Joan Haig-Ferguson, then Joan Short, was one of the ‘originals’ who trekked into Nepal in 1952 to establish International Nepal Fellowship, then known as the Nepal Evangelistic Band.
She was a qualified nurse/midwife and had spent two years at Redcliffe Missionary Training College in Chiswick. From the beginning she was the matron, first of the grass hut hospital at Ramghat and then of the Shining Hospital in Pokhara, heading up a staff of expatriate nurses and Nepalis.
The hospital had to be started from scratch with no running water, electricity, pathology lab or x-ray. The catchment area was enormous, with a very heavy patient load, but Joan was the ideal person for this demanding work. She was very single minded and only wanted God’s will. Everything done at the hospital was prayed over in detail.
After 20 years in Pokhara she married widower James Haig-Ferguson, the chairman of the INF/UK home council. Together they started a retreat centre for missionaries on furlough. They had planned to move to Scotland on retirement, but only got as far as Cockermouth in Cumbria! They loved showing hospitality.
Joan’s last public contribution to INF was at the 2012 European Nepal Conference, which she addressed via video, recalling that first trek into Nepal. She passed away peacefully on July 4.
