa*. .ot the car. From the opposite direction some women timidly make their way to our
connected with politics, and finally would promise not to wear a sun hat, which camp upon the sand.. • Greetings are exchanged... With our helpers Joining in, )
he dreaded because it would attract too much attention. He had to be assured we sing several hymns in Arabic, of which we have a rich collection. This
and reassured of these things many times by my messenger before he would order singing they seen to enjoy and appreciate, as this method of giving the Gospel
the caravan to go to Sur to get us. message is somewhat like the way in which their travelling minstrels recount
exploits of raids and wars. They also listen attentively to the Gospel story .
> "The tribal feud led to the ever-present fear that someone from the read and explained to them afterwards - as the Arab also loves to sit about a ;
other tribe might come to Ja'alan to the doctor ostensibly for treatment, but camp fire in the evening to hear and tell a tale. A prayer for God's blessing !
really with evil intent. Each day he would ask me the names of those upon on the message given, and for his keeping through the coming night, concludes
whom I had operated, so that he could be sure there was no Bedouin patient this moonlight service on the sands."
who might later prove to be unfriendly to him."
Mrs. Dykstra made another similar tour with a group of helpers later,
The Amir was a charming host, and did everything for the comfort and going on to Hail-el Ghaaf and Mezaarah by camel and donkey, and encountering
safety of the doctor and his party, whose companionship he obviously appre­ the utmost hospitality. It was on this trip that she discovered that in this
ciated in spite of the fears which beset him. region it was not the thing for men to ride camels, which were reserved for :
women, so they had to arrange for three camels and 6even donkeys for their :
Soon after this, Dr. Storm spent five months on a tour to Dhufar. A little cavalcade.
sailing boat called The Mother of Flying took ten days from Muscat to Murbat,
the port of Dhufar. Salola, the capital, is nearby. Dr. Storm and his helpers In 1940 Dr. Wells Thoms had a dream of years realized when he at last
rented a house and medical work went with a swing for the seven weeks they were went over Jebel Akhdhar - the Green Mountain of Arabia - and into Oman beyond.
there. When their operating reached its height they had patients in fourteen
different houses, all surrounding the doctor's place. Patients would rent a "Just the name held enchantment and beckoned one to seek than out I"
room, or part of a date-stick hut; this caused' extra work and was one of the he exclaimed. "In November came ray chance, In the midst of a busy Monday )
o prices of independence - an inconvenience of touring which has to be accepted morning clinic intruded a white-turbaned soldier of the Imam of Oman, bearing
with a smile. A four-day trip to the mountains of Jebel Qara, with its r-ve- a letter from Sheikh Sulaiman bin Himyar of the mountain region, urging me to i
dwellers, was a pleasant break in the routine. The fertility and beauty*_y come with all haste to treat one of his subjects who had been gored by a buli^
this part of Arabia made it easy to understand the name Arabia Felix.
Dr. Thoms and Mr. Dykstra went on this trip together, one hundred
From here to the Jazir coast was real desert travel - five day miles to Rustaq by car, then another hundred miles on donkey and afoot over
tween vaterholes, and a stretch of seven days meeting but one lone t»* Jebel Akhdhar and down the other side to Ten oof and finally to Mena. The
natient wa3 found in a critical condition, but after treatment made a