Meet the lady who stopped the killing of twins in Nigeria

Our lady's name is Mary Slessor. she had bright blue eyes and was red haired. She was a scottish missionary assigned to the Efik land (Calabar), Nigeria in 1876 at age 28.

The birth of twins was seen as an evil curse among the Efik people. Natives feared that the father of one of the babies was an evil spirit, and that the mother was guilty of a grievous sin. the Efik people often abandoned the twin babies in the bush. Mary Slessor adopted all the abandoned babies she found and cared for them at the Mission House. she successfully stopped the killing of twins in Calabar after so many obstacles.

Mary Slessor spent her years in Calabar preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, she learnt the Efik language and learnt how to eat their foods. For the last years of her life, Slessor had fevers at intervals from malaria while in Calabar. The fevers weakened Slessor greatly that she was no longer able to walk, so she had to be pushed in a hand-cart. Slessor finally died on January 13th, 1915 at age 66.

Today, Mary Slessor is known worldwide and her legacy is remembered all over Nigeria and Scotland. Slessor has so many things attributed to her works. She was the first lady to be put in front of the ten pound note of a Scottish Clydesdale Bank, that is depicted while holding children in her arms with a map of some parts of Calabar. Mary Slessor also has several monuments in her name. like a road in Calabar, a roundabout in Calabar as well as a church and statues of Slessor carrying twins are at various locations in Calabar.

Mary Slessor