Graham Staines
| Graham Stuart Staines | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1941 Palmwoods, Queensland, Australia |
| Died | January 23, 1999 (aged 57–58) Keonjhar district in Odisha |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Missionary |
Graham Stuart Staines (1941 – 23 January 1999) was an Australian Christian missionary who, along with his two sons Philip (aged 10) and Timothy (aged 6), was burnt to death by a gang while sleeping in his station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in Odisha, India on 23 January 1999. In 2003, a Bajrang Dal activist, Dara Singh, was convicted of leading the gang that murdered Graham Staines and his sons, and was sentenced to life in prison.
He had been working in Odisha among the tribal poor and lepers since 1965. Some Hindu groups alleged that Staines had forcibly converted or lured many Hindus into Christianity; Staines' widow Gladys denied these allegations. She continued to live in India caring for leprosy patients until she returned to Australia in 2004. In 2005 she was awarded the fourth highest civilian honor in India, Padma Shree, in recognition for her work with leprosy patients in Odisha. In 2016, she received the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice.
Staines was born in 1941 at Palmwoods, Queensland. He visited India in 1965 for the first time and joined Evangelical Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj (EMSM), working in this remote tribal area, with a long history of missionary activity. He took over the management of the Mission at Baripada in 1983. He helped establish the Mayurbhanj Leprosy Home as a registered society in 1982.
He met Gladys June in 1981 while working for leprosy patients, and they married in 1983 and had worked together since then. They had three children, a daughter (Esther) and two sons (Philip and Timothy). Staines assisted in translating a part of the Bible into the Ho language of India, including proofreading the entire New Testament manuscript, though his focus was on a ministry to lepers. He reportedly spoke fluent Odia and was popular among the patients whom he used to help after they were cured. He used to teach how to make mats out of rope and basket from Sabi grass and trees leaves.
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