Renowned missionary and author Jackie Pullinger is celebrating 60 years of work in Hong Kong, having journeyed from Britain with little before working to support the needy in the notorious Kowloon Walled City.
St Stephen’s Society, the charity set up by Pullinger in 1981 as her work grew in impact, is hosting an anniversary event in Hong Kong in honour of her years of service. The week-long event, dubbed “Sound the Trumpet”, will feature an exhibition, music, documentaries and testimonies which will be open to the public, before friends of Jackie and the charity gather at the end of the week for worship.
Pullinger, whose story was famously told in Chasing the Dragon, travelled to Hong Kong by boat with around £10, aged 22, having been convinced the Lord wanted her to go there, despite having been rejected for work by several mission agencies.
She settled in the Kowloon Walled City, the notorious, unpoliced area known locally as “Darkness”. The area, run by Triad gangs and rife with drug addicts and prostitutes, housed people in deplorable conditions; Pullinger states on the St Stephen’s Society website that 100,000 people would share a single toilet within a six-acre space.
However, this did not deter Pullinger and, after securing work in a local primary school, she realised that the most effective witness she could practice in such a place would be practical, rather than solely preaching-based, as she sought to provide those around her with “something real”.
She started a youth club and after some came to faith, her work grew, enabling her to help many drug addicts come to faith, with many conversions also leading to immediate recovery from drug addiction, eventually leading to the establishment of “Houses”, set up to support addicts.
The walled city was demolished in 1993. Since then, Pullinger has been involved with many other initiatives, including rehabilitation homes, classrooms, children’s initiatives and fellowships, and her work has since extended into other countries. Aged 82, her work continues, as she seeks to build the kingdom further in Hong Kong.
