Bubu Mei loved and served all

COVER STORY

Tribute to Dr Lin Calvert,matriarch of Kapuna

By COLIN JAMES CALVERT
MY mother, Dr Lin Calvert was called Bubu Mei. (mei is the word for mother in the language of Baimuru in Gulf).
This is a little part of her story.
She was born in 1925 and grew up on a high country sheep farm in New Zealand. Her mother was a nurse in WW1 and her father a soldier. Her father was wounded and spent some months in a hospital in Egypt. Her mother was a nurse at the hospital.
After the war they were married and went to farm a block of land in Ahetiti. It was a pioneer life on the remote farm, isolation, hard work and schooling by distant studies, but this was just the life that prepared young Lin to be a pioneer doctor at Kapuna in the Purari Delta of Gulf. God was preparing her for the call on her life.
In the deep south of New Zealand, in the city of Dunedin a young man, my dad, was doing law at Otago university. When the war broke out, he went to Canada and trained as a navigator with the air force. The war changed his direction in life and on return to New Zealand he took up medicine and met my mother who was just completing her training.
After his graduation they were married. Both their hearts were now joined to serve, not long after this they received a letter from the London Missionary Society (LMS) asking if they would serve at Kapuna in Papua. The LMS were clear in their letter. Kapuna is a remote place of mud, mosquitos and malaria. As they read the letter they looked at each other and said “just the place for us”.
In 1954 their boat arrived at Kapuna and they were taken by canoe to the hospital. As they came to the step of the doctor’s house, my sister who was two years at the time, who is now Dr Valerie and currently the senior doctor at Kapuna, spoke out saying “home” and so it was. And so it has been for 69 years.
Now their life work began, their priority was the training of locals as nurses which has continued to this day to its 65th graduation this year.
Services to remote peoples was next, by canoe in the delta and by jet boat to the Pawaia villages of upper Purari. Later the outreach of the clinics was greatly increased by the support of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and its float plane. Now medical clinics were carried out from the Vailala to the Bamu rivers.
Were there difficulties? Plenty. Did they give up? Never. What was their strength? It was their walk with God. They chose to love others as Iesu Messiah loved us, love that will lay down its life for others.
It is now many years since their feet first stood on Kapuna ground. Dr Peter died in 1982 and is buried here, he was buried in a mat as is the custom of Baimuru.
Dr Lin died at 12.30 am on Aug 8. Her body, the husk that belongs to this world, was rolled in a mat and laid in a canoe to bury beside her husband in the land of the Kapuna.
There was a dream about Bubu’s passing that speaks much about the heart of her life and work. In the dream the local staff saw Dr Lin’s passing, however to her surprise, at that very time she saw Dr Lin walking towards her, in her hand were many crosses, these she gave to the local staff and told her “give these crosses to the people”.
Why would Dr Lin request that crosses be given to the people?
Because the cross represents how her life was lived, the cross is the power of God in our life that joins us to the resurrection of Iesu Messiah. Her funeral was not a gathering of mourning or a haus krai. For those who put their trust in God such as Bubu Mei we have held a haus sing where we have all dropped our tears quietly as we will miss her a lot but we have sung all her favourite hymns and shared her stories.
It was a time of joy in sorrow, joy that the cage of the body of clay has been opened and the bird has flown to her creator.

Tribute
The expectant mother, the young doctor preparing to travel to PNG who was the top academic student at the school of tropical medicine in Sydney in her year.
The pioneer of medical work in the West Gulf.
The last of the doctors who visioned Christian Health Services
The oldest mission doctor in PNG.
The fighter of scabies and many other skin diseases.
The writer of books for body and soul and of hymns in our local language to raise the spirit.
The voice on mission radio…medical calls … that gave life-saving advice to many of the most isolated nurses around the nation.
The doctor teacher that trained a thousand health workers that serve across the nation. The doctor who stood with kerosene lamp by night and with advice by day, at ten thousand deliveries, to train the nurse, to guard the life of the mother and baby, the unborn and the new born.
Bubu the maker of kapok pillows and sewer of nappies for babies that had not one.
The planter of coconuts, pineapples and guavas that all children enjoyed.
Campaigner against sugar and processed foods, promoter of greens and fruits.
Lover of flowers. digger of weeds, the doctor who picked up litter around hospital wards pushing her old wheelbarrow.
Above all this is Bubu Mei with her many spiritual children who walk in the light of their heavenly Father because they saw the light shining in her.
The doctor who chose to own nothing that nothing might hinder her service to those she came to serve.
..
Grandma’s hands
God gave us hands
Hands to love, care and comfort
Grandma’s hands loved as she delivered each new baby
Her hands cared as she checked each patient
Her hands comforted those who lost their loved ones
Grandma’s hands were calloused and strong
From hard work chopping firewood, pulling weeds and cleaning
Yet she always had a hand of greeting for all who came her way.
On Aug 9, 2023 those hands were buried
But ours live on to take her place
Let our hands love
Let our hands care and comfort
Let our hands work hard to make PNG a better place to bring glory to our Creator

If you would like to watch the story of her life, here is the link: http://bit.ly/BubuMei