Page 34 - History of Arabian Mission 1926-1957

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.ey all look well-fed and well-dressed, better than most of the tribesman..
The women dance on many occasions. At Negro funerals they dance to c:<or :Lse were left to the Mission's care when she died, Thus opened to the Mission a
the devil. They dance at weddings and they dance in procession when they wonderful opportunity and a tremendous responsibility.
carry full wator pitchera on their heado to replenish the tanks in the palace Upon Mrs. Van Peurseu's return to Bahrain after furlough, Dr. Tiffany
bathrooms. Always the dance io done to chanting and beating of drums. The begged her to take charge of these babies, and she gives this graphic account
leader of the bathing chorus was one of our main surgical caGes. Wells was of the beginning of the orphanage:
loath to operate on her under touring conditions and tried to persuude her to
come to Muscat for her surgery. However, her deteimination to be rid of her "I found Bertie, for whom 'Tif' had made arrangements to go to a chil­
abdominal tumor without further delay, and her absolute confidence that she dren's home in India; then there was Fatima, covered from head to foot with
would recover, won him over to doing it. When we brought her out of the sores which took four years to heal. Her mother was dead, her father a blind
operating room and returned her to her bed she was borne trimphantly by beggar, whom we provided with a square meal per day till he died. Then U.nm
several of her stalwart mole relatives past a large group of her fellow danc­ Miriam's children, who were fatherless - all lived in the hospital, where she
ers. During her rapid convalescence she was never without a ring of male and was employed from the time her husband died of pneumonia, leaving her with two
female visitors who brought her presents of food and incense." Email children and another baby coming. She was an efficient helper.

In 1951 the Thoms and their two sons made a tour to Jebel Akhdhar - "Another baby was Ruthie, abandoned by her mother (a Persian) who left
the first time a woman missionary had ever visited these mountains and the the island shortly after Ruthie's birth (father unknown). Ruthie was nursed
interior cities of Tenoof and Nizwa. by a slave from Moharrek who had lost her own baby. We paid her fifteen
rupees a month for being wet nurse to Ruthie and doing a few other chores.
Short tours were made up and down the Batina coast, and Dr. Thoms'
Indian colleague. Dr. Lakra, made a long tour up this coast and across to "In addition to this group was a foundling, Paul, and another abandoned
Dubai and up the Persian Gulf shore to Abu Dhabi. The Sheikh here, and his baby, both in their first week of life. . The second died. Both were skin and
bothers, gave them a cordial reception, and a place to live guarded by three bones and were suffering from indigestion and diarrhea. Fortunately Paul sur­
aimed men. Not long after, the Sheikhs of Dibai, with a cavalcade of twelve vived and I feel he has been worth an the trouble we had, getting him through
) cars and lorries, bringing forty women and eighty men, swamped Dr. Thoms' hos­ the critical second summer.
pital in Matrah during the months of May and June. "We found these people
very democratic and surprisingly undemanding," he said. "Sheikh Rashid asked "As this group grew and developed, it became increasingly difficult to
me to request the Mission to arrange to send a surgeon during the winter to care for them in the hospital - hard on than, and hard on the patients, Also,
spend three months treating his people." the rooms were needed."
Touring on this coast, a3 well as treating patients who come from the By 1935 some rooms near the hospital had been remodelled to accommo­
region to the Matrah and Muscat hospitals, ha3 amply demonstrated the great date all the children and Umm Miriam- and her family. The Van Peursons had
need for a large scale anti-malarial campaign. already begun to collect money toward a permanent building, from oil company
friends and others who were interested in this very appealing venture, both
In considering the history of mission touring in Oman, one is struck in Bahrain and in America, For many years the work was supported entirely by
by three things - the friendliness of the people, and their approachable private donations, only Baby Roll money being received from the Board of
attitude; the detachment of this region from unfavorable influences which Foreign Missions. In 193b the building was completed, and it has been en­
prevail in other parts of the Arab world; and the wonderful natural resources larged and improved over the years. The Orphanage went on to the regular
in the mountains and oases. These facts, combined with the tremendous physi­ mission budget in 1955. Up to that, time it was, as Mrs. Van Peursera said,
cal and spiritual needs of the CXnanis, make a strong appeal. "on adventure of faith."
Here, indeed, we may sane day see, both literally and figuratively, The orphanage matron for many years, who still works for the Mission
the desert blossom as the rose. as an evangelist in the women's hospital, had a remarkable history.
Umm Miriam (the mother of Miriam) was born in a small Persian village
5. The House of Happiness - Bahrain Orphanage. in comparative prosperity, and when still a young child was taken with her
whole family on a pilgrimage to the great Shiah shrines of Kerbela and Najaf
"Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my in Iraq. While on a Gulf steamship, the engaging little girl was noticed by
name, receiveth me." Mark 9:37 a foreign lady, the first Christian the child had ever met, and whose kindness
and friendliness so impressed her that she never forgot her or her teachings.
In the summer of 1932 four babies were given to the woman doctor in
charge of the mission hospital in Bahrain. Two were bom of unmarried At the age of eleven the little girl was married, spent some years in
mothers, and two were brought in by policemen who had picked them up from Basrah where she and her husband did not prosper, and eventually went to
streets. This was something that had never happened before, as usually Bahrain. Here her husband sought work in one of the various occupations co
wanted babies were promptly done away with. The fact that they were b nected with the pearl industry. Hardships forced them to sell the few vai
to the hospital showed progress. Two others, protegees of an Indian ables they possessed. Their two children suffered from malnutrition, du-

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