REVIEWS

LAST DOCTOR OUT OF BIAFRA

The War Zone Journal of Dr Ann Jackson MRCOG

Edited by: Will and Joanna Storrar

Published by: Handsel Press (distributed by Sanctus Media)

Price: £15

Fifty years ago this month, the President of Biafra flew into exile. Only 30 minutes before his departure a smaller plane had flown out of the war-torn land ahead of the advancing Federal army. The smaller plane carried the last medical missionaries airlifted out of Biafra by the World Council of Churches. The group included a Scottish doctor, Ann Jackson from Carluke.

Advised at school to abandon plans to be a doctor, she was told to aim for nursing instead, but studied medicine in Glasgow and followed a call to become a medical missionary.

The callled her to serve in Biafra, initially in the Mary Slessor Hospital, which was then part of Nigeria. When the country declared independence from Nigeria it ended in civil war and mass starvation for the population of Biafra. The Church of Scotland pulled its missionaries out of this part of Africa, but some, like Ann, chose to stay.

Ann, who returned to Carluke, was among the last party to leave in January 1970 before Biafra, once again, was subsumed into Nigeria.

The book is a collection of her diaries covering her time in Biafran Africa. It is, at times, harrowing reading, covering famine and war – and the difficult medical conditions in which missionaries operated during a time of crisis.

Co-editor William Storrar met Ann when he served as parish minister at Carluke: St John’s, where she was a respected elder and GP and later learned of the part she played in African history. Following her airlift from Biafra, she served as a medical missionary for the Church in Malawi before returning to Scotland.

Endorsing the work in an introduction, he writes: ‘When Ann celebrated her 80th birthday with the same loving circle of family and friends in Carluke that stood by her during her years in Biafra, praying, fundraising and sending aid, she knew it was time to publish her journal. It is a testimony not to her failure, but to her skill as a doctor, her witness as a missionary and her gift as a writer. It is a testimony to a Scottish town that stuck by its native daughter in a war zone . It is above all a testimony to Christ’s presence with a suffering nation through disciples like Ann Jackson.’

A PILGRIM’S GUIDE TO OBERAMMERGAU AND ITS PASSION PLAY

Written by: Raymond Goodburn

Published by: Pilgrim Book Services

Price: £11.95

For anyone planning to attend this year’s ten yearly Passion play in Oberammergau, this is the definitive guide.

Updated for each event, the book explains the background to the world-famous play, staged every ten years and traces its journey to the present day.

The book not only offers information about this year’s cast and staging, but gives an insight into the wider impact of the play on the local community.

It is also filled with useful practical information about what to buy and a map of the village to help visitors navigate their way around.

There is also helpful tourist information on what can be found in the surrounding area for sightseeing purposes and useful maps and guides to nearby cities.

The guide, which has been published and updated every ten years since 1970, is the essential guide to Oberammergau according to those who have been lucky enough to witness the play and is a key purchase for anyone planning to visit in 2020.

THE UPSTANDER

Life and Ministry of Rev Alastair Christie-Johnson 1903-1965

Published by: Steenbrae Publishing Company

Price: £11.50

Stories of ministry are always fascinating and this book, edited by his son, more than 50 years after his death, is no exception.

Recounting the story of his father’s life and ministry – which took him from Kenya to Shetland, it offers an insight into the Church of Scotland in a bygone age and, for historians, offers some special social insights into the Second World War and the cultural changes which shook society in the post-war years, which brought a boom in membership of the Church, before the decline which continues today.

It is a fascinating account of a life well-lived and whilst the words were originally printed in 1977, this republication offers many additional photographs and insights into a ministry which, despite being a son of the manse, did not come until he attended a rally of the Student Christian Movement in Swanwick. Born in the manse of Gartmore Church in 1903, Christie-Johnson senior’s arrival almost cost his mother her life – and in a stark reminder of life before the National Health Service – readers learn that a consultant was needed from Glasgow, who charged the family 100 guineas for his service when the stipend for the parish was £160 per year.

In a journey that led him to study at St Andrews University in Fife and then ministry in Dundee, Kenya, Glasgow, Shetland, Forres and back to Shetland again, it is a charming tale of manse life, the Church of Scotland, mission and wider Scottish life during a period of social and cultural change.

Lynne McNeil