by Mary Bruins Allison edited by Sandra J. Shaw introduction by Lucie Wood Saunders and John Clarke Saunders
University of Texas Press, 1994 Cloth: 978-0-292-70454-1 | eISBN: 978-0-292-76319-7 | Paper: 978-0-292-70456-5 Library of Congress Classification R722.32.A45A3 1994 Dewey Decimal Classification 610.695092
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Until fairly recently, Arab women rarely received professional health care, since few women doctors had ever practiced in Arabia and their culture forbade them from consulting male doctors. Not surprisingly, Dr. Mary Bruins Allison faced an overwhelming demand when she arrived in Kuwait in 1934 as a medical missionary of the Reformed Church of America. Over the next forty years, "Dr. Mary" treated thousands of women and children, faithfully performing the duties that seemed required of her as a Christian—to heal the sick and seek converts.
These memoirs record a fascinating life. Dr. Allison briefly describes her upbringing and her professional training at Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. She then focuses on her experiences in Kuwait, where women of all classes, including royalty, flocked to her care. In addition to describing many of her cases, Dr. Allison paints a richly detailed picture of life in Kuwait both before and after the discovery of oil transformed the country. Her recollections include invaluable details of women's lives in the Middle East during the early and mid-twentieth century. They add a valuable chapter to the story of modern medicine, to the largely unsuccessful efforts of the Christian church to win converts in the Middle East, and to the opportunities and limitations that faced American women of the period.
Dr. Allison also worked briefly in Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and India, and she includes material on each country. The introduction situates her experiences in the context of Middle Eastern and medical developments of the period.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Mary Bruins Allison (1903–1994) spent four decades working as a missionary physician in the Middle East.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
Timeline of Events
1. Early Life
Earliest Memories
Milwaukee Childhood
Pella, Iowa, and Adolescence
Central College
Graduation and My First Job
2. Medical Training
The Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania
Internships
3. Early Years in Kuwait
Getting There
A New Life
Coming Out in Kuwaiti Society
Kuwait City
Mission History
Dr. Mylrea
Living with Mary Van Pelt
Weddings
My First Case
Under the Knife
Home
Mistake
4. A Real Doctor
Practicing Medicine in Kuwait, 1936
Cases in the Early Years
Trachoma
The Summer’s Heat
Expectations and Disappointments
5. Medicine and Marriage
The Way of a Man with a Maid
Scotland to Kuwait, Overland—1939
Back to Work!
A New Hospital, a New Nurse
Cases
Ayisha, and My Other Patients
Spring
With Norman in India
6. The War Years
Back to the U.S.A., January 1942
Divorce
The Dahanu Road Mission Hospital (India)
Monsoon
Asked Back
7. Kuwait Practice Renewed, 1945
New Faces
New Cases
New Problems
Four Months at Qatar, 1948
Changes and Obstetrics in Kuwait
Oman, 1949
Running the Show in Kuwait
Slaves
To U.S.A. on Furlough, 1950
Kuwait Builds, 1951
Cars and Schools
Kuwaiti Women’s Lives and Health in the 1950s
The Morning Clinic
Kuwait Women’s Medical Report to the Board—October 1954
8. Questions of Mission
A Question of Mission
Kuwait Hosts the Annual Mission Meeting, 1955
Shirley and the Shaikh
Kuwait Internationalizes
Ramadan and Clinics, 1954
Converts
Another Question of Mission: Air-Conditioners
Mission 1955–1956
The Board Reassesses the Missions
Applying the Board’s Suggestions
Iraq’s Threat; Kuwait’s Growth
A New View of Islam
9. Changes in the Mission Field, 1958
Back to the Mission
Fresh Recruits
The Sixties in Kuwait
My Brother, Paul Bruins
Times of Sorrow
Furlough, 1964–1965
10. Bahrain
Bahrain’s Historical Background
Mission in Bahrain
Cases
The Closing of Kuwait’s Medical Mission, March 1967
Interlude in Oman, 1968
Back to Bahrain, Fall 1968
Vacation in Kuwait, 1968
Bahrain, 1970
Back to the U.S.A.
The Way Back: Bahrain’s New Church
11. Oman
Oman, 1971
Historical Background of Oman
The Mutrah Hospital
The Mutrah Morning Clinic
Malaria
Cholera
Leprosy
Tazeea for Dr. Wells Thoms, October 1971
Diversions, 1972
Travels in Oman, October and November 1972
Kuwait Revisited
My Last Year
Return to Dahanu Road
Cholera Epidemic
Turnover
Statistics and Hospital Data
Annual Reports of the Kuwait Women’s Hospital to the Mission Board in New York
American Mission Hospital—Kuwait
Bahrain Attendance Records for Eleven Months of 1969
Oman Mission Hospitals—Statistics, June 1 to Dec. 31, 1971
by Mary Bruins Allison edited by Sandra J. Shaw introduction by Lucie Wood Saunders and John Clarke Saunders
University of Texas Press, 1994 Cloth: 978-0-292-70454-1 eISBN: 978-0-292-76319-7 Paper: 978-0-292-70456-5
Until fairly recently, Arab women rarely received professional health care, since few women doctors had ever practiced in Arabia and their culture forbade them from consulting male doctors. Not surprisingly, Dr. Mary Bruins Allison faced an overwhelming demand when she arrived in Kuwait in 1934 as a medical missionary of the Reformed Church of America. Over the next forty years, "Dr. Mary" treated thousands of women and children, faithfully performing the duties that seemed required of her as a Christian—to heal the sick and seek converts.
These memoirs record a fascinating life. Dr. Allison briefly describes her upbringing and her professional training at Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. She then focuses on her experiences in Kuwait, where women of all classes, including royalty, flocked to her care. In addition to describing many of her cases, Dr. Allison paints a richly detailed picture of life in Kuwait both before and after the discovery of oil transformed the country. Her recollections include invaluable details of women's lives in the Middle East during the early and mid-twentieth century. They add a valuable chapter to the story of modern medicine, to the largely unsuccessful efforts of the Christian church to win converts in the Middle East, and to the opportunities and limitations that faced American women of the period.
Dr. Allison also worked briefly in Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and India, and she includes material on each country. The introduction situates her experiences in the context of Middle Eastern and medical developments of the period.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Mary Bruins Allison (1903–1994) spent four decades working as a missionary physician in the Middle East.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
Timeline of Events
1. Early Life
Earliest Memories
Milwaukee Childhood
Pella, Iowa, and Adolescence
Central College
Graduation and My First Job
2. Medical Training
The Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania
Internships
3. Early Years in Kuwait
Getting There
A New Life
Coming Out in Kuwaiti Society
Kuwait City
Mission History
Dr. Mylrea
Living with Mary Van Pelt
Weddings
My First Case
Under the Knife
Home
Mistake
4. A Real Doctor
Practicing Medicine in Kuwait, 1936
Cases in the Early Years
Trachoma
The Summer’s Heat
Expectations and Disappointments
5. Medicine and Marriage
The Way of a Man with a Maid
Scotland to Kuwait, Overland—1939
Back to Work!
A New Hospital, a New Nurse
Cases
Ayisha, and My Other Patients
Spring
With Norman in India
6. The War Years
Back to the U.S.A., January 1942
Divorce
The Dahanu Road Mission Hospital (India)
Monsoon
Asked Back
7. Kuwait Practice Renewed, 1945
New Faces
New Cases
New Problems
Four Months at Qatar, 1948
Changes and Obstetrics in Kuwait
Oman, 1949
Running the Show in Kuwait
Slaves
To U.S.A. on Furlough, 1950
Kuwait Builds, 1951
Cars and Schools
Kuwaiti Women’s Lives and Health in the 1950s
The Morning Clinic
Kuwait Women’s Medical Report to the Board—October 1954
8. Questions of Mission
A Question of Mission
Kuwait Hosts the Annual Mission Meeting, 1955
Shirley and the Shaikh
Kuwait Internationalizes
Ramadan and Clinics, 1954
Converts
Another Question of Mission: Air-Conditioners
Mission 1955–1956
The Board Reassesses the Missions
Applying the Board’s Suggestions
Iraq’s Threat; Kuwait’s Growth
A New View of Islam
9. Changes in the Mission Field, 1958
Back to the Mission
Fresh Recruits
The Sixties in Kuwait
My Brother, Paul Bruins
Times of Sorrow
Furlough, 1964–1965
10. Bahrain
Bahrain’s Historical Background
Mission in Bahrain
Cases
The Closing of Kuwait’s Medical Mission, March 1967
Interlude in Oman, 1968
Back to Bahrain, Fall 1968
Vacation in Kuwait, 1968
Bahrain, 1970
Back to the U.S.A.
The Way Back: Bahrain’s New Church
11. Oman
Oman, 1971
Historical Background of Oman
The Mutrah Hospital
The Mutrah Morning Clinic
Malaria
Cholera
Leprosy
Tazeea for Dr. Wells Thoms, October 1971
Diversions, 1972
Travels in Oman, October and November 1972
Kuwait Revisited
My Last Year
Return to Dahanu Road
Cholera Epidemic
Turnover
Statistics and Hospital Data
Annual Reports of the Kuwait Women’s Hospital to the Mission Board in New York
American Mission Hospital—Kuwait
Bahrain Attendance Records for Eleven Months of 1969
Oman Mission Hospitals—Statistics, June 1 to Dec. 31, 1971