Jackie Pullinger

Jackie Pullinger
Born 1944 (age 71–72)
London, England
Nationality British
Citizenship Hong Kong
Education Royal College of Music, London
Occupation Christian missionary
Organization St Stephen's Society
Known for Rehabilitation program for drug addicts
Notable work Chasing the Dragon
Crack in the Wall
Home town London
Television The Law of Love
Religion Christianity
Spouse(s) John To (married 1992-1999)
Awards MBE
Honorary degree of Doctor of Social Sciences (HKU)
Website http://www.ststephenssociety.com

Jackie Pullinger, MBE (born 1944) is a British Protestant Christian charismatic missionary to Hong Kong and founder of the St Stephen's Society. She has been ministering in Hong Kong since 1966. Her work has resulted in thousands of drug addicts being saved from their drug addictions.[1] The early years of her Hong Kong ministry are chronicled in the book Chasing the Dragon.

History

Pullinger graduated from the Royal College of Music in London having specialized in the oboe. At the age of 22 she wanted to be a missionary, so she wrote to various missionary organizations. Unable to find support from missionary organizations, she then sought advice from Richard Thompson, a minister in Shoreditch, who told her that she should buy a ticket for a boat going as far as she could get and to pray to know when to get off the boat. At first she wanted to go to Africa, but then she had a dream that impressed upon her the idea of going to Hong Kong.[2] She followed the vicar's advice and went to Hong Kong by boat in 1966. However, when she arrived she knew no one there and had only $10 on hand.[3] The only reason the immigration officers allowed her in was because her mother's godson was a police officer there.[4] She found work as a primary school teacher in the Kowloon Walled City, which in the 1960s was not policed and consequently had become one of the world's largest opium producing centres, run by Chinese criminal Triad gangs.[5] Later she established a youth club that helped the drug addicts and street sleepers inside the walled city.

St Stephen's Society

Pullinger at work in her center in the Kowloon Walled City in 1988.

In 1981, she started a charity called the St Stephen's Society which provides rehabilitation homes for recovering drug addicts, prostitutes, and gang members. By December 2007 it had grown and was providing homes for 200 people.[6] The charity's work has been recognized by the Hong Kong government who donated the land for the rehabilitation homes.[7] The intervention process that the drug addicts go through is very intensive. Instead of giving them medications they are put into a room for 10 days, and prayed over and cared for by a group of ex-addicts.[7]

Published works

References

  1. ↑ Booth, Martin. Opium: A History. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998) p.100
  2. ↑ Jackie Pullinger; Andrew Quickie (1 Sep 1980). Chasing the Dragon. Hodder & Stoughton Religious. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-340-25760-9.
  3. ↑ Jackie Pullinger; Andrew Quickie (1 Sep 1980). Chasing the Dragon. Hodder & Stoughton Religious. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-340-25760-9.
  4. ↑ Jackie Pullinger; Andrew Quickie (1 Sep 1980). Chasing the Dragon. Hodder & Stoughton Religious. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-340-25760-9.
  5. ↑ Booth, Martin pp.99-100
  6. ↑ Baynham, Jacob Hong Kong missionary uses intensive prayer to help heroin addicts San Francisco Chronicle. 17 December 2007. Retrieved August 14, 2008
  7. 1 2 Jackie Pullinger; Andrew Quickie (1 Sep 1980). Chasing the Dragon. Hodder & Stoughton Religious. ISBN 978-0-340-25760-9.

External links

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