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In 2002 peace activists in India gave Staines the prestigious Gandhi Communal Harmony award. She was one of three recipients, each from a different religion. "I accepted the award because it was for communal harmony. That is the need of the hour," she said, citing Romans 12 as a biblical wellspring of her peace activism.

"Live peaceably with all men. Tensions will be there but that is where grace is required very much," Staines said. "I can give a whole sermon on grace."

Mother and daughter speak to each other in Oriya, a local language in Orissa. Though she had not applied for Indian citizenship, she says, "This is my home. This is where my husband and the children have died." Staines is one of about 1,000 missionaries working legally in India.

The federal government has not granted her a permanent visa. But many admirers, including Swami Agnivesh, the internationally known activist against bonded labor, have petitioned the prime minister and the Indian president to grant Staines Indian citizenship.

She has pledged to remain in India: "Graham would not have wanted me to pack my bags and just go off like that to Australia." She first came to India in 1981. She met Graham at the Baripada leprosy home, where Graham had worked since he first came to India in 1965. They married in 1983. The Evangelical Missionary Society established the home in 1897.

Staines said people across India are aware of her commitment to India: "I still receive hundreds of letters from people, many unknown to me, from different parts of the country expressing their support to me." Most of her friends are Hindus, she said, adding that she is comfortable with Orissa customs, food, language, and clothing.

In recent months, the tall and gracious Australian in a traditional blue Indian sari has been raising funds for a 40-bed hospital in memory of her husband. It will cost the equivalent of $250,000.

The facility would be a major expansion. Leprosy (also known as Hansen's disease) is a significant problem in India, home to an estimated 570,000 patients out of 1.8 million worldwide. The hospital will have facilities for surgery and physical therapy. The existing leprosy home at Baripada will be converted into a rehabilitation center, able to handle 60 patients. Doctors can usually stop leprosy with drugs, but the debilitating effects of the disease mean patients need extensive reconstruction of damaged facial features, feet, or hands.

Outreach to India's lepers itself is not controversial. Evangelistic outreach is. After the murders in 1999, some Hindu radicals accused Graham Staines of converting poor Hindus to Christianity.

But Gladys Staines told CT that her husband was teaching only local Christians at the time of his death. And his "jungle camps" were specifically meant for Christians. "Of course others could not be stopped from attending those meetings," she said.

Staines agreed in June, as a prosecution witness at the murder trial, to testify about her husband's work. Facing aggressive questions from defense attorneys, Staines under oath denied that her husband bribed people to induce conversion. "It is not a fact that we have converted hundreds of people into Christianity," she testified. "My husband had come to India to serve leprosy sufferers and rehabilitate them in the society."

Hindu nationalists have been sharply critical of Staines. The state government in Orissa has opposed the use of land for the new hospital. Other Hindu radicals resist any Christian effort to care for poor Hindus. The federal government provides security when she speaks in public. "The hate campaign is part of life," she said. "What is necessary is to keep working for the welfare of the downtrodden. The Lord is watching us and he will take care of us."

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February 2003, Vol. 47, No. 2