Page:«Armenia og armenierne.» (Bodil Biørn okt. 1944).pdf/6

- 4 - In Musch from 1907 - 1916.

I have spent my longest and most strenuous time in Musch. Musch is a c. 3000-year-old city and is located in ancient Armenia on a high plain c. 1500 m a.s.l. with winter and snow for 4-5 months. It was known to be a troubled corner.

There were c. 25,000 residents, half Christians and half Muhammadans, and c. 300 villages belonged to the district, mostly Armenian. Up in the Sassu mountain ranges there were 40 Armenian villages and several Kurdish villages. Musch is surrounded by high mountains and has an extinct volcano Nimrod in its vicinity. We have had several earthquakes in Amrenia. The valley area was fruitful. Murad, the tributary of the Euphrates, flowed through the land.

In Musch I had a wonderful time among the many children and the many sick and poor whom I got to help. There was pioneering work I did with my dear colleagues Mr. and Mrs. von Dobbeler.

The first few years I worked mostly among the sick and poor and I had never before seen so many poor people as in Musch and in the surrounding villages. I opened an outpatient clinic 3 times a week where about 4,000 people were treated annually, and I also visited about 300 people in the city and about 200 in the villages.

When the outpatient clinic was opened, there came a number of sick people, both Armenians, Turks and Kurds; because they had heard that this "doctor" could cure any kind of illness. I must say that I have never felt so small as among all these sick people; but I became so completely dependent on the Lord, and he let the medicine help so wonderfully. I had been given very good medicines by the American missionaries and had the supplies from America renewed through them. In particular, there were many eye diseases (trachoma) and malaria with their after-illnesses including lung disease, gout and rheumatism, wounded patients, etc. There were only military doctors and 1 district doctor in Musch – a Turk -. Only for half a year we had the help of an Armenian doctor from Russia, but in a very difficult time. I trained a young Armenian boy, Rupen, who later received education at a mission hospital and was a great help to me. I also had the help of a couple of Armenian girls and for the last year of our evangelist's wife Satenig. It was important to make the right diagnosis. Often, I was completely puzzled and sadly have made many mistakes, but on the other hand have so marvelously felt the Lord's leadership and help. The many children we raised in our homes, miserable and lost, suffered from various diseases, especially trachoma. In addition, both Mr. and Mrs. von Dobbeler several times were very ill, even near death, as they did not tolerate the climate. I got to be healthy so I could tend the many sick in Musch and in the villages and also evangelize.

In 1908 I started a day school since so many young girls and married women could not read and write. First there were 12 students and 1 Armenian teacher; the number was less a while, but I continued to trust in the Lord and gradually the flock grew to 80. I then got 2 good Armenian teachers from the seminary in Mesereh. Maritza and Margarit, so it became an entire school with 4 classes where they learned Bible knowledge, reading, writing, calculating and sewing. We had 120 students and several of them were won for the Lord. Unfortunately, most people were murdered during the massacre. Later we got better rooms for the school and the outpatient clinic.