46 OUTLOOK 29 July 2019
FLAMES OF HATE
Australian missionary
Graham Staines and his
two sons were burnt
alive in his van in 1999A
mob wanting to “bury Christi-
anity” burnt her husband and
two sons alive, but that did not
deter Gladys Staines from her
mission. She had been
working in Baripada, Odisha, for
leprosy patients along with her
spouse, Graham Staines, an Austra-
lian missionary who had lived there
since 1965. The murder of her
husband and sons in 1999 sparked condemnation across the
globe. But Gladys’s response was extraordinary.
“It is far from my mind to punish the persons who were respon-
sible,” she had declared. “But it is my desire and hope that they
repent and be reformed.” Gladys publicly forgave the killers,
stayed back in Odisha and continued her work for the leprosy
home, established in the 1890s. She materialised her partner’s
dream project—a surgical clinic catering to lepers. The 15-bed
Graham Staines Memorial Hospital was inaugurated on the
outskirts of the town five years after his death. It wasn’t easy.
“I missed my husband and his leadership. I’m not a leader
by nature. I tried to pick up where he left off,” she confesses.
After working in India for 23 years, she returned to Townsville,
Australia, in 2004. What prompted the decision? “My daughter
Esther had completed her schooling at Hebron in Ooty. She
wanted to pursue medicine in Australia, the country of her pass-
port. Esther had never lived there, only visited a couple of times.
I wanted to move back to help her settle in the country and her
university. At the time, my father also needed me. He was over 90.”
She cherishes her time in India. “I love the culture and the
sense of community,” she says. “After the tragedy, the whole
country came to me to console, comfort and stand in solidarity.
I can never forget that support. Even today, Indians I meet in
Australia greet me and offer condolences. I hold no bitterness.”
In her native country, she went to university to regain her
Australian nursing registration, which she secured in 2008. She
began working a nurse in a hospital and taught the Bible to pri-
mary school students. Gladys received the Padma Shri in 2005 and
the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice in 2015.
Her longing for the forests and rice fields of Odisha, the
Simlipal hills and conversing in Odia persists. Does she want to
return? “I miss India, but I have no plans to move back,” she
replies. “I believe that our lives are made up of seasons. My sea-
son in India is complete and now is my time to be close to my
family, my daughter and her family.” Above all else, she enjoys
spending time with her grandchildren. “Esther and Reuben have
four children and they need their grandmother nearby.” O
Syed Saad AhmedLife After Death
Gladys Staines
Wife of Graham StainesCOVER STORY