50 years on from Biafra

Jackie Macadam

“MEMBERS of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria cherish their Scottish roots. They are eternally proud of the role of Scottish missionaries who came and lived with them, some for over 50 years. I learned all of that history and was fascinated by it.”

The Rev Richard Fee, retired General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, is talking about Biafra, the short-lived breakaway republic in Africa that existed for three years between May 1967 and January 1970.

It was a time when the world’s television sets brought the starvation and suffering of the Biafran people – and specifically the children, their bellies swollen, ribs sticking out, eyes sunken, hope lost, into homes across the world for the first time.

It’s estimated that at one point, 12,000 people a day died because of the deliberate starvation designed to bring the people to their knees and the war for a separate republic to an end.

Richard, Canadian by birth, but with Scots ancestry hailing from Forfar, became interested in the story of these three tumultuous years after being sent there in 1977 to work in the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria.

“Upon graduating from Knox College in 1976 I was accepted under appointment to the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria. I arrived in Lagos on February 19, 1977 and proceeded to Aba in the East where I was informed by the then Synod Clerk, the Rev Nwachukwu Eme, that I was to be posted to Ezzikwo Parish, an area roughly 99 by 55 kilometres, located within Abakaliki Presbytery. I was woefully ignorant, even after having studied the history of this country as well as having met several former Canadian mission personnel. Mary-Louise Archibald and Sarah and Dr Peter Murdoch were the only Scottish missionaries in Nigeria during my time there. I lived for 16 years in the area that was Biafra. The friends I made were children during the war and occasionally they would relate stories of how the war impacted them, but these were casual conversations and I tucked them away, but never thought to delve deeper. Now, I regret not doing that. I could have learned so much more.

“Nigerian colleagues and friends are largely from the provinces that, at various times, made up the state of Biafra. I travelled extensively throughout that area and got to know villages, towns, cities and the cultures of the Efik, Ibibio and Ibo people. I have remained in contact with several people and visit as often as I can. One strong link to Biafra came to my desk while serving as General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. I was asked to respond to a request from a group based in the UK that had learned that the PCC was still the legal owner of an old Super Constellation Aircraftrusting away at the end of a runway on the island of Sao Tome. It was their desire to restore this aircraftthat was used during the Biafran Airliftand have it returned to Nigeria and placed in a museum. Several letters followed, but nothing came of it. I believe there was much opposition from the present Nigerian government. Today, that aircraftis being used as a restaurant, prominently located at the Sao Tome airport.”

The role the Church of Scotland played in trying to help the Biafran people during the war fascinated Richard. As he neared retirement, he became involved in a project to highlight Canadian humanitarian aid during the Biafran war, and that project has morphed into a documentary film that is currently being made, centring on the Canadian airliftbut also highlighting the other links including the church.

“When I started reading in depth – reports and letters – and speaking with the Canadians involved in the Biafran War humanitarian effort, it gradually dawned on me that the Canadian contribution was entirely buttressed by their linkages to the Scots who were still on the ground throughout the war as engineers, doctors, nurses and relief workers. Interviewing these Scottish friends (and several of their children) in September 2019 astounded me regarding their fierce loyalty, dedication to duty and steadfastness throughout this historic event. The Church of Scotland has an amazing story to tell about each and every one of these folk. I firmly believe it is an inspiring story for faith, for historical record and is heroic in its scope.”

But 50 years on from the war, Richard is beginning to find that those who were there are being lost to time.

“I am so saddened that I never took on this project even ten years ago. In just the last few years we have lost Dr David Duncan, Faith and Bill Aitken, Charles Hutchison. They have all lefttheir papers, which are veritable gold mines. A couple have written books. Charlie and Ruth Hutchison remained in that region throughout the first year of the War. Dr Clyne Shepherd was instrumental in the medical services provided from Queen Elizabeth Hospital and also for appearing before United Nations and the Canadian government to testify to the reality on the ground. Dr Ann Jackson returned to serve more than one term, working to the point of exhaustion. Nurse Alicia Bandeen carried on serving wherever medical needs were called for, relocating as the war front was adjusted. A J (Sandy) Sommerville, Bill Aitken, A K Mincher, Charlie Hutchison, Archie Halliday, John Patterson all played vital roles in regards to the aid flights coming into Biafra. These and others, have absolutely amazing stories.

“I learned that the feelings, emotions, images of a war fifty years after the fact are as alive and acute as when they occurred. Equally so, the human attachments and friendships forged during those formative events have remained steadfast.

“There is such human interest here. I have met one of the two sons of the 29-year-old Canadian who died in 1969 when his relief plane crashed trying to land at Uli ‘airport’, a widened section of highway in the rain forest. (The sons were six and four when their father was killed.) He reports that his mother, who never remarried, has held those memories for 50 years. Her husband, along with the other three Canadians, was buried with prayers by Reverend Sandy Sommerville at Uli. I also met the last surviving pilot who flew relief planes always at night, with brief, minimal landing and airstrip lights into Uli.”

Richard says the efforts and the determination of those on the ground could not be underestimated.

“In Scotland I was able to meet with Dr Clyne Shepherd (Edinburgh), Dr Ann Jackson (Carluke), the Rev Iain and Dr Isobel Brown (Banchory), Matron Alicia Bandeen (Aboyne), Sally Aitken Stanton (Aberfeldy), Dr Susan Duncan (Edinburgh), Headmaster Colin Macdonald (St Andrews), and by telephone, Jane Hutchison Scott and Jean Marion Aitken. I regret not being able to see Graeme and Sybil Brown in Orkney, Mary Louise Archibald, Archie Halliday in Edinburgh and Ruth Hutchison in Aberdeen.

The stories of medical intervention, engineering accomplishments to facilitate the landing of huge aircraftin the middle of a rain forest, the distribution of food for teeming populations on the run, the closing of hospitals and the opening of clinics in makeshiftfacilities warrant a study and a film on their own. Bill Aitken has had an American book dedicated to him because of the friendship he developed with an American off-loader whom he met on many nights as planes landed, off- loaded and flew offagain, perhaps to return in four hours with a second load of food. All of these things were happening while under threat of marauding jets bombing the runway and strafing the entire area with no regard for humanitarian markings

“The Church of Scotland has lost many of these most remarkable human beings, but there are many still alive who I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and who are willing to speak of their experiences and have the record written on the role the church played in this tumultuous period.”

Richard says the emotions brought up by talking to him during his research are still raw for those who lived through it.

“I learned that the feelings, emotions, images of a war fifty years after the fact are as alive and acute as when they occurred. Equally so, the human attachments and friendships forged during those formative events have remained steadfast. “

Richard’s connections to Nigeria go deeper than just having lived there. His adopted son is from there too.

“While living in Nigeria, I adopted, through Native Law and Custom, a young Ikwo boy, Nkwuda Oke. After returning to Canada in November, 1992, I arranged for his immigration matters and he came to Canada in 1993. We returned to Nigeria in 1999, and he surprised me after two weeks by announcing that he had made the decision to propose marriage to a young woman he had known when we were still living in Aba. They were married one week later. Nkwuda and Kelechi now have two children, Kendra (17) and Brankston (13). They live in Toronto. Nkwuda was born during the Biafran War, although his region had been retaken by Nigerian forces by that time.”

As retirements go, Richard has seldom been busier – and it was all almost by accident.

“How I became involved in this film project is simple and yet draws upon my entire church vocation. It is almost as if I had been schooled for this ‘retirement’ project during my missionary work, my time in the relief and development department of our denomination, my time in administration and my service on ecumenical humanitarian relief bodies both in Canada and in Geneva at the World Council of Churches.

“In September, 2017, after being retired for a year from my position serving as General Secretary in the national office of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, I received a telephone call from a recently arrived immigrant from Nigeria. As I had lived for 16 years in Nigeria, she had been referred to me. Angela Onuora had commenced a documentary film project regarding the Canadian humanitarian response during the Nigerian Civil War – commonly referred to as the Biafran War. Whilst being Nigerian, and having her ancestral home in the former region of Biafra, Angela had not been raised there. She had few linkages to that part of the country and she had no real knowledge: the War has not been included in any school textbook. Equally so, she did not know any key personalities in Canada or elsewhere who had been involved in this humanitarian effort.

“Angela asked that I refer her to people whom she could interview. Sounded simple then. It sounds simple even today, when stated with those facts. However, in the ensuing three years, this project has reached beyond the borders of Canada and has taken on a life of its own. I discovered that during my career I had met almost all of the key personalities within Canada who had been involved with Canair Relief, and many in the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and the USA Canair Relief was the Canadian arm of the much larger WCC programme, Joint Church Aid. I had amassed a collection of books, clippingsand documents. If I did not have the material in my possession, I knew where it was. I had also assisted one PhD student who had researched for his thesis in the Presbyterian Church archives. I had all of the personalities in my database. These were people I had been working with in other endeavours and projects for 25 years. Sadly, I had never spent time asking about Biafra nor their roles in this conflict. That was about to change.

“I joined Angela in her vision to complete a 50th anniversary of the end of the Biafran War documentary film. It was her hope to produce a film that expressed appreciation for the sacrifice and amazing efforts that Canadians, Churches – and many others – had invested to save an estimated one million lives. Through my personal contacts, I was able to draw out journalists, politicians, humanitarians, mission personnel and volunteers who had intimate knowledge of the Biafran story.

“I discovered that many of the stories threaded back to the Scottish mission personnel who played instrumental roles during the war, which were extensions of what they had been doing in Nigeria prior to the conflict. Many of these people had remained in Biafra, playing key roles in the humanitarian relief efforts co-ordinated by the World Council of Churches. Doctors, nurses, engineers and clergy had stood side by side with their Biafran friends for three years of bitter fighting. The collaborative working relationships between the Canadians, Scottish and the Dutch had been well established over the years; it was enhanced and continued during those difficult days.

“For the past two-and-a-half years while visiting friends and speaking about my ‘retirement project’, the most amazing coincidences came about. In Ottawa, in a downtown condo with government friends, I spoke of Biafra. They immediately responded by saying that their neighbour’s father had been one of the members of Parliament who had flown into Biafra on a fact-finding mission. Inviting her over for tea led to a wealth of contextual information, photos and clippings.

“I discovered that many of the stories threaded back to the Scottish mission personnel who played instrumental roles during the war… Many of these people had remained in Biafra, playing key roles in the humanitarian relief efforts coordinated by the World Council of Churches.

“While visiting an old university friend, now a medical doctor in a village in eastern Ontario, I mentioned the same story of what I was doing in retirement. This conversation revealed that he had a patient who was a pilot who had flown into Biafra. I was soon introduced to the last surviving Canair Relief pilot who flew 122 of the 967 harrowing night-time relief flights delivering food and medicine into Biafra while also carrying church officials, journalists and relief workers into the Biafran enclave.

“I found it humbling that I had not previously and consciously engaged with the history around about me – in geography, in personalities, in books – that I had access to over the years that I lived in Nigeria and through the positions I had held over 35 years. It has turned out that I had unwittingly accumulated a wealth of contacts and information. That material is today being woven together to form this remarkable story. Canair Relief is truly one of the brief, bright, shining moments when Canada did something truly remarkable. Our contribution was out of proportion to our size. It was largely church driven. It was a huge unifying effort for the country. The Biafran Airliftremains the largest civilian humanitarian emergency endeavour ever undertaken. It has never been repeated.

“I learned that people sincerely wanted to tell their story. They wanted their efforts to be known, not for personal credit, but to attest to what the church can do when Christians do that which is right.”

Dr Ann Jackson’s book, Last Doctor Out of Biafra, is reviewed on page 50 of this month’s issue.