If you feel God calling you to it, pursue it!
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From Luke’s Journal February 2024 | Vol.29 No.1 | Missions and Sacrificial Service
In high school, I intended to become an engineer. God had other ideas. A combination of ending up ‘accidentally’ studying biology in Year 11 and reading biographies of medical overseas missionaries changed my mind and I decided to aim to study medicine. My intention was to become an overseas cross-cultural missionary doctor. Again, God had other ideas.
At the end of the first semester of the first year of medical school, I became restless, wanting some clinical work experience rather than simply lectures. Talking to one of my colleagues at lunch one day it became clear that she had the same desire. She had already arranged a student placement at the hospital in her hometown. She said I would be able to also have a placement at the hospital if I asked. I enquired as to where her hometown was. She told me it was Nhulunbuy. I had never heard of this place! After looking it up and finding it to be a town on the northeastern tip of the Northern Territory (NT), I arranged to visit during the semester break!
My parents mentioned to me that they knew of a doctor working in Nhulunbuy who had previously been an overseas missionary. They suggested that I contact her before I went, which I did. This doctor strongly encouraged me to read a book by Richard Trudgen prior to coming to Nhulunbuy. The book is called “Why Warriors Lie Down and Die”.[1] I borrowed it from the library and read it. In many ways, this book blew me away. It describes a people of completely different language and culture who have lived in this country for centuries. It describes all the multitude of challenges these people face living among dominant cultures so utterly different to their own. I had no idea this situation existed in Australia. I had never really met an Indigenous person nor learned much about them at school.
“Reading Richard’s book did not fully prepare me for what I found when I visited North East Arnhem Land. The people are genuinely from a different world which non-Indigenous people find exceptionally difficult to understand.”
Reading Richard’s book did not fully prepare me for what I found when I visited North East Arnhem Land. The people are genuinely from a different world which non-Indigenous people find exceptionally difficult to understand. The resultant hardships that they face are stark. My mind immediately came to the conclusion that cross-cultural missionaries were required in this situation, specifically people who were trained in crossing cultures and who had learned the language.
I knew of just the person. A friend of mine, Hannah, was a linguist and was preparing for overseas cross-cultural ministry. Upon my return from Nhulunbuy, I met up with Hannah and encouraged her to consider working in Australia rather than overseas. I won’t flesh out all the details here, but God had other ideas here too – Hannah and I ended up getting married. We both continued our interest in overseas mission work as well as an interest in Indigenous ministry. Interestingly, it was not obvious to the two of us initially that perhaps we should serve in Australia. At one point, we were praying together for Indigenous Australia when suddenly we were both independently convicted that we should consider going ourselves! We committed to God that we would push on the doors and He could open them or otherwise.
Firstly, I was awarded a John Flynn scholarship which took us to Galiwin’ku in North East Arnhem Land. This is a community of Yolngu people about whom Richard Trudgen had written. Due to Hannah’s training, she knew that people groups like this have a kinship system which ties all people together in types of relationships. Outsiders must be brought into this system in some way in order to relate to them. The Yolngu people have a system of adoption whereby outsiders are given a skin name and a set of relationships within the community. Hannah was helping at an event when we first visited Galiwin’ku. She served food to some ladies who, when finding that she was not adopted, offered to adopt her. For all these people knew, Hannah could be just another blow-in blow-out visitor. One of the ladies adopted her as a niece. It turns out that this lady was one of the key Bible translators with whom Hannah would end up working closely over coming decades!
After graduating from medical school, I trained as a general practitioner (GP), completing most of my training in Nhulunbuy. During this time, I worked in the hospital as well as a small community called Ramingining. I spent time learning Yolngu Matha, the language of North East Arnhem Land. Hannah worked for the Northern Synod of the Uniting Church supporting translation of Scripture into local languages. In total, we have lived in Nhulunbuy for five and a half years.
“During our time in the Northern Territory, we have been supported by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) of Australia. This is a very old organisation which has facilitated cross-cultural mission work all over the world for many years.”
During our time in the Northern Territory, we have been supported by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) of Australia. This is a very old organisation which has facilitated cross-cultural mission work all over the world for many years. We are in a category of worker called “Intentional Mission Worker” (IMW). Workers in this category are not financially supported by CMS, but do receive prayer and pastoral care support. This category has been specifically designed for remote Australia. Often it is hard to find any accommodation in remote communities apart from being employed by the government or an NGO. Under the IMW category, we can be employed by another body and still be supported by CMS. If this is something that interests you, Greg Anderson, bishop of the NT would be keen to hear from you. See his video: https://youtu.be/Pq4SWwas2NY or go to Youtube and then search ‘Ministry with Secular Employment to Northern Territory’.
I have found that I am continuously learning while working with Indigenous people. The complexity of the cross-cultural divide and how it impacts people’s lives continues to unfold before me. I was working in the emergency department of Gove District Hospital in Nhulunbuy at one stage when a colleague approached me saying he was unable to communicate with a patient. He could not ascertain why she had presented, and stated that she did not speak English at all. He wondered if I could help, given that I spoke a little Yolngu Matha. I approached the patient and, in my usual way, introduced myself in Yolngu Matha including who I was adopted by and who I was related to. The patient’s face lit up. She explained where she was from, who she was related to and how we should call each other. I then asked her, in Yolngu Matha, what her presenting complaint was. She proceeded to tell me in great detail, in English, what was ailing her! The problem was not language (in this instance), but the culturally appropriate way of conducting an interaction.
An interesting aspect of ministry with Indigenous people in the Top End of Australia is that often the communities have already been evangelised. In the early days of Australian settlement, the churches divided up the Northern Territory into regions. The Methodists took North East Arnhem, the Anglicans West Arnhem, Catholics the Tiwis and Top End West, etc. Different denominations approached evangelism differently and had varying success. In Yolngu communities, people are largely well aware of who Jesus is and many are at least nominal Christians. Speaking about Jesus is seen as normal. Often I would be specifically asked by patients to pray for them. All this is not to say that missionaries are not needed. The understanding of the gospel is often quite superficial. Of those Indigenous languages that have a Bible translation, it is only a partial translation. In fact, there is only one Australian Indigenous language that has the whole Bible translated: Kriol.
“Of those Indigenous languages that have a Bible translation, it is only a partial translation. In fact, there is only one Australian Indigenous language that has the whole Bible translated: Kriol.”
Language is only part of the issue in helping Indigenous patients. The understanding of the world, the human body and causality is so completely different to a Western understanding, that often it is almost impossible to reach a mutual understanding of the clinical scenario. Simple sets of knowledge that one assumes all Western patients would have are not widely held among Yolngu people. For example, an understanding that the heart pumps blood in a circuit and the purpose of this is to nourish our cells is just not widely held. I once heard a story of a man from Ramingining who had liver failure due to a Budd-Chiari malformation. He was offered a liver transplant and went to Adelaide for it. When he woke from the anaesthetic, it was explained that he had someone else’s liver inside him. The idea of having internal organs removed or replaced has tones of deep, dark magic in Yolngu worldview. The man was horrified (evidently the informed consent process was not effective). He fled to the bush and did not take his anti-rejection medication. Miraculously he survived another ten years without medication!
That language and intercultural misunderstanding explains all the misadventure suffered by Indigenous Australians is unfortunately not true. There are some more sinister forces at play which we as a nation do need to face. A patient of mine, who was a retired school teacher and worked as a Bible translator, was once approached by the nurse from the community clinic and told that she needed to travel to Darwin urgently for an operation. My patient asked what the operation was, but was told she just needed to come urgently. Assuming it was a kidney issue (which she had suffered from before), the patient went along and boarded the flight. Arriving at Royal Darwin Hospital, she again enquired as to the nature of the operation but was told to quickly be prepared for theatre including bowel preparation. In the pre-operative bay she enquired of the surgical registrar the nature of the operation. She was told that she needed a colonoscopy due to her rectal bleeding. She exclaimed that she had never had rectal bleeding. The registrar told her to go back to her accommodation and wait for further instructions.
The patient called me from the accommodation. I could not find in her clinical record a reason why she had been urgently called for a colonoscopy. I called my colleague, a Christian surgeon at Royal Darwin Hospital. After some enquiry, he ascertained that a patient with a very similar name to my patient had concerning rectal bleeding and a registrar had inadvertently booked my patient instead of the other! (Later I found out that the other patient did get a colonoscopy in a timely manner.) My surgeon colleague personally saw my patient in his clinic the next day and apologised and arranged for her to be transferred back home.
I tell this story to illustrate that even a patient with excellent command of the English language and plenty of experience interacting with mainstream Western culture is not immune from misadventure in our systems. There are underlying expectations and attitudes ingrained into many people which can result in situations like this. As Christians working in this system, one of our challenges is to ensure we are avoiding assumptions and expectations about people which lead to misunderstanding. Learning the language and having a good understanding of the culture of another person is very important. Guarding against complacency in assumptions we make is also very important.
Working in remote Indigenous communities is exceptionally challenging. Can I encourage you, however, if you feel God calling you to it, to pursue it? Make sure you have support, for example, with CMS. Make sure you have a realistic vision of how you will be used by God; many of the physical ailments you see won’t show significant improvement. Building relationships and connection is the most important outcome both in terms of people’s physical health and their spiritual health. One way of exposing yourself to the different Indigenous cultures, particularly in regard to how they interact with Christianity, is to watch some of the videos on www.40stories.org.au.
Feel free to contact me via email to discuss working with Indigenous Australians.
Dr Geoffrey Harper
Dr Geoff Harper works in the Northern Territory of Australia as a remote General Practitioner serving Indigenous Australians. He and his wife, Hannah, are Intentional Mission Workers (IMW) with the Church Missionary Society (CMS) of Australia. Geoff has worked in Darwin, Ramingining, Wadeye, Peppiminarti, Gapuwiyak and Nhulunbuy. Hannah is a linguist and works supporting Indigenous Australians in Bible translating as well as intercultural exchange. Geoff Harper’s email address is geoffrey.l.harper@gmail.com.