ROMULO SAUNE

Maude Cary

Pioneer Missionary to Morocco

In 1901, twenty-three-year-old Maude Cary sailed for Morocco with four other young Americans-all single-to help bring the Gospel to the Muslim people. The Gospel Missionary Union worked in cooperation with four other Protestant missions in Morocco to put the unwritten language of the nomadic Berber tribes into writing, to translate portions of Scripture into Arabic, and to reach Muslim men with the Gospel in the marketplace and the women in the home. Summer months were spent doing evangelism among the many villages.

Maude's early years as a missionary were difficult. She outscored one of her male peers in language study, and her "gaiety, friendliness, and laughter" and "pride of dress" brought criticism down on her head that she was worldly, lacked meekness, and was too flighty. The mission board suggested she go home-but she clung to her calling, refusing to go unless they actually sent her away. Soon she was assigned to the mission in El Ksar. Other missions were opened up in Meknes and Sefrou.

Many years passed, filled with language study, translation of the Scriptures, and sharing the Gospel to a polite but indifferent people, with no conversions among the Muslim people-only several Jewish boys. Outwardly polite, Moroccans despised the missionaries on two levels: because they preached the Christian Gospel, and because of the foreign nations they represented. Colonialism was at its fever pitch in Africa at the turn of the century, and the French had been pushing for a toehold in Morocco for years to help keep its hold on neighboring Algiers. Although the sultan was the official ruler of Morocco, he held only a nominal control of the fertile coastal area west of the Atlas Mountains. Elsewhere, especially among the fiercely independent Berber tribes to the east, the sultan's rule was largely ignored.

In 1907, French forces occupied Morocco, launching their offensive from Casablanca, and in 1912, Sultan Hafid signed the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.

Meanwhile, several single men and women of the Gospel Missionary Union became married couples, and this was Maude's dream-to not only be a missionary, but a wife and mother, as well. George Reed, secretary of the mission, asked her to be his wife-but the prolonged engagement was broken in 1913 when George left Morocco to establish a GMU mission in the Sudan. Maude's heart was broken, but at least now she knew where she stood. She had nothing to hold her back from giving one hundred percent to mission work.

As the men of the mission pushed into new frontiers, Maude was often left to take care of things by herself in Meknes and Sefrou-teaching classes to boys, teaching Arabic to new (often young) missionaries, and assisting at births and bedsides of sick missionaries, even though her own health often failed. She divided much of her time between the two locations: in Meknes, the sultan donated a house to the missionaries which they called "Three Derb Skat"; in Sefrou, the mission house was known simply as "Miss Terri's house" ("Terri" possibly being a mispronunciation of "Cary").

In 1914, war broke out in Europe and many French battalions were recalled to France. Those soldiers who were left in Morocco were bitter and restless. They were prevented from fighting in "The Great War," and also forbidden to do anything in Morocco except "hold" the territory already occupied. The French Resident General, Marshal Louis Lyautey, threw himself into public works: building roads and harbors, establishing schools and infirmaries, even setting up a merry-go-round in Fez! "Much was done for the Moroccans, but little done by them," wrote one biographer.

After the war, the French and the unruly Berber tribes engaged in "bush warfare." The French would advance in the spring and summer, build a blockhouse in the new area in the fall, then leave a few Legionnaires to hold the fort till spring. These forts were regularly ambushed by rebel forces among the Berbers. French moral was at an all-time low.

As for the missionaries, by 1924 there were five baptized believers among the tribespeople-the fruit of a quarter of a century of work! Persecution from tribe and family was relentless, but the believers held firm. In Sefrou, Maude had reason to be encouraged. She had the respect of the local women-they appreciated the simple medicines with which she doctored them, and she did all she could to alleviate hunger and poverty. Dozens of Jews also came to hear the Word preached and debate matters of religion.

In April of 1925, a serious rebellion developed among the tribespeople under the leadership of Abd el-Krim-aided by a French deserter, Sgt. Joseph Klem, as advisor. El-Krim steamrollered his way south across the country, capturing nine French border outposts, while another thirty were evacuated. French forces rushed to hold Taza, a small town not far from Sefrou. El-Krim turned his forces and pushed all the way to Fez, one of the royal cities, but hesitated, fearing a trap. This gave the French time to regroup.

Maude had been in Morocco twenty-three years without a break (the missionaries had come for life), but she finally took a furlough to assist her aging parents. She stayed with her elderly parents for three years, but when they died, she returned in 1928 to her beloved Sefrou in Morocco. To her joy, two young men-formerly boys in her classes-took their stand as Christians: Mehdi Ksara and Mohammed Bouabid, even though it meant fierce opposition from their families.

Around this time another young man appeared at the mission door: Leon Hoffman, another French deserter. He had been caught, but while in prison, he read a Hebrew New Testament and one night saw a vision of Christ holding out his nail-scarred hands saying: "I died for your sins." Leon was so moved that he determined to find some Christians to help him understand what it all meant. Realizing the spiritual hunger of the young Legionnaires in Morocco, the GMU missionaries set up special meetings to reach out to them with the Gospel.

Like Mehdi and Mohammed, Leon was also disowned by his relatives back in Poland. All three young men became faithful workers with Maude Cary and the Gospel Missionary Union. (Leon came back to Morocco after his tour of duty with the French Foreign Legion was completed.)

Maude Cary took a second furlough in 1936 and returned a year later. Health problems and family needs had taken a toll on many of the GMU missionaries. As the world prepared for another world war, two more single women missionaries slipped into the country before the door slammed shut-leaving only Maude and three other women to maintain three mission houses (Meknes, Sefrou, and Khemisset) and carry on the work. Rather than huddle together for support, they spread out-and when the war was over, the work was still alive, thanks to these courageous women!

After World War II, Maude prayed "for at least ten men" to work among Muslim men. But even after her prayer was answered, Maude didn't slow down. At the age of seventy-one, she opened a new mission at El Hajeb, in spite of poor health and much opposition. "The work is prospering," she quipped, "as one can tell by the battered front door."

The undercurrents for Moroccan independence exploded again in 1953. The French sent Sultan Mohammed V (Sidi Mohammed Ben Yousef) into exile, but it only fanned the flames of rebellion. In 1955, Mohammed V was brought back from exile-just as Maude Cary, who was very ill, took her final trip back home to the United States. The next year the sultan negotiated independence from France and gave himself the title of "King."

In 1967, Maude Cary died at the age of eighty-eight in Kansas-just as all missionaries were ordered to leave Morocco. They were given eight days to pack and get out. Mission houses had to be abandoned. After seventy-five years of service, there were no GMU missionaries (or any Christian missionaries) in Morocco. Now the Gospel was in the hands of the Moroccan Christians like Mehdi Ksara and Mohammed Bouabid.