The legacy of Robin Wales

My friend, Robin Wales, died the other day; he was 96 years old! Robin was a greatly loved and highly respected man who cast a huge positive shadow over many nations in the world. Robin presented as who he was: kind, humble, unassuming, with kind eyes and a generous smile. If you passed him in the street, you would never have known the reality of his true stature.

Robin was born a Kiwi and was a medical scientist. He was very thorough in his work, and people respected his competence and opinions. He worked hard at his job and did well. Working in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Australia. When he retired, he and his wife Gaylene ended up in Davao City in the Philippines as medical missionaries. After their return to Australia. Gaylene died, and Robin spent nearly 20 years working for Australian Mercy on its projects in and around the Thai/Burmese border. He later travelled to many remote areas of Burma, doing Malaria education and primary healthcare training. His was a very full and well-lived life.

Robin's family was very important to him. He loved and cherished them all. He was always a friend to anyone who needed one, and always had a kind word to say.

I worked with Robin Wales for over 20 years and learned a lot from him, and not just about medical stuff like Malaria. 

Legacy

When we think about a person's life, I guess we ask: what was their legacy? By Robin's legacy, the enduring impact his life had even after his death.

Robin was a man who was convinced that everyone deserved to have a solid basic standard of healthcare, and everyone deserved to hear the Gospel. He saw that he had skills that could help people live healthier lives and used those skills for as long as he was able.  He also had a fun sense of humour.

People felt very relaxed around Robin; he never pushed himself forward but, in conversation, always had something thoughtful to say or contribute. Medical professionals working on the mission field loved to engage with him. One British GP used to volunteer just to drive around when he was on the Thai/Burmese border, just to have focused time to engage with him. Another Italian Dr working in Thailand praised his approachability, kindness and knowledge.

He was a friend to everyone, both great and small.

In Burma, there was a man named Saw Marcus Winn. Saw Marcus was an entomologist who specialised in Malaria. He was perhaps Myanmar’s foremost malaria expert. When Robin started travelling in Burma, he met Saw Marcus, and they hit it off like wildfire; both were scientists, both carried a burden for the impact malaria was having in poorer communities, and both liked to sit down with a cold beer in hand and talk about malaria.

One time we were in Mandalay preparing to fly to a remote part of Burma for malaria training. I could hear muffled laughter in the hallway going past my door. The next thing, my phone rang; it was Saw Marcus. Could we have an urgent meeting in his room in 5 minutes to talk about some technical problems with the coming seminar? When I knocked on Saw Marcus' door, there was Robin and another team member grinning like Cheshire cats as Saw Marcus invited me in. Suddenly, Robin opened the fridge and started handing out the chilled beer that they had bought. There were no technical problems, just a friendly beer among friends and a chat about the latest malaria data from the WHO; it was fun and relaxed and very informative. We had many meetings like this over the years, mainly instigated by Robin and Saw Marcus. 

Robin was quite old when he travelled with us, but he was bright as a button and agile of foot. He would occasionally take a nap to "recharge his batteries", but he was keen to do all he could do during the day. 

One time, we were at Mae La Refugee Camp, preparing to load the truck and return to Mae Sot. Robin turned to me and said that he would find his own way home. He needed to catch the "line car". He would see us in Mae Sot for dinner. Line cars are vehicles that travel up and down the border area, they cost about 50 cents per section and you can get on and off pretty well where you like. Robin, was concerned about a family he knew who lived in a village nearby. I offered to drive him, but he was insistant. Later that night Robin was at our usual restaraunt. I asked him how the family he visited were, and said thay were in a hard place, but he had been able to pray for them and give them a little money. That was Robin through and through.

Robin and I shared stories and prayed for each other on these trips. He was kind of like the dad I never had, and I was like an adopted son he'd picked up along the way. It was a great relationship which strengthened us both. 

Buzz Off

Buzz Off was the Malaria Campaign that Robin and I started one night over a cup of tea. We had been training Health Care Workers on the Thai/Burmese Border and were having a cuppa whilst the sun was setting, and Robin was talking about the deep burden he was carrying about malaria epsecially in the border region. I was sharing about a health study I had recently seen that the was done in IDP communities inside Burma where they found that 22% of children under the age of 5 would be dead from mosquito borne diseases. Suddenly I said, "why don’t we start a malaria campaign and call it Buzz Off!" We both stood there stunned by the words that had just fallen out of my mouth, we looked at each other and on that night the initial phases of Buzz Off began to form in our heads. Within 2 weeks of our return to Australia, Buzz Off was borne, it had a logo it had a web site even though the vision was still forming. Within 3 months we had funding and were away.

Buzz Off was an international effort and our tream came from Australia, the Netherlands, the UK, Burma, Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand and the US. Robin was in his element. Our finding Saw Marcus and later another entomologist named Mr Maung Maung Win, were instrumental in growing the campaign. (We called Saw Marcus and Mr Win the WIn brothers.) Another key pillar to the work inside Burma was Pastor Myint Nwe and his family. Together this team travelled through out remote Burma taking the Gospel and the message about malaria and mosquitoes into hundreds of communities. The numbers of people whose lives were being affected was in the thousands. In Mandalay we had another another team member join us. Dr Marlar Than, a former head of the department of Health in Yangon, and Chair of the Anglican Church's Medical committee. Through Buzz Off we trained thousands of Christian malaria workers. Distributed thousands of LLIN mosquito nets and supported the work of dozens of malaria clinics in remote areas. Much of this was done under the guidance of Robin Wales.

So when we talk about Robin's legacy the number of people who were directly impacted by his life is in the many many thousands. Buzz Off is still going and has been extended into other parts of Asia and in to Africa, and will include many other countries as the years march on.

The families who were affected by Robin's kindness were many. The refugees at Mae La loved him. One time they found out that he was visiting the camp on his birthday. So they arranged a cake for him and had him carried up the hill to the birthday party, as a sign of respect and love for him.

He was a gentle man who impacted many.

I do not think I have met anyone quite like Robin Wales. He was a one in a million kind of person who had a very positive affect on your life

I nominated Robin for the Order of Australia Medal because of the incredible work he did with Buzz Off but there was far much more that he also did that is not part of this story. There are the years in PNG, there were the years in he and Gaylene were in the Philippines. Together they raised a family. Robin Wales had a very full life, and now he is with Jesus, the one person he loved above all others.

I give thanks to God for the life of Robin Wales, and I am sure many who never met him, do the same.