MOULTRIE– Your nationality or religion may mean more than your skin color right now.

According to Dr. Patricia Lee June, a Moultrie pediatrician, being American seems to mean much more abroad than it ever did before. As the United States continues denouncing world terrorists, mulling war with Iraq and battling other bullies across the globe, safety remains a hot issue for many Americans — including missionaries.

June worked as a Christian missionary in a clinic in Bangladesh, a country in South Asia, from 1980 to 1984. She said Bangladesh is a predominately Islamic country that has a history of generally liking Americans. She has visited the country several times since then. During her most recent visits last year and in 2001, she noted some changes in the people’s attitude toward Americans.

“I think things have changed some,” she said. “During the years that I was there, from ’80 to ’84, there was never a time that I felt like I was at any risk. But this past year, after Sept. 11 and after the war started in Afghanistan, there were anti-Christian riots in Rajshahi (a city along Bangladesh’s east border) and the Presbyterian missionaries that were there did evacuate.”

June said there were riots outside the Christian hospital and some missionaries came home for several months. She said the clinic she worked at was in a small village area, so she did not feel at risk.

Another change June noted in Bangladesh was how natives reacted to American missionaries being alone. She said that during her visit in 2001, the native people always wanted her to be accompanied by someone.

“When I went back this past year, again, they always wanted to have somebody with me, and that was a difference,” she said. “So I think there was a little bit of nervousness on the part of local people there as far as Americans. And it seemed like more people were asking me about being American than what I was used to. When I had been there before, a white person equaled a Christian. They didn’t focus so much on being American as when I would walk down the street. I would hear people ask questions, some, so that was a little bit of a change.”

June said she witnessed a rally outside the Non Governmental Organization bureau in Dhaka the last day of her stay last year.

“I could hear a lot of screaming out in the streets and there was a big rally,” she said. “You could tell it was a radical Islamic rally because all the people were wearing prayer caps, the white prayer caps, and I kept hearing ‘Afghanistan’ and ‘America’ being yelled.”

June said the rally took place around the time Operation Anaconda started and she was surprised that it was not covered in the newspapers. It was the only such incident she saw during the whole trip.

Despite President George W. Bush’s war threats against Iraq and the past year and a half’s bouts with terrorism, June said she was not unduly concerned about traveling to Bangladesh again, which she plans to do in March. She said she felt Bangladesh is a safer area of the world than the Middle East for Americans at the moment.

“I think we have to remember that the Lord’s in control,” she said. She said there are risks in doing everything and she rests her faith in God. “I think we’re called to take reasonable precautions, but not act out of fear.”

June said if the U.S. springs war on Iraq, she believes it could affect the safety of missionaries.

“I think because Iraq is a Muslim country, they would look upon it as an attack on Islam,” she said. “I don’t think the vast majority of people who are moderates would do that.”

At the same time, June is optimistic for missionaries’ futures throughout the world.

“I think, from what I have heard, that a lot of people are actually more open to the gospel because they don’t like what they see as far as the Islamic militants,” she said. “And I think that makes them question things and when they start questioning, I think they’re more open to learn.”

While June is optimistic of missionaries abroad, she is also level-





headed. With regard to the three American missionaries killed Monday in Yemen and other similar events, June is sympathetic. She said she is a little concerned, but there are other issues to think about.

“The other concern is not just concern about missionaries, but about the Christians in the countries– the Christians in Iraq, the Christians who live in other Islamic countries. If you look at what’s happened in Pakistan, the primary people who have been killed by the Islamic militants are not Americans or missionaries, but are the Pakistani Christians. I think we need to keep them in our prayers.”



To contact Observer intern Blenda Link, please call 985-4545, ext. 223.