Pakistan

Howard completed his Bible College training over the two year period 1951-1952 then went to Australia for the Linguistic and Medical training. Towards the end of 1953 the next phase began which was to declare openly the interest had in missions. To accomplish this difficult challenge I followed closely behind Howard using his more aggressive personality to open doors. The Church people were not sure how to handle this situation. The two of us made a good well balanced team of proven resource as there was no doubt that I had been a positive influence in Howard's life.

We emerged as a package. Howard had real leadership ability and accepted qualifications but to send him out on his own was rather a big gamble for the group. His past record and his antecedents in his Mother particularly, were uncertain. In the end despite my lack of outward qualifications the group decided to go with this package and send the two of us out together. My sense of Mission was more related to following the Lord than to geographical location. Howard had much stronger geographical sentiments. Fired up by missionary literature, the visits of men like Jack Ringer of Afghan Border Crusade and descriptions from National Geographic magazines Howard was all for going to the difficult to reach North West Frontier tribes. This then was to be our goal. We were to go out to Pakistan and from there up to these tribes people.

The group of elders were uncertain as to how to proceed. The accepted path for most young recruits was to go along with an already established worker serving as his 'Timothy' until more stable and ready to branch out on your own. There were no known New Zealand connected missionaries in this distant land of Pakistan. The only known people were from the United Kingdom. Howard became the dominant figure and driver of the enterprise. We were duly 'commended' to the Lord's work and began the ritual of going around the Assemblies or Churches to make ourselves known. Two young men going together was a novelty not often seen in that day of fewer male recruits.

In December 1953 we were boarding a boat leaving Auckland for Australia to pick up the Strathmore sailing from Melbourne close to Christmas. Watching on the dock were our parents happy that we were following on in an accepted sanctioned path yet rather uncertain about the outcomes of this adventure. Arriving in Sydney we picked up with Howard's contacts the Dakins in Wahroonga. Papa being a significant figure in one of the big retail chains of the city. The incongruity rolling up in a big car to this small Gospel Hall with crude electric radiators screwed to the wall in order to heat the building struck me. It was one thing at home but another thing when you went to worship. A challenge which was to haunt me for many years to come.

In Melbourne Uncle Jack, Mother's brother was there to welcome us and see us through the procedures that took us to the Strathmore out in the Australian Bight and on to Fremantle. The Bight proved to be a stormy one so that there were few passengers up to take part in the meals. For me, unaccustomed to hotels and waiters the service and the amount of food available was quite overwhelming adding in to the new culture shock. Anxious to save money for stamps we were typing away in our steerage level cabins much to the annoyance of the other passengers who ended up complaining to the purser. Fremantle the last port in the 'homelands' then over to Colombo in Sri Lanka or maybe it was Ceylon in those distant days. Not much real impression there. Our real baptism into the East came in Bombay where Harold Mc Gregor, a fellow New Zealander was on hand to welcome us. There were a few days lay over while we connected to the next boat one of the line that sailed Bombay, Karachi, Dubai.

Harold had been invalided out of the northern parts of Kashmir where he had served with the Central Asian Mission. Moving across to the Assemblies he was now active with a correspondence school and radio outreach from Bandra. A dedicated workaholic he would pressure himself until he collapsed once more to be nursed back to health by a devoted Doris only to set him up again for another burst of over zealous enthusiasm. It must be a good formula for he has outlived Doris! He finally passed on from a Salvation Army retirement well up into his 80's!

We were quite healthy active young fellows but found the pace that Harold drove us at rather exhausting. He may well have made a better acclimatization to the humidity and the squalor than we had. Memories are of activity up to the last minute then down the stairs of the apartment block to the bus stop and from there a run to the crowded trains on Bandra station so as to get into Churchgate and on to the meeting place at the Fort in Bombay. The meeting was the traditional one based on the agreed pattern so at least this was a time of quiet and rest from otherwise rather frantic activity!

We arrived in Karachi to be met by another Brother who had high hopes that we might stay on there and hare with him in his outreach ministry. Sensing that we were in a kind of baited trap Howard insisted on moving on as quickly as possible to our next destination which was closer to the heart land of activity. This was Multan a large city in Southern Punjab where Robbie and Jean Orr had moved after their orientation and language periods in Lahore. Standing on the station to meet us was Brother Lal Din, a man who was engaged by the railway in janitor type activities on the station. A faithful man who remains to this day consistent in his small world there in Multan.

Mumtazabad was a newly established colony on the outskirts of the town. The houses had no modern sanitation but otherwise were well constructed. We settled down to language study with an older school teacher named Mohammad. He has no ideas about language study and considered our text book rather peculiar and so we began. In the household was a Pakistani brother Ghulam Masih and his wife Rani who had come with brother Orr to get the work established in Multan. Rather idealistically Ghulam was to help support himself by tailoring. He had a machine and some facility but judging by the trousers he turned out for us not all that much ability in this field.

Multan in those days was a stronghold of conservative folk style Islam, The surrounding countryside strongly in the hands of large land owners with their tenant farmers. The whole economy was feudal and dominated by tradition and conservative ideas both religiously and socially. A tough spot to begin any new innovative activity in. Robbie in dedicated missionary fashion would go off to do open air preaching in the city but this was tough difficult work. Jean was a fully qualified medical doctor but consistent to their ideology they did not plan to start any arge institution which would encroach on the essential task of preaching the Gospel and establishing a Church. In time they began a Clinic with outreach in Midwifery to the surrounding neighbourhood. Jean also did a little work at the Mission hospital in the City helping with locums and relief.

Howard, always innovative and exploratory got us going out selling Gospels on the Saturdays. Robbie was not sure about this activity as it did not fit into his strategic scheme nor did his temperament link with Howard. Most of the time during the three months we were in Multan we went on our own as a type of Saturday outing; a change from the grind of the week's language learning and the challenge of the Sunday services all held in Urdu medium.

Culture shock combined with stomach shock took up the balance of the time. Going out on Saturdays we would eat in the local bazaars - often not at all wise bringing us down with violent attacks of the local Delhi Belly type diarrhea but overall we survived reasonably. Living in one room with Howard was not a good experience we had real challenges to meet so that by the time we went up to Murree for language in the summer we decided that we needed two rooms and our own breathing space.

Three months was about all Robbie could take of Howard and his eccentricities and strong individuality. The Sunday afternoon before we were due to leave for Murree a discussion ensued over afternoon tea. Robbie had been asked by the august body of Echoes of Service a type of UK missionary office which dispensed funds and oversaw the missionary effort from the British Isles. They had a list of approved workers which they were keen to add to but only after proper documentation. New Zealand colonial recommendation was quite inadequate to meet this Victorian standard. Over the appropriate tea Robbie revealed his secret and then produced two different documents. The first a rather bland endorsement of our candidature the other an indictment of our ability and Disabilities! He handed these over and asked us which one he ought to send! I refused to make the decision saying that this was his choice and it was his responsibility. However, from this it was clear what he thought particularly about Howard with whom he had had numerous verbal discussions on points of policy and polity.

Murree was another place altogether from the primitiveness of Multan and the restricted environment that it offered. The climate was beautiful. We had gone up early in April partly to escape Multan and partly to take advantage of the cool and the better language possibilities. The accommodation we hired was on a seasonal rather than a monthly basis so it did not matter too much what we did. On the way up we stopped in Lahore where there was another collection of approved workers who were interested in meeting us. Here we met up with Baba Bejon who was selling off his Sunbeam motor cycle. Howard and I purchased this machine for use in getting around. It was housed in Murree at a point down below as vehicles were not allowed into the upper parts. We continued the regular Saturday excursions into the hinterland around Murree taking the Gospels with us but also getting out and seeing the place.

In Murree we proved to be curiosities. Our official 'mission' connections were not very honorable belonging as we did to what were considered fringe sects by many of the more establishment orientated missionaries. Although we were not aware of it in reality we proved to be the first of a new breed of volunteers. Later to arrive in significant numbers linked to Operation Mobilization and later Youth with a Mission. We were younger around 22/23 years of age, single men, not highly educated in theology, but even more than that we wore beards and did not conform to a lot of the social norms that others had established. A considerable confrontation emerged with an older Presbyterian matriarch who was one of the establishment figures in the Language School. I am sure her ideals were impeccable and her concerns genuine and based on a long line of experience but we were of a different breed to what she had been accustomed to. In her defense she later was very supportive of my language efforts but for the moment rather a pain. Mrs Cummings first objection was to our appearance. The beards were very offensive to her and so we were told in a perfunctory manner to 'shave off those beards'. Just why or under what authority we were not informed leading us to take no significant action. Then our language training ideas were not satisfactory or accepted. Here Mrs Cummings had considerable more authority. The idea that we could complete the course in 10 rather than the regulatory 12 months was to her playing with real language learning ability. It is true that had we been establishment people who lived on mission compounds here fears were well grounded. Having authority over the language teachers she was able to bring considerable pressure to bear but in the end we prevailed and whilst barely passing did complete the course in the way we had planned.

Howard enjoyed the social life of Murree much more than I did. In fact he even developed some romantic pretensions with an Australian Church Missionary Society doctor which took him down regularly to the sing alongs that they had at the Anglican guest house on Sunday nights. His interest was not reciprocated so it all died off. Our living arrangement in retrospect was ideal but at the time a course of considerable friction as we were living beyond our income and drawing down on savings to make ends meet. A man was engaged who was of the old classic 'gentleman's man' type. He took complete charge arranged menus provided food took care of washing so that we were free to begin our language lessons at 06.30 do an hour of study with the teacher, have breakfast at 07.30 and then arrive down at the language school at 08.30 stay until 12.00 come back up the hill with a lunch prepared by 12.30 followed by some rest and then further language lessons in the late afternoon. Not having had any experience in hiring servants we were rather dismayed to find that he also comfortably lived off us mixing his washing with ours and feeding from our budget all normal servant activities but rather a culture shock at the time.

The major source of stress was relations with Howard. We had regular prayer meetings and talking together but could get no real agreement about the future. Returning to Multan was not really an option given Howard's relations with Robbie but just where to go was a puzzle. Nothing clarified until in August Howard revealed that he has been in contact with Dennis Clark in Lahore about his future. Dennis had asked him a simple question -' What does Colin think about all this?' 'This' turned out to be what for that day was a revolutionary idea. Howard, his heart set on the wild tribes of the NW Frontier, saw as the opportunity to reach them becoming a Doctor and returning later. It was a big leap into the dark as Howard did not even have a High School certificate. His father was willing to make some money available to him. This revelation had major implications on the future. I was unable to give any real assurance to Howard that this was indeed the 'will of the Lord' as I had not really been privy to the events leading up to it. However, I assured him I would assist him in every way to go to England if this is what he really wanted. Concluding the language school we went down to Lahore then on to Multan where Howard packed up his belongings, disposed of some of them; I bought out his interest in the motor bike and off he went.

The final sendoff had all the drama of events that belong to Howard. We were with Robbie holding the mandatory prayer meeting linked with such happenings when we heard the train coming through from Lahore on its way to Multan Cantonment station. Hurriedly concluding the prayers we jumped into the Bookmobile truck that Robbie had and went off as fast as it would allow to the Station. By this time the gate was closed at the crossing. Howard and I jumped out grabbed his belongings and ran down the side of track to the waiting train in the station. There was just enough time to get Howard into the carriage, the guard blew his whistle and the train was on its way! Howard disappeared then for 10 years to reappear again in Calcutta in 1964 as a trained ophthalmologist. Correspondence continued for some time but the link was never the same. This action on Howard's part had broken something which never quite mended again even though we did have a try in 1968 when Gladys and I went to Afghanistan. Gladys never really trusted Howard. He was not her kind of person.