The death took place recently of Dr Esther Mary Davis OBE, who was loved and respected for her medical work, both in Northern Ireland and Nigeria where she spent a major part of her life.

Dr Davis was born in Enniscorthy, Northern Ireland on 27th April, 1919, a member of a Quaker family prominent in the business life of County Wexford for centuries. She qualified as a medical doctor from Queen’s University, Belfast, in 1944 and after a spell in the Hadden practice in Portadown, she went to West Africa as a missionary with the Qua Iboe Mission (now Mission Africa) in 1948. For over 50 years her life was devoted to the service to the people of Nigeria where she saw the country develop from being a British colony to achieving full independence. Initially working in general medicine and surgery at Itu and Etinan Hospitals she soon saw that her life’s calling was to people affected by leprosy and alongside other leprosy giants she helped with the B663 (Clofazimine) trials. She worked for many years at Qua Iboe Leprosy Hospital, Ekpene Obom and became a considerable authority on the disease, receiving study fellowships from the World Health Organization and The Leprosy Mission International to develop her skills in India and Ethiopia. Dr Davis was awarded the OBE in recognition of her contribution to the control of leprosy. Thanks to Esther, medical students from the University of Calabar all spend two weeks at the Ekpene Obom learning about leprosy before they graduate.

In retirement she remained tireless in promoting the work of her former patients and colleagues in Nigeria through ‘The Friends of Ekpene Obom’ and paid regular visits to Nigeria until relatively recently. Until a few months ago, she was physically active and was a familiar figure in her little blue car in and around the Portadown area. Thanks to the carers from Social Services and devoted neighbours, she was able to remain at her home until her sudden death at the age of almost 92 in early April. A faithful member of the Society of Friends, Dr Davis’s funeral at the local Friends’ Meeting House was an occasion of thanksgiving for a life well spent. Many tributes were paid to her deep Christian faith and its expression to her service in both Ireland and Nigeria. It bore testimony to the affection in which she was held by those among whom she had ministered for so many years.

The Leprosy Mission International, The Nigerian National Leprosy Control Programme in general, and Akwa Ibom State Leprosy Control Programme in particular, owe a huge debt to ‘Mma Doctor’. Her self-sacrifice for the people affected by leprosy who have become her family is something that we who knew her can only aspire to.

Jannine Ebenso
E-mail: janninee@tlmint.org

 

Categories: News and Notes, Nigeria