A true angel of her calling
Published: April 22, 2006
HAVE you ever heard people say that angels exist all around us? I have heard it a couple of times but this week, a story of a truly remarkable woman was relayed to me, a story that must and should be shared.
Sister Betty Slader, who was a trained nurse and an ordained minister of the Anglican Church died last Saturday, aged 93 years.
Although this story will perhaps, only capture parts of her life — the effect of what she did for people and children, especially two children she adopted, won’t be easily forgotten.
A few days ago, former Miss Hibiscus Margaret Singh shared her story about Betty, as she was fondly known.
Margaret and her older brother were adopted by Betty when she was just 10-months-old because her biological mother wasn’t able to care for them and their remaining five siblings.
“I was 10-months-old and my brother was four-years-old when she took us in. She has been the only family I have known my life,” she said.
“We first lived in Lami and at that time, it was just the three of us but by the time we moved to Tamavua, there were 17 of us and a few dogs and cats.
“Now these 15 other kids who lived with us were mostly from villages and were brought from their homes by Betty to enable them to have better access to schools.
“She mostly brought children who were crippled or blind and there were unmarried mothers at the home as well,” said Margaret.
“Everyday, we wouldn’t know who would be coming home because Betty would pick people who were disadvantaged from the streets and bring them home for a meal and a place to sleep,” she said.
“Our home would be quite full most days because of the people she would bring home. That showed how big her heart was,” said Margaret.
She said Betty was a strict disciplinarian and every Sunday, everyone would go to church at the St John’s Anglican Church in Wailoku. She vividly remembers running up and down the hill near the church and most Sundays, the family of 18 would be invited for tea by families after the church service.
Margaret was 14 when the family moved to Nausori and though it was quite a distance from Suva, the number of people coming home with Betty everyday never decreased.
“Nausori was pretty isolating and I remember Betty would tell us girls to wear a sulu if we ever wore shorts because it was pretty conservative at the time.
“Betty had a big van that would transport us to all the places we needed to get to and the same van would pick up strays dogs or cats,” she said.
“Sometimes the seats in the van would be up and there would be flowers in the back and we would immediately know the van had been used for a funeral procession.
“We had dogs that were maimed, or sometimes the dogs or cats had just given birth so the little kittens and puppies would be put into the van and would be brought home.”
Margaret said everyday Betty would be the first to wake up because she would make their breakfast before they got up and it was a breakfast full of protein.
“Because she was a nurse, she had a black bag in the back of the van which held all the medicine and during the school days, it was my task to sort out the contents of the bag,” she said.
“She used to bring food rations from the Bailey Clinic where she worked as well and these would be for the people she would bring home,” she said.
Margaret relayed a rather peculiar thing that Betty used to do but while it may appear like so at first, the reasoning behind what she did was rather well intentioned.
Well, Betty would go to cremation ceremonies and bring back the empty coffins which she would keep at home for families who could not afford coffins during funerals.
“We used to have coffins under our beds at home but we got used to it because we knew why she was keeping them at home,” she said. Now, I suppose most of you must be thinking why this English woman would go to all these lengths in a foreign country but may be it all goes back to her profession as a nurse and her belief as a Catholic.
Betty had always wanted to be a nurse when she was still in school but in those days in England, she had to get permission from her mother before she could be allowed to undergo training.
Instead of waiting for her mother to give her permission, Betty ran away and as such, her mother reluctantly gave permission for her to undergo training as a nurse.
She joined nursing soon after and went to Africa where a war was taking place.
“She had two other sisters who are both still living in England and while she had gone to other places around the world where her calling as a nurse took her, their mother always told her sisters to make sure Betty had a home to return to.
“Betty visited every 10 years but she said she would never live in England again,” Margaret said. “She never once talked about the war. She had a fiance who was at war in Africa but he was shot while she was there and she was actually by his side when he died.
“One thing though she mentioned was that the young men who were injured, used to cry for their mothers and loved ones and the nurses worked on consoling them apart from nursing them.
“Betty had a fiery temper and her sister used to call her ‘Thistle’ but as I said she was strong on discipline, had high standards and a strong work ethic,” Margaret said.
“Her work and faith were everything to her and she always believed that if you ever did a job, you should do it properly because you should always leave a place better than you found it,” she said.
Betty was instrumental in setting up St Christopher’s Home and sat on the board of HART.
For her service as a nurse in the countries she’d been to, Betty received seven medals, five of which were war medals.
Betty was a midwife as well and helped deliver many babies.
Margaret said she would often receive invitations to the weddings of the very people she delivered.
She had been living in a flat for the latter part of her life and the Anglican Church used to take care of her bills and her groceries but by her death, she was living with the Hussein family in Tamavua.
Her funeral service was held at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Suva yesterday and I can confidently say that many people will shed a tear for this woman who touched so many lives in her life.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: