Mary Slessor: The Woman who Braved the Interior

This article was first published in French at TPSG.

 

Mary Slessor, one of seven children, was born into a poor Scottish family in 1848. Her father is a heavy drinker, and at age 11 she goes to work at a cotton mill to help support her family. Child labour is common in her time period, but thankfully her employer allows the children to attend two hours of class in the afternoons after their work hours. Mary eagerly avails herself of this opportunity for two years, until she no longer qualifies for it. 

Missions: An Unattainable Dream

Her mother is a devout Christian, and her church in Dundee prays for and gives towards reaching the lost in many foreign lands, including Calabar (in present-day Nigeria). Mary’s brothers, Robert and John, catch a vision for the nations and soon aspire to serve the Lord on the foreign mission field themselves. As a child, Mary dreams of accompanying them as an assistant, which is one of the few ways for a single girl of her period to go to the mission field.  

God Opens Doors

Both of her brothers die, however, and at age 27, she applies to the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland’s Foreign Mission Board. She dreams of sailing to Calabar, a region she has prayed for for years, and to her delight, that’s precisely where the Board assigns! After some months of training and preparation, on August 5, 1876, Mary sets sail aboard the steamer the SS Ethiopia bound for West Africa. 

Mary’s First Years in Calabar

During her first term in Calabar, Mary lives in the mission compound in Duke Town, where she teaches in a school, visits locals in their homes, and learns the Efik language. She soon discovers that while missionaries and traders established outposts throughout the coastal regions of the African continent, few have ventured inland. She dreams of reaching those who have never yet heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. The dangers abound, both due to violence among ethnic groups in the interior and due to disease. In fact, several of her colleagues die during her initial years in Calabar, and Mary herself is forced to return to Scotland due to serious illness.  

Living Like a Local

Once her health improves, Mary resumes her work in Calabar, settling alone in Old Town. While it is only 3 miles from the missionary compound in Duke Town, it allows her to live simply in a mud and thatch hut and eat like a local. This is a welcome change for her, since previously she spend much of her income on European foods which her colleagues prefer both for themselves and for entertaining the British merchants who frequently visit the compound.  

The White Ma

Her reputation as “the white ma” spreads throughout the region. This is due in part to the fact that she welcomes into her home numerous babies who would have otherwise died. In 1883, for example, Mary adopts Janie. She is a twin, and the people believe that twins are accursed and both they and the mother who bore them must die. Mary, however, at great danger to herself, literally kidnaps Janie and her twin brother as they are about to be killed. Janie’s brother doesn’t survive, but Janie thrives as part of Mary’s bustling little family. 

King Eyo: A Partner in Ministry

One local leader who finally helps Mary attain her dream of moving inland is King Eyo Honesty VII, an early convert to Christianity who pastors a church in Creek Town, a town upriver from Duke Town. In 1883, Mary receives an invitation from Chief Okon of Ibaka (a village 20 miles inland) to come tell his people about the white man’s God. This is the open door Mary has prayed for! Mary’s friend, King Eyo, offers her his best canoe and a team of paddlers to take her and her children upriver. During her two-week visit, she treats the sick, dresses wounds, and teaches the Scriptures each morning and evening. This is her first taste of life in the interior, but it will take five more years of persevering before Mary receives permission from the Foreign Mission Board to settle there permanently. 

Finally Reaching the Interior

In 1888, King Eyo’s enourmous canoe and his finest paddlers once again head upriver, to Ekenge, in the Okoyong region. The party includes Mary, her five children, and Mr. Bishop, a missionary from Duke Town who agrees to accompany them on their journey. This time, however, Mary does not go there for two weeks, but indefinitely. And she is not received as an honoured guest, but as a strange woman who worships and teaches a strange God. But Chief Edem of Ekenge agrees begrudgingly to her settling in his village, and that is good enough for her.  

Treating the Sick and Sharing the Good News

Despite the tepid welcome she receives, Mary sets to work learning a new language, treating the sick, and sharing the Good News. Once again, her reputation begins to spread as many recover from illnesses that would have proven fatal were it not for her intervention. One day a runner arrives in Ekenge from a rival village asking for the “white ma” to come quickly, as their chief is gravely ill. Although Chief Edem tells Mary not to go, she believes that that is exactly what the Lord would have her do. 

 

After an eight-hour trek through the jungle, she arrives at the village, where several women are weeping outside the chief’s hut. He is very weak. If he succumbs to his illness, his wives and slaves will all be killed along with them, as is customary when a village chief dies. Mary swiftly administers the needed medicine and nurses him back to health. After three days of around-the-clock care, Mary announces that the chief will recover. The news brings instant relief and jubilation to those whose lives she has saved. Her return trek to Ekenge includes a party of forty people who escort her and recount the story in every village they pass.   

Standing against Injustice

Mary’s standing in Ekenge further grows when she dares to stand against a deep-rooted tradition: A young woman was charged with a “crime” and the punishment is to have boiling oil poured over her. Mary runs to the scene in which such “justice” was being carried out and stations herself between the woman and the warrior wielding the ladle of boiling oil. He approaches Mary threateningly, but, finally, in disgust, he throws down the ladle and walks away. The shock of the crowd soon leads to questioning. What if Abassi, the supreme God they believe in, is not cruel and capricious, as they have always believed? What if he is like the God Mary teaches them about, both powerful and kind?

 

In time, Mary’s courage and wisdom gain her the respect of Chief Edem and his people. With the help of Charles Ovens, a mason from Scotland, they build her a house and medical dispensary. To develop peaceful dialogue among the warring ethnic groups in the region, she manages to persuade Chief Edem to send emissaries to Creek Town to trade with her old friend King Eyo. Her diplomacy helps broker a peace treaty between ethnic groups in the interior and those along the coast.

Vice-Consul of Okoyong

Her notoriety eventually brings her an offer from the British consul, Sir Claude MacDonald, to become vice-consul and help introduce British law into the inland areas. Initially, she resists, insisting that she is a missionary, not a politician. But Mary realizes that were she to refuse, the British would send a man straight out of an academy with no knowledge of the languages or customs of the people, and massive bloodshed would come as a result. So, in 1892, Mary agrees to become British vice-consul, which makes her judge and jury of all matters of law in the Okoyong region. 

 

Mary’s familiarity with local customs allows her to navigate the murky waters of village justice with clarity and fairness. When traditions did not violate British law, she does not insist on doing away with them. What she does do away with over time is human sacrifices at chiefs’ funerals and twin killings.  

The Mother of Us All

Mary has long prayed for an opportunity to settle among the Aro, the strongest and most feared ethnic group in the interior. In 1903, her hope finally comes to fruition when she helps broker a peace treaty between the British and the Aro. She spends her final ten years of life deep in the interior, conducting Bible studies, treating the sick, negotiating treaties among warring villages, and defending the rights of twins, women, and slaves. On January 15, 1915, at age sixty-seven, Mary Slessor goes home to be with the Lord. She has become known in Calabar as “Eka Kpukpru Owo” - the Mother of Us All.  

Inspiring the Next Generation

Last week, I finished reading Mary Slessor’s life story to my two daughters. I have read them many moving missionary biographies over the past months, but this one has been our favourite. I pray that the same grace of God working through this dear sister would move in the hearts of our children to answer God’s calling on their lives. Whether it’s in Pierrefonds, Quebec, or the uttermost parts of the world, may our sons and daughters be prepared to follow Christ wherever he leads and carry the message of Christ to those who most need to hear it.