Evening star., 1949-07-24
American Woman, SO,
Mama 10 Thousands
Of Egyptian Children
By the Associated Press

woman, Lillian Trasher. is ma
ma" to thousands of Egyptians.
If you ask her how many chill
dren she has. she'll say:
Il don't know exactly. Well
count them for you tonight"
Often the count shows 750 OF
more. They range all the way
from babies a few months old tc
boys and girls in their teens. All
are orphans, and all who are ole
enough to talk call Miss Trashel
mama" So do thousands of other
Egyptians whom she mothered in
years gone by and who are now
scattered all over Egypt, with fam
lilies of their own.
Miss Trasher came to the Nile
valley in 1910, a pretty young
woman from Jacksonville, Fla. AT
home she had been a devout
church member and a voluntary
worker in an orphanage at Mar
ion, N. c.
Offered Chance to Preach.
A visiting missionary had Of
fered her a chance to preach in
Assiut. Egypt, 235 miles up the
Nile from Cairo. if she would pay
her own expenses to get there. Her
father. manager of a Florida paw
ing company, and her mother, a
Vassar graduate. had refused to
give her money for the trip; but
she had collected the fare from
church members and had set sail
chaperoned by an older sister who
expected her to tire of Egypt in a
short time.
In the 80 years that have passed
since then, Miss Thrasher has fed
clothed. sheltered and educated q
succession of huge families. She
has collected something like a half
million dollars to build and oper-
ate an orphanage at Assiut, where
her work has gone on without in
terruption through two world
wars, a cholera epidemic and a
fire.
Today Miss Trasher is a huge
grey-haired woman of 81. Her
normal working day begins at
daylight and lasts until 10 al
night. For years she worked
through the heat of summer with
out so much as a weeks holiday
but the last three years hel
health has required her to SLOW
down and take vacations.
Collected Money and Food.
| Miss Trasher got the idea fol
her orphanage a few month.
after she arrived in Assiut in 1910
An Egyptian woman died, leaving
a baby 3 months old. Sht
took the child home. gave it it!
first bath, and looked around fol
other orphans. To finance tn,
work she solicited funds from
Christian Egyptians of Assiut ane
toured the countryside astride 6
donkey. collecting money anc
food.
Gradually, by devoted care ot
her adopted children, she dis
PEELED the idea some villagers had
that she was gathering slaves
When her growing family made
so much noise that neighbors
complained she bought property
across the Nile and moved to the
site where she built the present
institution.
The orphanage now receives
financial help from the Assem-
blies of God, a church organiza-
tion which maintains the head
quarters of its foreign mission de-
partment at Springfield, Mo. Most
of her budget comes from Chris
tian Egyptians. however, and she
receives contributions from indi-
viduals in the United States. the
British Isles, and other countries
I'VE don't have many big
things happening to us at the
orphanage,' she says. Small in
fants come in. grow up and marry
and have grandchildren for me
but it all happens so slowly that
one hardly feels it.
"Perhaphs the most wonderful
thing is that the work has lived
and grown healthy through two
world wars. and thousands OF
children have passed through oul
hands. with no one but God and
a lot of faithful friends back. OF
us, seldom a bank account large
enough to meet the needs of a
couple of weeks, with years and
years when our bank account
would not have lasted a couple
of days. Through it all the chill
dren grew up, married and left
us and others filled their places
and they always had enough and
never missed meal"
Two young American mission
aries, the Rev. and Mrs. Philip
Crouch, went to Assiut last fall
to help Miss Trasher for a short
time. They became so interested
that they decided to stay.
The Crouches have relieved Miss
Trasher of many arduous duties
but they have no idea of trying
to take her place.
No one" says Mrs. Crouch
will ever be able to do that"