Maud Kells: Death of missionary who spent decades in Africa

Maud Kells spoke to BBC News NI in 2015, just weeks after she survived being shot

The former County Tyrone missionary Maud Kells, who spent decades training nurses in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has died at the age of 84.

Ms Kells served in the African country for almost half a century, having arrived as a missionary nurse in 1968.

In January 2015, she was seriously injured in a gun attack at her home in Mulita in the north east of the DRC.

The shooting happened just days after she received an OBE in the New Year's Honours List for her missionary work.

Ms Kells, who was 75 at that time, was shot in the shoulder with a bullet that narrowly missed her lung.

'Tremendous courage'

She was airlifted to hospital and then flown back home to Cookstown, County Tyrone, to recuperate.

But following her recovery, she returned to DRC and continued her aid work into her early 80s.

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Ms Kells died peacefully at Antrim Area Hospital on Thursday, following a short illness.

She has been described as a person of "tremendous courage" by her local church minister, the Rev Tom Greer from Molesworth Presbyterian Church.

Speaking to BBC News NI, the Cookstown clergyman said she needed to be brave because "many times dangerous situations transpired" during her missionary work.

But the Rev Greer added Ms Kells also had a "tremendous love" for the people she helped in DRC.

"She was a woman with a deep Christian faith and she was an outstanding witness to that faith," he said.

In 2016, Ms Kells told BBC News NI that her next trip to DRC would be her last, but that turned out not to be the case.

According to her minister, her last visit to the county was just last year, when she brought money and medicine to the needy.

He added that even in her early 80s, "Maud was hands on" and was willing to help out in hospitals and maternity wards if required, or to supervise building projects.

For much of her life, Ms Kells spent half of the year in the Congo and the other half in Cookstown.

Maud Kells pictured in her African home before the 2015 shooting

As a young woman, she trained as a nurse in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.

She first travelled to the African country in 1968.

Throughout her time there she was involved in the training of Congolese nurses in five hospitals and 30 health centres.

She was also involved in the supervision of school and hospital construction projects, as well as participating in bible school teaching and church services.

Most recently, she was working as a missionary for the Worldwide Evangelisation for Christ (WEC) International mission agency.

During her 2015 mission bandits came to her house and she recalled being confronted by two masked men wearing camouflage clothing, pointing a gun at her.

Four months after she survived the shooting in Mulita, she went to Buckingham Palace where Prince William presented with her with her OBE honour.

The award was for "services to people in the Democratic Republic of Congo".

Ms Kells is survived by two sisters.

Her funeral is due to take place in Molesworth Presbyterian Church in Cookstown on Sunday.