{"id":64,"date":"2013-05-23T11:21:35","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T11:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/user44356.vs.easily.co.uk\/?page_id=64"},"modified":"2018-07-04T16:42:18","modified_gmt":"2018-07-04T15:42:18","slug":"mary-driver","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fulneck.org.uk\/?page_id=64","title":{"rendered":"Mary Driver"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Driver\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mary was the daughter of Missionary parents\u00a0born in March 1903, in Leh, Ladakh, Kashmir, a province of North India. Her\u00a0parents Dr & Mrs Ernest Shawe ran the Mission hospital there but the\u00a0 family returned to England following the death of Dr Shawe, who died of\u00a0Typhus. Mary and her brother Jack vowed to return to Leh and continue with\u00a0their parents\u2019 missionary work.<\/p>\n

Mary and Jack were both educated at\u00a0Fulneck School. Jack went on to teach at Fulneck although a heart defect prevented him\u00a0from returning to Leh.\u00a0Mary went on to\u00a0Leeds Medical School and obtained her MD whist residing at the Widow\u2019s House on\u00a0Fulneck. In 1930 she realized her ambition and set off back to Leh to continue\u00a0her father\u2019s life work in the hospital.<\/p>\n

Travelling to Kashmir in the 1930\u2019s was a\u00a0long and arduous journey. To reach the Mission Station took five weeks from\u00a0England via the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean to Bombay, three\u00a0days by train up the Indus Valley, a 200 mile drive in a 1930s car, not one of\u00a0the comfortable cars of today, to Srinagar, capital of Kashmir. Then there was\u00a0a difficult and dangerous climb through a mountain pass of 11,300 feet either\u00a0on foot or on the back of a mountain pony. This pass was closed by snow and ice\u00a0in Winter and\u00a0Summer, often subjected to falls of ice and landslides. After the\u00a0pass, a narrow bridle path hugging the side of a precipice and occasionally a\u00a0rope bridge over the raging Indus River. Finally, the mission Field was reached!<\/p>\n

The Ladakhi people were known as Tibetans and were of Mongolian stock, short, thickset, high cheek bones, flat faces and\u00a0thick black hair. They wore long robes, very like a dressing gown, with a six\u00a0yard long girdle wrapped around their bodies. All their belongings were either\u00a0fastened inside the girdle or suspended inside the robe. Their basic diet\u00a0consisted of roasted barley flour and wheaten flour made into a paste with\u00a0 either tea or water. They were great tea drinkers like us, but unlike us they\u00a0bought their tea in a block, put it in a vessel and then poured water over it.\u00a0Salt and soda were added then boiled. The tea was then left for two or three days and a lump of butter, larger than a cricket ball was put in. It was then\u00a0left on the hob for anyone to help themselves.<\/p>\n

The Tibetans were under the influence of\u00a0the Lamas and conversion to Christianity was disappointingly slow. Up to 1942\u00a0after one hundred years of work there was only 150 Christians to be found. It\u00a0was the most difficult mission ever undertaken by the Moravians. The Tibetan\u00a0religion is Lamaisam, a form of Buddhism.<\/p>\n

Apart from running the hospital, Mary would\u00a0take medical missionary tours through the villages, when preaching was\u00a0supplemented by healing by dispensing medicines. This was in stark contrast to the Lama physician with his goatskin wallet of herbs put up in little bags,\u00a0mysterious charms and terrifying rituals. The Tibetans began to learn from Mary, that they could receive skilled treatment and real sympathy and would not\u00a0be turned away because of poverty.<\/p>\n

Mary dealt with cases of midwifery,\u00a0cateract operations, frostbite, heart disease, septic wounds and fractures. She was called out to cases of influenza and typhus in other villages. The other\u00a0side of the Indus river had to be visited before July as the Indus was too full after that to be crossed by an\u00a0 inexperienced traveller alone. Her mode of travel was on foot or by horseback,\u00a0carrying a tent and all her equipment. Most operations she performed in the open as there was less likelihood of contamination than in enclosed buildings.\u00a0Some of her problems were during epidemics, making people understand not to be in close proximity of the ill patient. Another problem was to get patients to\u00a0continue with their medication, as many of them would become weary of treatment\u00a0before they were cured. Another problem was that a patient would never arrive alone. They always came with their families, with one member to cook and look\u00a0after the patient. The rest would sit and wait until the patient recovered.<\/p>\n

Throughout it all, Mary was trying to get the message of Jesus Christ across to them and I quote, \u201cIn 1930, we try to make our hospital a real\u00a0testimony to the Christian faith. Each day we have Bible stories followed by prayer. We know some of the people realize that the work is done in the name of\u00a0our Saviour Jesus Christ, but further than that, we cannot tell the result of\u00a0the work carried on. 1931 \u2013 We are glad to think that we can help these men, women and children, and we pray that by the path of healing, the Spirit of God\u00a0may work among the people who live and visit Ladakh. 1932 \u2013 We see little of\u00a0spiritual results, but surely some of the patients learn something of the Gospel of love, though they see but a glimmering of the splendour of it. May God\u00a0show us how to keep our lights shining in Leh\u201d. These words were written by Mary to the Mission board each year, in her annual reports.<\/p>\n

Mary had been working for about four years\u00a0in Leh when Norman Driver, a Moravian Missionary arrived in Leh to work. In 1936\u00a0Mary and Norman married following permission from the Mission Board. They were\u00a0then moved up to a small up-country village called Khalatse. Unfortunately for\u00a0 Mary she had to relinquish the Hospital which was subsequently closed down. Now\u00a0that Mary was married and a Missionaries wife, she could no longer be a\u00a0Missionary herself!<\/p>\n

In 1937, their first child Ann was born\u00a0three weeks early so Norman had to deliver the baby with Mary telling him what\u00a0 to do. Pregnancy and babies were very much at risk because of the altitude and\u00a0 diet, and although Ann was strong and healthy she was painfully thin. In fact their diet left a lot to be desired and they all lacked food. Sheep were\u00a0available but they were tough to cook and eat. They kept hens and grew their\u00a0own vegetables but there were no freezers to store food. Mary wrote \u201c A good\u00a0bit of time has been taken up seeing to things in the garden and drying cooking apples for the Winter. It\u2019s the only way they will keep. Making apple jelly,\u00a0ripening tomatoes, drying onions, making tomato sauce and chutney. We\u2019ve nearly\u00a0finished that and then I must think about making mincemeat for Christmas\u201d.<\/p>\n

In October 1938, the family arrived home on\u00a0furlough for six months and managed to get back to Khalatse just before World\u00a0War 2.<\/p>\n

In October 1941 their second daughter\u00a0Margaret was born. Everything continued as normal but then in 1943 the Tibetan for some reason began to be hostile towards them, boycotting them and refusing\u00a0 to sell then food or fuel. The health of Margaret and Mary was in danger,\u00a0particularly Mary\u2019s as she has suffered intermittent loss of her hands, arms\u00a0and sight in one eye, only to regain it later. This was the start of the\u00a0crippling disease Multiple Sclerosis, a disease that no one was aware of the time. Following a medical, Mary was advised to move to Bombay during the winter months as it appeared that she could no longer stand the altitude.<\/p>\n

In 1945 Mary and family moved back to Leh,\u00a0a town fifteen feet above Khalatse. The people were more educated there and appreciated\u00a0the work they were doing. Mary was able to open the hospital again and worked\u00a0with great enthusiasm to get it up and running. Some of the local women were\u00a0 interested in nursing and Mary made plans for them to go to Srinagar for formal\u00a0training.<\/p>\n

In 1946 the family travelled back to\u00a0England to leave their daughters Ann, now 10, to board at Fulneck and Margaret\u00a05, to live with Guardians until she was old enough to board at 8. Mary and\u00a0 Norman felt much anguish at leaving the girls. There were many problems with\u00a0the mail from Leh, birthday cards and presents never seemed to reach the girls.<\/p>\n

Upon Mary\u2019s return to Leh she continued with her medical work and Sunday School, helping with a Day School they had\u00a0started up. In 1948 war between India and Pakistan began, both of them wanting\u00a0Kashmir. Leh is an important town as all the trade routes from Central Asia,\u00a0Tibet and India meet there. Mary wrote, \u201clife is different in Leh from what is\u00a0was a while ago. Soldiers have appeared, especially to train volunteers. The Colonel lives behind our compound and the soldiers are also very near. The presence of troops means that wood for fuel is scarce, also paraffin for\u00a0lighting and this month we cannot get sugar so we have had to switch off sweet things for the most part\u201d. During all this upheaval the Commanding Officer of\u00a0 the Indian troops made Norman \u201cPrime Minister of Leh\u201d and Mary \u201cHealth Minister\u201d. Norman said it was like something out of Gilbert and Sullivan, but\u00a0it was all very real.<\/p>\n

In 1952 Mary\u2019s health was being undermined\u00a0and the paralyzing illness became so aggravated that in 1952 they returned\u00a0home. They both still expected to return to Leh and so left most of their\u00a0 belongings and furniture. Unfortunately, they were forced to retire from the Mission Service. Their belongings were never returned to them and all the\u00a0diaries they had kept for the Church were lost.<\/p>\n

Ministries followed in Tytherton, Bedford\u00a0 and Fairfield. Mary bore her disability well and still continued with Sunday\u00a0School. Her whole life was devoted to Christ\u2019s work and her faith never\u00a0 diminished. She passed away days before her 60th birthday. Her husband Norman wrote in his diary, \u201cA grand lass, a bonny fighter, a great\u00a0helpmate, made me what I am, a stern critic, yet to all a great partnership for\u00a0God and Church. Rejoicing not sad\u201d.<\/p>\n

Acknowledgements – Molly Lythe, Extracts from \u201cLetters from Mary and Norman\u00a0Driver, 1934-1949\u201d by kind permission of Margaret Atherton, Extracts from the \u201cDiaries of Norman Driver\u201d by kind permission of Ann Wigney, “Leh Mission Hospital Reports 1930-1935” courtesy Church House,\u00a0Moravian Mission Magazine 1934 “At the Gate of Tibet” 1942 Moravian Book\u00a0Room.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary was the daughter of Missionary parents\u00a0born in March 1903, in Leh, Ladakh, Kashmir, a province of North India. Her\u00a0parents Dr & Mrs Ernest Shawe ran the Mission hospital there but the\u00a0 family returned to England following the death of Dr Shawe, who died of\u00a0Typhus. Mary and her brother Jack vowed to return to Leh … Continue reading Mary Driver<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":25,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-64","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fulneck.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fulneck.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fulneck.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fulneck.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fulneck.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.fulneck.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1735,"href":"http:\/\/www.fulneck.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64\/revisions\/1735"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fulneck.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fulneck.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}