[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Uill chaidh mo thogail anns an Eilean Sgitheanach air a’ chuid as motha dhe m’ òige, ann an Cille Mhoire, agus gu dearbha fhèin bha sinn a’ dol dhan eaglais. ’S e ministear a bh’ ann am m’ athair. Dìreach mus do dh’fhalbh mi a Dhùn Èideann dhan cholaiste bhuail sgriobtar air mo chogais gu mòr.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Nuair a choinnich mi ri Dòmhnall bha fios a’m gur e Crìosdaidh a bh’ ann agus bha fios a’m cuideachd gun robh e a’ coimhead son seirbheis, seirbheis dhan Chruthadair, agus gu dearbha bha mi gu mòr leis ann an sin agus bha esan dìreach air thighinn a-mach às ùr na dhotair. Bha sinn a’ coimhead air na h-Innseachan ’s bha sinn a’ faireachdainn gun robh ùidh againn anns na h-Innseachan ach cha robh sinn buileach cinnteach. Ach às dèidh greis bhruidhinn e ris an eaglais againn fhìn agus tha ospadal beag aca anns na h-Innseachan agus bha iad a’ cur feum air lannsair, ach aig an àm sin cha b’ e lannsair a bh’ anns an duine agam so thòisich esan an uair sin a’ studaigeadh lannsaireachd.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Tha mi a’ creidsinn gun robh sinn gu math “uaine” nuair a chaidh sinn a-mach ach bha an uiread de dh’obair ri dhèanamh chaidh esan dìreach dhan obair anns an spot.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Bha sinn ann am baile, baile beag leis an ainm air Lakhnadon. Bha e gu math bochd agus bha tòrr dhaoine a-muigh air an dùthaich ’s cha robh aca ach dìreach na bh’ aca, ’s dòcha nach robh iad ach a’ dol bho bhiadh gu biadh.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Bha an duine agam ag obair garbh cruaidh. Bha e ag obair a h-uile latha, fad an latha ’s gu math tric tron oidhche nuair nach robh ann ach e fhèin. Bha e dìreach a’ faireachdainn gum feumadh e a h-uile càil a b’ urrainn dha a dhèanamh a dhèanamh aig an àm. Bha fhios againn nach biodh sinn anns na h-Innseachan fad ar beatha.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Thachair tachartas gu math duilich dhan duine agam às dèidh a dhà no trì bhliadhnaichean. Dìreach ceithir bliadhna mus tàinig sinn dhachaigh. Bha mise air thighinn dhachaigh leis a’ chloinn ach am faigheadh iad sreath anns an sgoil, sreath bliadhna, agus bha esan leis fhèin anns an ospadal agus bha e a’ dol timcheall an ospadail air an oidhche, dìreach a’ faicinn nan euslaintich gu lèir agus bha an duine seo dìreach a’ bàsachadh agus dh’fheuch e ri a thoirt air ais agus thug e dha beul-gu-beul. Agus bhàsaich an duine.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Às dèidh seachdain thàinig am bodach seo às a’ bhaile agus thàinig e a dh’innse “chan eil mi ach ag iarraidh gum bi fios aig an dotair, dh’fheuch e ris an duine seo a thoirt air ais, gum bi fhios aige gun deach an duine seo a bhìdeadh le cuilean rabies bho chionn cola-deug” agus thàinig e a dh’innse dhan duine agam. Dh’fheumadh e a dhol a dh’fhaighinn injections, na anti-rabies injections. Bha thu a’ faighinn injection na do stamag ’s an dèidh an tritheamh fear dh’fhàs e garbh meadhanach ’s dh’fhàs e paralysed agus bha e uabhasach meadhanach ’s bha e seachdain co-dhiù mus cuala mise gun robh e cho tinn. Agus chaidh innse dha ann an Delhi ’s dòcha nach fhaigheadh e troimhe agus fhuair mi fhìn phone call bhuaithe à Delhi ’s dh’innse e seo dhomh. Agus uill, cha robh fhios a’m dè chanainn an toiseach ’s bha mi dìreach, bha mi ann an stait.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Thàinig rann à fear de na sailm thugam – “tha mi a’ creidsinn gum faic mi maitheas an Tighearna ann an tìr nam beò” - agus dìreach ghreimich mi air an sin, agus bha mi dìreach cinnteach gun robh e a’ dol a dh’fhaighinn troimhe.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Fhuair e dhachaigh agus chaidh e straight dhan ospadal ’s thug e greis mhòr mus d’ fhuair e seachad air ach an ceann bliadhna bha e math gu leòr airson tilleadh dha na h-Innseachan ach thòisich an uair sin multiple sclerosis air agus beag air bheag bha am multiple sclerosis, bha e a’ fàs ’s bha e ga dhèanamh na bu chiorramaich’ ’s na bu chiorramaich ’s na bu chiorramaich. Ach aig an sin, cha do sguir sinn. Bha obair an Tighearna, bha obair aig an Tighearna dha ’s nuair a thàinig sinn dhachaigh às dèidh ceithir bliadhna eile chaidh e dhan cholaiste a dh’ionnsachadh diadhaireachd. Colaiste na h-Eaglaise Saoire ’s thàinig e a-mach na mhinistear agus bha e seachd bliadhna ann an Glschu agus bha e a’ fàs gu math glugach mu na casan. Cha robh iad ag obair ro mhath ach fhuair e an uair sin, chuir iad dhan cholaiste e airson a bhith a’ teagaisg agus fhuair e dà bhliadhna dheug a’ teagaisg anns a’ cholaiste.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Tha e a-nise anns an care fad na h-ùine. Chan eil a chasan ag obair idir, idir ’s tha e lag. Ach tha e air a dhreuchd a leigeil seachad. Dh’fhaodadh dha aig an àm sin a bhith ag ràdh “uill, nach e an Cruthadair A leig a làimh gu math cruaidh orm?” ach cha chuala mi riamh e ag ràdh càil mar sin. ’S e sin dìreach rud a bh’ aig a’ Chruthadair dha. Cha do cheasnaich mi riamh carson a tha seo a’ tachairt dhuinne. Cha do dh’fhairich mi riamh nach bu chòir dhuinn a dhol dha na h-Innseachan agus gu dearbha bha mi a’ smaoineachadh dìreach gur e àm uabhasach anabarrach math a bh’ ann.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Uill tha fhios a’m mar a tha Dòmhnall an-dràsta gu bheil e glè choltach gum fàs e nas miosa agus gum bi e feumach air barrachd ’s barrachd a dhèanamh ris. Tha fhios a’m, a’ coimhead air ais, gur e an Cruthadair a bha a’ toirt dhomh neart ’s a bha a’ coimhead às ar dèidh, agus chan eil adhbhar sam bith carson nach biodh fhios a’m gur E ’ a tha còmhla rium a h-uile ceum air adhart agus cha leig mi leas eagal a bhith orm. Às bith dè th’ Aige dhomh, tha fhios a’m gum bi E ann an sin a’ toirt dhomh neart ’s ga mo chumail suas.
Chaidh am prògram seo, Alleluia, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2009.
[Seonag Macdonald] Well I was raised in the Isle of Skye for most of my childhood, in Kilmore, and certainly we went to church. My father was a minister. Just before I left for Edinburgh to the college a scripture really hit my conscience.
[Seonag Macdonald] When I met Donald I knew that he was a Christian and I also knew that he was looking for a service, a service for the Lord, and I certainly agreed with him on that and he had recently qualified as a doctor. We were looking at India and we felt that we were interested in India but we weren’t totally sure. But after a while he spoke to our own church and they have a wee hospital in India and they needed a surgeon, but at that time my husband wasn’t a surgeon so he then started studying surgery.
[Seonag Macdonald] I believe that we were very “green” when we went out but there was so much work to be done that he went to work immediately.
[Seonag Macdonald] We were in a town, a small town, called Lakhnadon It was very poor and there were lots of people out in the countryside and they only had what they had, maybe they only went from one meal to the next.
[Seonag Macdonald] My husband worked very hard. He worked every day, all day and often through the night when it was just himself. He just felt that he needed to do everything that he could at the time. We knew that we wouldn’t be in India all our life.
[Seonag Macdonald] A very awful event happened to my husband after two or three years. Just four years before we came home. I had come home with the children so that they would get a run in the school, a year’s run, and he was by himself in the hospital and he was going around the hospital at night, just seeing all the patients and this man was just dying and he tried to revive him and he gave him mouth-to-mouth. And the man died.
[Seonag Macdonald] After a week this old man came from the town and he came to say “I just want the doctor to know, he tried to revive this person, that he knows that this man was bitten by a rabies’ puppy a fortnight ago” and he came to tell my husband. He had to go and get injections, the anti-rabies injections. You got an injection in your stomach and after the third one he became really poorly and he became paralysed and he was terribly poorly and it was at least a week before I heard that he was so sick. And he was told in Dehli that maybe he wouldn’t survive and I got a phonecall from him from Dehli and he told me this. And well, I didn’t know what to say initially and I was just, I was in a state.
[Seonag Macdonald] A verse from one of the psalms came to me – “I will see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living” – and just I gripped to that, and I was just certain that he was going to survive.
[Seonag Macdonald] He got home and he went straight to the hospital and it took a long while before he recovered from it but after a year he was well enough to return to India but then he developed multiple sclerosis and gradually the multiple sclerosis, it worsened and made him more disabled and more disabled and more disabled. But at that, we didn’t stop. The Lord’s work, the Lord had work for him and when we came home after four more years he went to college to learn theology. The Free Church college and he qualified as a minister and he was seven years in Glasgow and he was becoming quite unsteady on his feet. They weren’t working too well but he then got, they sent him to the college to teach and he got twelve years teaching in the college.
[Seonag Macdonald] He is now in permanent care. His legs don’t work at all, at all and he’s weak. But … he has retired. He could have said at that time “well, wasn’t the Lord hard on me?” but I’ve never heard him saying anything like that. That’s just what the Lord had planned for him. I’ve never questioned why this is happening to us. I’ve never felt that we ought not to have gone to India and certainly I think that it was just an exceptionally good time.
[Seonag Macdonald] Well I know how Donald is just now that it is very likely that he’ll become worse and he’ll need more and more done for him. I know, looking back, that it was the Lord giving me strength and looking after us, and there is no reason why I shouldn’t know that it’s Him that is with me every step forward and I need not be afraid. Whatever He has for me, I know that He’ll there giving me strength and keeping me up.
This programme, Alleluia, was first broadcast in 2009.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Uill chaidh mo thogail anns an Eilean Sgitheanach air a’ chuid as motha dhe m’ òige, ann an Cille Mhoire, agus gu dearbha fhèin bha sinn a’ dol dhan eaglais. ’S e ministear a bh’ ann am m’ athair. Dìreach mus do dh’fhalbh mi a Dhùn Èideann dhan cholaiste bhuail sgriobtar air mo chogais gu mòr.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Nuair a choinnich mi ri Dòmhnall bha fios a’m gur e Crìosdaidh a bh’ ann agus bha fios a’m cuideachd gun robh e a’ coimhead son seirbheis, seirbheis dhan Chruthadair, agus gu dearbha bha mi gu mòr leis ann an sin agus bha esan dìreach air thighinn a-mach às ùr na dhotair. Bha sinn a’ coimhead air na h-Innseachan ’s bha sinn a’ faireachdainn gun robh ùidh againn anns na h-Innseachan ach cha robh sinn buileach cinnteach. Ach às dèidh greis bhruidhinn e ris an eaglais againn fhìn agus tha ospadal beag aca anns na h-Innseachan agus bha iad a’ cur feum air lannsair, ach aig an àm sin cha b’ e lannsair a bh’ anns an duine agam so thòisich esan an uair sin a’ studaigeadh lannsaireachd.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Tha mi a’ creidsinn gun robh sinn gu math “uaine” nuair a chaidh sinn a-mach ach bha an uiread de dh’obair ri dhèanamh chaidh esan dìreach dhan obair anns an spot.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Bha sinn ann am baile, baile beag leis an ainm air Lakhnadon. Bha e gu math bochd agus bha tòrr dhaoine a-muigh air an dùthaich ’s cha robh aca ach dìreach na bh’ aca, ’s dòcha nach robh iad ach a’ dol bho bhiadh gu biadh.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Bha an duine agam ag obair garbh cruaidh. Bha e ag obair a h-uile latha, fad an latha ’s gu math tric tron oidhche nuair nach robh ann ach e fhèin. Bha e dìreach a’ faireachdainn gum feumadh e a h-uile càil a b’ urrainn dha a dhèanamh a dhèanamh aig an àm. Bha fhios againn nach biodh sinn anns na h-Innseachan fad ar beatha.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Thachair tachartas gu math duilich dhan duine agam às dèidh a dhà no trì bhliadhnaichean. Dìreach ceithir bliadhna mus tàinig sinn dhachaigh. Bha mise air thighinn dhachaigh leis a’ chloinn ach am faigheadh iad sreath anns an sgoil, sreath bliadhna, agus bha esan leis fhèin anns an ospadal agus bha e a’ dol timcheall an ospadail air an oidhche, dìreach a’ faicinn nan euslaintich gu lèir agus bha an duine seo dìreach a’ bàsachadh agus dh’fheuch e ri a thoirt air ais agus thug e dha beul-gu-beul. Agus bhàsaich an duine.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Às dèidh seachdain thàinig am bodach seo às a’ bhaile agus thàinig e a dh’innse “chan eil mi ach ag iarraidh gum bi fios aig an dotair, dh’fheuch e ris an duine seo a thoirt air ais, gum bi fhios aige gun deach an duine seo a bhìdeadh le cuilean rabies bho chionn cola-deug” agus thàinig e a dh’innse dhan duine agam. Dh’fheumadh e a dhol a dh’fhaighinn injections, na anti-rabies injections. Bha thu a’ faighinn injection na do stamag ’s an dèidh an tritheamh fear dh’fhàs e garbh meadhanach ’s dh’fhàs e paralysed agus bha e uabhasach meadhanach ’s bha e seachdain co-dhiù mus cuala mise gun robh e cho tinn. Agus chaidh innse dha ann an Delhi ’s dòcha nach fhaigheadh e troimhe agus fhuair mi fhìn phone call bhuaithe à Delhi ’s dh’innse e seo dhomh. Agus uill, cha robh fhios a’m dè chanainn an toiseach ’s bha mi dìreach, bha mi ann an stait.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Thàinig rann à fear de na sailm thugam – “tha mi a’ creidsinn gum faic mi maitheas an Tighearna ann an tìr nam beò” - agus dìreach ghreimich mi air an sin, agus bha mi dìreach cinnteach gun robh e a’ dol a dh’fhaighinn troimhe.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Fhuair e dhachaigh agus chaidh e straight dhan ospadal ’s thug e greis mhòr mus d’ fhuair e seachad air ach an ceann bliadhna bha e math gu leòr airson tilleadh dha na h-Innseachan ach thòisich an uair sin multiple sclerosis air agus beag air bheag bha am multiple sclerosis, bha e a’ fàs ’s bha e ga dhèanamh na bu chiorramaich’ ’s na bu chiorramaich ’s na bu chiorramaich. Ach aig an sin, cha do sguir sinn. Bha obair an Tighearna, bha obair aig an Tighearna dha ’s nuair a thàinig sinn dhachaigh às dèidh ceithir bliadhna eile chaidh e dhan cholaiste a dh’ionnsachadh diadhaireachd. Colaiste na h-Eaglaise Saoire ’s thàinig e a-mach na mhinistear agus bha e seachd bliadhna ann an Glschu agus bha e a’ fàs gu math glugach mu na casan. Cha robh iad ag obair ro mhath ach fhuair e an uair sin, chuir iad dhan cholaiste e airson a bhith a’ teagaisg agus fhuair e dà bhliadhna dheug a’ teagaisg anns a’ cholaiste.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Tha e a-nise anns an care fad na h-ùine. Chan eil a chasan ag obair idir, idir ’s tha e lag. Ach tha e air a dhreuchd a leigeil seachad. Dh’fhaodadh dha aig an àm sin a bhith ag ràdh “uill, nach e an Cruthadair A leig a làimh gu math cruaidh orm?” ach cha chuala mi riamh e ag ràdh càil mar sin. ’S e sin dìreach rud a bh’ aig a’ Chruthadair dha. Cha do cheasnaich mi riamh carson a tha seo a’ tachairt dhuinne. Cha do dh’fhairich mi riamh nach bu chòir dhuinn a dhol dha na h-Innseachan agus gu dearbha bha mi a’ smaoineachadh dìreach gur e àm uabhasach anabarrach math a bh’ ann.
[Seonag Dhòmhnallach] Uill tha fhios a’m mar a tha Dòmhnall an-dràsta gu bheil e glè choltach gum fàs e nas miosa agus gum bi e feumach air barrachd ’s barrachd a dhèanamh ris. Tha fhios a’m, a’ coimhead air ais, gur e an Cruthadair a bha a’ toirt dhomh neart ’s a bha a’ coimhead às ar dèidh, agus chan eil adhbhar sam bith carson nach biodh fhios a’m gur E ’ a tha còmhla rium a h-uile ceum air adhart agus cha leig mi leas eagal a bhith orm. Às bith dè th’ Aige dhomh, tha fhios a’m gum bi E ann an sin a’ toirt dhomh neart ’s ga mo chumail suas.
Chaidh am prògram seo, Alleluia, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2009.
[Seonag Macdonald] Well I was raised in the Isle of Skye for most of my childhood, in Kilmore, and certainly we went to church. My father was a minister. Just before I left for Edinburgh to the college a scripture really hit my conscience.
[Seonag Macdonald] When I met Donald I knew that he was a Christian and I also knew that he was looking for a service, a service for the Lord, and I certainly agreed with him on that and he had recently qualified as a doctor. We were looking at India and we felt that we were interested in India but we weren’t totally sure. But after a while he spoke to our own church and they have a wee hospital in India and they needed a surgeon, but at that time my husband wasn’t a surgeon so he then started studying surgery.
[Seonag Macdonald] I believe that we were very “green” when we went out but there was so much work to be done that he went to work immediately.
[Seonag Macdonald] We were in a town, a small town, called Lakhnadon It was very poor and there were lots of people out in the countryside and they only had what they had, maybe they only went from one meal to the next.
[Seonag Macdonald] My husband worked very hard. He worked every day, all day and often through the night when it was just himself. He just felt that he needed to do everything that he could at the time. We knew that we wouldn’t be in India all our life.
[Seonag Macdonald] A very awful event happened to my husband after two or three years. Just four years before we came home. I had come home with the children so that they would get a run in the school, a year’s run, and he was by himself in the hospital and he was going around the hospital at night, just seeing all the patients and this man was just dying and he tried to revive him and he gave him mouth-to-mouth. And the man died.
[Seonag Macdonald] After a week this old man came from the town and he came to say “I just want the doctor to know, he tried to revive this person, that he knows that this man was bitten by a rabies’ puppy a fortnight ago” and he came to tell my husband. He had to go and get injections, the anti-rabies injections. You got an injection in your stomach and after the third one he became really poorly and he became paralysed and he was terribly poorly and it was at least a week before I heard that he was so sick. And he was told in Dehli that maybe he wouldn’t survive and I got a phonecall from him from Dehli and he told me this. And well, I didn’t know what to say initially and I was just, I was in a state.
[Seonag Macdonald] A verse from one of the psalms came to me – “I will see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living” – and just I gripped to that, and I was just certain that he was going to survive.
[Seonag Macdonald] He got home and he went straight to the hospital and it took a long while before he recovered from it but after a year he was well enough to return to India but then he developed multiple sclerosis and gradually the multiple sclerosis, it worsened and made him more disabled and more disabled and more disabled. But at that, we didn’t stop. The Lord’s work, the Lord had work for him and when we came home after four more years he went to college to learn theology. The Free Church college and he qualified as a minister and he was seven years in Glasgow and he was becoming quite unsteady on his feet. They weren’t working too well but he then got, they sent him to the college to teach and he got twelve years teaching in the college.
[Seonag Macdonald] He is now in permanent care. His legs don’t work at all, at all and he’s weak. But … he has retired. He could have said at that time “well, wasn’t the Lord hard on me?” but I’ve never heard him saying anything like that. That’s just what the Lord had planned for him. I’ve never questioned why this is happening to us. I’ve never felt that we ought not to have gone to India and certainly I think that it was just an exceptionally good time.
[Seonag Macdonald] Well I know how Donald is just now that it is very likely that he’ll become worse and he’ll need more and more done for him. I know, looking back, that it was the Lord giving me strength and looking after us, and there is no reason why I shouldn’t know that it’s Him that is with me every step forward and I need not be afraid. Whatever He has for me, I know that He’ll there giving me strength and keeping me up.
This programme, Alleluia, was first broadcast in 2009.