The Staines Legacy

Graham was from Beaudesert and I was from Peak Crossing (near Ipswich). I met Graham when I went to India with Operation Mobilisation. He’d been there 16 years, and his work involved  caring for people with leprosy, as well as going out into the village and telling people about Jesus. People were seeking, they came to Christ, and little churches started. I believe God arranged that we meet, and I tell people that ours was an arranged marriage since it was a God-arranged marriage! God gave us three children, Esther, Philip and Timothy. My main role was caring for the children, writing up accounts, and making sure that there were sufficient medicines and vitamins.

I home-schooled the children until we sent them to boarding school in South India about Grade 3. I don’t know how we did it, but it was what we had to do. Every year there were Bible teaching camps. As the churches grew and more and more people became Christians, they wanted more teaching. People would come out from the villages and they stayed in tents made out of straw from the rice harvest. They would put up walls, and lay some across the top on branches, and on the floor. And that was what Graham was at when he and the boys were killed.

After they were killed, I decided to stay on to look after people with leprosy. After 15 and a half years of marriage, and so much time spent there, it had become part of my life. It was a very easy decision to stay. Everyone thought I would just pack up my bags and come home. There were a couple of reasons I decided to do it. The people there had become like family. I just couldn’t think of leaving the people with leprosy, and I didn’t know who would take over since I knew a lot about running a literacy home. Early on, I’d said to Graham that it would be beneficial to put me on as a signatory to the organisational bank account just in case he had to go away. This meant that after he was killed, I could continue to sign cheques. So I guess I thought I was a bit indispensable!

Another big reason to stay was that Esther told me she hoped to finish her schooling in South India. It was a very good Christian boarding school and she loved it. She’d seen some of her friends who she’d started school with going home, and struggling when they got home to the parent’s home country. So, I stuck up for her for that. Some people said, “You can still get a good education in Australia, you can still make friends here.” But I thought, why take a thirteen year old girl who’s just gone through so much trauma and expect her to adjust into a new situation? It may have broken her. So we stayed.

One of the negative things about not coming home early was Mum. Some months later, I was coming home for my Mum’s birthday, but then we got this phone call to say Mum had died. So I never got to see my mum again. That was really, really hard. And from what I’ve heard, Mum was really looking forward to seeing me come home. A year later, I returned to Australia and stayed for a year to be with Dad. I saw Esther every holidays. When I had to return to India, Dad said that although he would love to have us in Australia, he understood the need for us to return. Mum and Dad were amazing like that. They blessed me and sent me off.

I’d have to say India is a very meaningful place to me. Australia is too, but my heart is still in India. Even though I’ve gone through all the trauma, and I have mixed feelings about it. It’s not just India as a big picture, it’s where I lived in India and the people there. There are people I know running the leprosy home, and even some of the patients. Nowadays, being with my family in Australia is also very meaningful.

Places like this school, the Graham Staines Memorial Hospital and the Philip and Timothy Memorial Boys Hostel bear our family’s name. I hope that they would represent Christ and his forgiveness. That is the key thing. My faith is very important to me. It’s not just going to church, but faith in Jesus Christ and the hope and love that he gives. Certainly, Christ has helped me through many difficult situations, and still does. It means spending time with God reading the Bible, fellowship with people, and having Christian friends to really encourage you. My faith is everything.