WHO IS SHE?

Its #TBT Throwback Thursday and we shine the spotlight on the life and times of a great woman

who left an indelible mark on the sands of history in Nigeria and the world in general in the person of Mary Slessor; the white Queen of Calabar.

Mary Mitchell Slessor, a Scottish missionary to Nigeria was born on the 2^nd day in the month of December 1843 in Gilcomston, Aberdeen, Scotland to a poor working-class family. She was the Second child of seven children of Robert and Mary Slessor. Mary lost her father in her early days and her mother,a devout Presbyterian made Mary develop an interest in religion.

At age 27, upon hearing the death of David Livingstone, a famous missionary and explorer at that time, Mary was inspired and decided to follow in his footsteps. She applied to the United Presbyterian Church’s Foreign Mission Board  and was trained in Edinburgh. After the training, she set sail for the West African coast on 5 August 1876 and arrived at her destination over a month after.

She was assigned to Calabar region in the land of the Efik people at the age of 28. While there, Mary learnt the language of the people and got used to their meals. At a point, she was infected with malaria and had to return to Scotland to recover but returned back to Calabar after 16 months.

While serving as a young missionary, Mary confronted  many issues, including the widespread human sacrifice at the death of a village elder and the abandoning of twins to die. Back then, it was believed that the birth of twins was an evil curse. The natives feared that the father of one of the infants was an evil spirit and that the mother had been guilty of a great sin, since they couldn’t determine which twin was fathered by the evil spirit, the natives abandoned both babies in the bush to die. Slessor made it a point of duty to go after all babies abandoned, rescue them and adopt them as hers, an action which she has now become popular for as her efforts gradually helped in reducing and finally eliminating the evil tradition.

For the last 4 decades of her life, Mary suffered intermittent fevers from malaria which she contracted during her first visit to Calabar. The fevers eventually weakened her to the point where she could no longer walk long distances but had to be pushed along in a hand-cart. She suffered a particularly severe fever in early January 1915 and died on the 13^th of that same month. Her body was transported from Cross River to Duke Town for the colonial equivalent of a state funeral while flags at government buildings were flown at half mast.

Her life efforts are still being celebrated till this day with many monuments in calabar being named after her. A great woman she was and still is indeed.

For a detailed history, please visit http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/bioslessor2.html

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