Dr. Paul Brand - The Hand Man (17th July 1914 - 8th November 2003)

A career in medicine? No thanks!

When Paul was nearly 9, he and his sister Connie went to live with two maiden aunts in England. The aunts were embarrassed when the children walked down the aisle in church carrying their shoes as everyone did in India! They were not naughty children but everything in England was so new to them.

At school, Paul seemed to have no talent except for getting into mischief. The geography class was held in a big room on the third floor, and Paul who sat at the back, frequently climbed out of the window, let himself down on to the roof of the bicycle shed and so to the ground. Coming back into the building, he would then re-enter the classroom by the door, greeting the puzzled teacher, 'Good morning!'

As the time came for Paul to leave school, he had no idea what he should do next. He had had enough of school, and when his mother suggested he might become a doctor, he refused. He remembered watching his father's medical work in India, the blood, the ulcers and puss. Ugh!

One Sunday, a lay preacher came to the church they belonged to. Although Pastor Warwick was a gifted preacher, he was a builder by trade, and when he used a carpenter's rule to illustrate a point in his sermon, Paul was reminded of his father and liked Pastor Warwick more and more. So in December 1930, Paul left school and became a building apprentice.

The next five years passed quickly and Paul enjoyed every minute. The work was varied, dirty and tough but he enjoyed mastering the skills of bricklaying, woodwork, masonry and plumbing.

Outside work, he became more and more involved with telling the good news about Jesus. For five years he taught a Sunday School class of small boys, at about 18 he commenced preaching and held his audience spellbound, but youth camps were his greatest passion.