Vivienne: The Career Woman

  ‘The next question was what career I should follow. I wanted to be a writer. I was [advised] to write articles and booklets but not to try to earn my living as a writer. My mother had warned me against teaching. I did not really know if I had any gift for teaching or not. So I decided to apply to Cambridge and London to do a postgraduate diploma in education. I asked God to guide through these two applications. I lost my papers for Cambridge but was accepted at the Institute of Education of London University. I discovered that I liked teaching. I prayed for a teaching post that would be good preparation for work abroad. ... [After Urdu language study] I took up my post at the United Bible Training Centre, Gujranwala [for 20 years]...I was determined to succeed as a writer in my own culture before I wrote for Pakistan and other lands... The Pakistani church at that time had less than two hundred titles in Urdu. Transition to pioneering with the IFES in the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf was followed by a transition to retirement from Interserve which ‘was easy and smooth. I planned to continue writing, itinerant teaching and training of leaders who are keen to reach out and train others for work among Muslims’