Adding To The Album

A few weeks ago, I visited one of my late father’s cousins – Kurt. He is a wonderful man, full of energy and memories, approaching his 88th year. He was kind enough to show me photographs and letters that he had kept from his parents’ time in China. Kurt’s dad was my grandfather’s brother, Martin. Martin became a missionary, just like his father, Robert, and thus Kurt was born in China in 1936.

Martin Bergling, I found this photo in the national archives.

However, Kurt and his older brother fell ill in China, and the family had to return to Sweden in 1937. Kurt told me he had contracted dysentery, and both he and his brother Bo were severely dehydrated. There was no adequate care available in China, and the doctors at the missionary hospital advised his parents to return to Sweden if they wanted their sons to survive. They managed to board a boat and began the long journey back.

Fortunately, the boys improved during the trip and survived, likely due to access to clean water and fresh air.The journey back from China was a true adventure for the boys.

The boat made stops at many ports, where locals attempted to entertain the passengers to earn money. Divers asked passengers to throw coins into the water, which they then retrieved with their mouths, keeping the coins for themselves. While passing through the Suez Canal, a magician performed a trick. Kurt and his brother each held their father’s hands, and the magician made chickens appear from the boys’ trouser legs.

The announcement of Kurt’s birth in Sinims Land, the mission paper.

After returning to Sweden, they initially settled in Gothenburg. However, Kurt’s parents always harbored a desire to return to China and attempted to do so several times. For Kurt, this was very traumatic, as he feared being left in Sweden and having to stay at the missionary home instead of with his parents. Fortunately for Kurt and his siblings, Martin and Birgit did not return to China as missionaries. Instead, Martin became the secretary for the Swedish Mission in China, based in Sweden. He then traveled 150 days a year throughout Sweden, delivering lectures in various chapels and mission houses.

It was a great day, sitting with Kurt, going through photographs and listening to his memories. Here are some of them.

Birgit, Kurt’s mother, and Dagny, my great grandmother.

Martin, travelling in China.

Dagny, wearing a nice dress.

A wonderful family photo. Martin to the left, above him Robert, Dagny and my grandfather Rudolf. Sitting on the top of the stairs, below Rudolf is Dagny-Edla, then Morris and his wife Carola with baby Sten. The photo must be from 1926, when all of them were gathered in China.
A year later, my grandfather left for Sweden to go to school in Stockholm,

I have written about Kurt in another post. That was when he told me about a code book for missionaries. You can read about that here.

The last photo I will show this time is this one. It’s Robert and Dagny, standing together, each looking at a small piece of paper. They are both kind of serious looking, and well dressed. I can’t help but wonder what occasion this was. It must have been a bit special, since it deserved a photo. And what does it say on the pieces of paper?