'Call the Midwife compellingly transposed from   
 the East End of London to the Borneo rainforest'  
 __Lynne Tembey, Worldwide President of the Mothers' Union__1959. Newcastle nurse Wendy Grey leaves her comfortable life and answers a call from people in Borneo to run a clinic in a place so remote, many there have never before seen a white woman. Until her arrival, medical witchcraft has been the norm. Nevertheless, Wendy quickly gains the trust of the locals, and they begin to flock to her for treatment. And – terrifyingly – when some require emergency surgery, she must also become anaesthetist and surgeon . . . or watch her patients die.  
   
From treacherous journeys on land and water to tea parties with the governor; from tussles with snakes and scorpions to Scrabble with nuns; from struggling with illness to suddenly falling in love – this unique glimpse into contrasting sides of a lost colonial world is possible thanks to Wendy's detailed diaries, written by the light of an oil lamp in her bamboo and palm-leaf house.  
   
Meanwhile, back home, churches throughout the UK are praying for the young woman in Borneo.  
  
'A heart-warming adventure . . . a spellbinding narrative . . . a step into another world.' __Mark Beaumont, adventurer, author and broadcaster__

Wendy Grey Rogerson;Barbara Fox

Cover

Title

Copyright

List of photographs

Historical background

Main characters

Wendy in North Borneo

List of abbreviations

1 The longhouse: October to November 1959

2 ‘Who will go for us?’ November to December 1959

3 A hut and a jamban: December 1959 to April 1960

4 The operating theatre: May 1960

5 Travels with Arnold: May to June 1960

6 Rags and riches: June to July 1960

7 A hard chair and a bucket: July to August 1960

8 The mission cat: September to December 1960

9 A schoolboy surgeon: December 1960 to May 1961

10 The first ice: May to June 1961

11 Travels with my mother: June to September 1961

12 An intruder: September to October 1961

13 A view of the hills: October to December 1961

14 A maze of rivers: December 1961 to February 1962

15 Signals: February to March 1962

16 Perfect days: March to May 1962

17 Wild horses: May to June 1962

18 Endings and beginnings: June to October 1962

Afterword

Glossary of Malay and Dusun words

Boats used by Wendy

Acknowledgements

'Call the Midwife compellingly transposed from the East End of London to the Borneo jungle'  
Lynne Tembey, Mothers' Union Worldwide President  
  
1959. Newcastle nurse Wendy Grey leaves her comfortable life and answers a call from native people to run a clinic in a place so remote, many have never before seen a white woman. Until her arrival, medical witchcraft has been the norm, but Wendy quickly gains the trust of the locals with her friendly, capable ways, and they begin flocking to her for treatment. However, when some require emergency surgery, she must also become anaesthetist and surgeon . . . or watch her patients die.   
  
 From treacherous jungle treks to tea parties with the governor; from tussles with snakes and scorpions to Scrabble with the nuns; from struggling with illness to suddenly falling in love – this unique glimpse into contrasting sides of a lost colonial world is possible thanks to Wendy's detailed diaries, written by the light of an oil lamp in her bamboo and palm-leaf house.  
  
Back home, churches throughout the United Kingdom are praying for the brave young woman in Borneo.

\["Love remarkable true stories?","Midwife of Borneo tells the story of a geordie nurse's work in Borneo","A fantastic read for fans of Call the Midwife"\]

Imagine Call the Midwife, but instead of the cobbled streets and rushing bicycles of 1950s East End London there are the lush jungles of Borneo, and a Geordie nurse answering calls from native people who have never seen a face as pale as hers before.

  
This is the setting for the Midwife of Borneo.

  
This is Wendy Grey’s story. A true story.

  
Her life in Newcastle was a comfortable one. As a trained nurse with a promising future ahead of her, Wendy Gray’s future seemed secure. Fixed. Or, it would be if she didn’t sense God calling her elsewhere, to a place a little warmer and wilder than the streets of Newcastle.

  
Soon she finds herself thousands of miles away from home, hundreds of miles away from urban life, running a clinic so remote from everything she’s ever known that many of her patients stare at her light skin with disbelief. But it’s not only her appearance that causes a stir. In a place where witchcraft is the primary form of medical care, there is a wall of suspicion about these alien practices Wendy brings to the area. Not that her resilient friendliness doesn’t begin to win the inhabitants over one-by-one. She soon wins over the trust and respect of the men, women and children there.

  
If only teaching new ways of medicine were her only problems, though. From the poisonous wildlife of Borneo to tea-parties with the governor to even playing scrobble with nuns, these events of Wendy’s are told with a tremendous eye for detail, thanks to Wendy herself. Throughout her whole time in Borneo, she wrote in her diary by oil-light, in her palm-leaf house, at the very edge of the day.

  
Her story shows not only a great courage, but the ways a deep love and faith can motivate a single person to do amazing things. A great read for fans of Call the Midwife, Wendy Gray’s story is an uplifting and endearing read.

A Newcastle nurse takes a big step of faith in this fascinating and moving Missionary biography of Wendy Grey, the Midwife of Borneo.

Wendy Grey Rogerson was born in Newcastle and brought up in Northumberland. She trained as a nurse at Charing Cross Hospital in London, then returned to Newcastle where she worked as a midwife, district nurse and health visitor before going to Borneo. Wendy is a Lady Freeman of Newcastle upon Tyne, and she and her husband, an Anglican priest, live in Durham.  
Barbara Fox grew up in Newcastle then moved to London where she worked as a journalist for the Radio Times and the Telegraph newspapers. She is the author of Is the Vicar in, Pet? (Sphere, 2014), When the War Is Over (Sphere, 2016), co-author of Bedpans and Bobby Socks (Sphere, 2011 – featured on Woman's Hour), and editor of Eve's War by Evelyn Shillington (Sphere, 2017).

Midwife of Borneo

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Midwife of Borneo

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