Miss Mona Pengelly was born on July 16,1929 at Portscatho on the Roseland Peninsula, Cornwall, the United Kingdom.^[1]

She joined the MMS (Methodist Missionary Society) in 1960. Trained in nursing and midwifery, she was a district nurse (SRN, SCM, QIDS, HV Certificate) in the UK.

She served in Burma (now Myanmar) from 1960 to 1964 working in a rural dispensary in Upper Burma (Somra region). Her work was mainly general nursing and maternity work. She was a very committed and single-minded nurse in Burma, overcoming many challenges.

From 1965 to 1972 she served in Sarawak, combining work in a rural dispensary in Bukit Lan in the Rajang Basin. She also headed a mobile clinic which was a Sarawak Iban wooden longboat equipped with the simplest of medical supplies and equipment, without the aid of telecommunication. She had a regular schedule to serve the riverine settlements, mainly Iban longhouses, and most of the time, she made an overnight stay. The local indigenous people in those days looked forward to her arrival. Many Iban and Foochow children were born at home in those days and she helped deliver almost all the babies born in Bukit Lan while she was serving there.

She was assisted by a local boatman who also helped as a porter when she went out to do her rounds in her mobile clinic. Her work at the Bukit Lan dispensary included training of local assistants.

She resigned from missionary work in 1972 in Sarawak because of the political upheaval caused by the Communist insurgency in rural areas. Most foreign missionaries working in Sarawak that year returned to their homeland upon advice from higher authorities.

She continued to work as a community nurse in the UK until she retired. She now lives in Cornwall.

Founding Captain of 1st Sibu GB Company

Because Miss Mona had worked in Burma before she was "sent " to Sarawak, she did not exactly have a culture shock when she came to Sibu. While Rev James Hoover sailed along the Rajang in his motor launch, Miss Mona had a mobile clinic longboat plying between Sibu and Bukit Lan and other "stations" she had to attend to with two assistants. 

In 1970 Miss Mona was asked by the Methodist Church, and in particular Rev Brinks, to "try" to start a Girls' Brigade (GB) Company in Sibu since she had all the right criteria of becoming a leader for young girls in Sibu. She had then been in Sibu/Bukit Lan for five years.

She went to the Methodist School to see the principal about getting girls for the GB and about 70 came for the first meeting!! This was how keen the school girls were then! From that time onwards there was no looking back for the GB. It grew stronger and today it is still going strong after 40 years.

Miss Mona reminisced about some special episodes of her life in Bukit Lan and Sibu:

1. She ran the mobile clinic. She had a longboat with an outboard engine. She had Iban language training before she worked for the Bukit Lan clinic. She travelled to Bawang Assan, Tutus and Igan.

2. She met Dr Hii King Lien who was an exceptionally fair “Poh Duiong” or Kapitan and well loved by the people of “24 Acres” and Bukit Lan. Dr Hii was such a gentleman and he would always make sure that she had "three servings/three chopsticks of every dish that was served" at a Chinese meal...by the time the fifth dish came out Miss Mona was really too full.

3. She learned the term "meng meng kian" (Foochow version of selamat jalan) which she remembers till today. She walked all the time from house to house for her "home visitation". Today this term is not often used. Now the Foochows may say to each other “sei ni sei chia” (drive carefully) as a form of bidding each other farewell.

4. As the only medical person around she was even asked to treat animals. One animal treated by her was an old boar (male pig) which had been spared or neutered but he had gone septic and the family wanted to save the animal for its meat. She decided to give the huge animal a heavy dose of penicillin. She had to go into the pig sty to give the injection and it was actually quite dangerous but luckily the animal was too weak and sick. It grew better the next day and she gave another heavy dose, this time through the wooden slats of the pig sty. The boar got well and it was probably the only Foochow male pig that had ever been cured by penicillin in the history of the Rajang Valley!

5. Two Iban babies were born at the same time and one looked as if it was not going to survive when she arrived to check them. The second one looked very strong and healthy. A week later when she came for follow-up the weaker baby had survived as her medication and instructions for cleaning the umbilical cord were followed. The second one had just died because the family had used "ash" to protect the umbilical cord. The cord had gone septic and the baby died. She was very sad about its death till today. This was the medical situation in those days in the countryside. Lives were saved and lost!

6. During the Communist insurgency in 1972, a helipad was built right in front of her clinic by the army. The officers put up camp there and billeted in Mr Leighton Wiant’s quarters up on the hill while the soldiers camped by the riverside. One evening Miss Mona invited a few of the officers and the church leaders for a meal to ease the tension. It was quite a remarkably good social evening. She remembered that one high officer was really strict and not a single smile was ever on his face but the others were amicable. Not long after that Miss Mona left Bukit Lan because of the curfew and tension.

7. She remembered Mrs Pauline Wiltshire and some girls making scrambled eggs for Easter sunrise service in the Methodist School football field. She overheard the remark “Many of us Foochow girls don't drink milk!" She was worried that the scrambled eggs, which were made with some milk, might upset the Foochow girls' stomachs! But then nothing happened and she was glad as she was so careful and caring.

8. Once she had to sit at the back of a bicycle with a very small man because they had to reach his home to deliver a baby! That was very very exciting for her! She could have run with her bag but the man insisted on her sitting at the back of the bicycle. In Foochow this is called "lumpang".

9. The villagers all called her Mona “shu gu”, a good Foochow term for Miss Missionary. We call a priest sing hu (father) and a pastor “muk shu”. 

10. She remembered dipping her feet into a big egg jar to wash her feet before going upstairs to the living room whenever she visited homes. It was the practice then. The owner of the home would serve her a glass of hot Milo with a raw egg brewed in it as a symbol of a warm Foochow welcome. This is actually the famous Foochow egg nog made with hot Milo. She would politely “swallow” the egg. For a long time she wondered who invented this recipe.

Miss Mona had captured a lot of hearts while she was here in Sibu. She had such a bubbly and inspiring character, never too quick to judge and always so caring and supportive in her uniquely "Mona ways"!

She returned to United Kingdom in 1972 and worked as a health visitor in Tower Hamlets.^[2] As a member of the Whitechapel Mission, she also served among the homeless. After her retirement in 1993, she was still active in her preaching commitments until her demise in August 2020. ^[3]