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A
British missionary midwife, named in the New Year Honours List, has been shot
in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). She is now said to be in stable
condition.
RT.com reports Maud Kells, who was appointed OBE (Order
of the British Empire), was hit twice in the shoulder by bandits during an
armed robbery at her home in Mulita in the northeast of the country. The
robbery came just days after she was named in the Queen's New Year Honours List.
The
75-year-old, from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, has served in the African
country since 1968. She was awarded the OBE for a lifetime's work at a medical
center in the DRC.
A
spokesman for the Christian aid organization WEC International, where Kells worked,
said: “She was stable last
night, speaking, recognizing people, drinking water.”
“She
has no broken bones, no major muscles hit and her bleeding has stopped.”
Kells
works as a missionary nurse in the DRC and has helped train Congolese nurses in
five hospitals and 30 health centers across the country. She also conducts
bible school teaching, speaks at church services, and supervises construction
projects. She splits her time between the DRC and her home in Cookstown,
Northern Ireland.
Politicians
in Northern Ireland were shocked when they learned of the shooting.
Sandra
Overend, Ulster Unionist Assembly Member for Mid-Ulster, told the Telegraph: “Only a few days ago we heard the news
that Maud is to be awarded a great honor from Her Majesty the Queen and now
today, this terrible news that she has been shot doing her work in the Congo is
shocking.”
In October last year, a
missionary couple with ties to Kansas, USA, was attacked by armed bandits in
Ethiopia. John and Gwenyth Haspels had been working across African nations for
40 years, helping to set up new churches. As the bandits fired shots, Gwenyth
Haspels was hit in the jaw. Her husband received several bullets to the chest.
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