Myth and reality of the missionary family

Book excerpt: Isobel Reid offers a concise account of the origins, establishment, and some internal dynamics of the Livingstonia Mission, in particular those impacting missionary families as seen through the eyes of a young missionary couple at its Bandawe station. This study not only demonstrates a general awareness of the roie and initiative of the people of Northern Malawi, among whom and with whom the Scottish missionaries lived and worked, but also of the specific importance of interpersonal relationships between Scottish and Malawian women - as in the case of Marie Martin and her Tonga women friends. Race as the primary dividing line was thus subverted by mutual gender awareness. From 1978 Isobel Reid, a qualified nurse/midwife, with her doctor husband and young family lived for 18 months on Ekwendeni CCPA Mission Station before transferring to Mzuzu where Dr. Reid was in charge of St John's Roman Catholic Mission Hospital for four further years. A consequent academic interest in mission history resulted in an MTh (Edinburgh 1999) which provided the basis for this book.