Jim Baynard-Smith died on 30 September, aged 97. From his mid-twenties he devoted his life to Moral Re-Armament (MRA) – now known as Initiatives of Change – serving in many countries, especially in the Horn of Africa.
Born in Sri Lanka, where his father managed a tea plantation, he started school in England, but in 1940 was evacuated to New Zealand, where he received his secondary schooling. His military service in 1948 took him to Africa, where he served as ADC to the Governor-General of Sudan, Sir Robert George Howe. He went on to gain a degree at Oxford University, and then decided to work with Moral Re-Armament.
For five years he was an assistant to Frank Buchman, initiator of MRA, and ever after could regale an audience with stories from that experience. He travelled with Buchman to Asia and Australia. Among his companions on one trip were Malise Hore-Ruthven, a former Colonel in the Black Watch regiment, and his daughter Sally. He and Sally married in 1962.
Leaders of Ethiopia invited Jim and Sally to establish MRA in their country, and they spent the next five years based in Asmara, Eritrea, travelling widely in the region. ‘This involved working alongside those responsible for initiatives of reconciliation in conflict situations,’ wrote Jim, ‘and accepting the need for the white races to face up to our past so that we can begin to heal the wounds of history.’ They built warm friendships with Ethiopians, Eritreans, Sudanese, Somalis, Kenyans, and many initiatives for healing and reconciliation flowed from these friendships.
He and Sally also worked in Japan, Australia and elsewhere. But their home was in Oxford, and that is where their two sons, Peter and Chris, grew up. Jim loved taking visitors around Oxford, especially to Exeter College where he had studied.
And invariably, even into his nineties, he would travel to London to participate in the weekly Agenda for Reconciliation meetings at the IofC centre in London, which brought together people from the Horn of Africa. His humility as a former colonial officer in this region of the world, and his care for each person, won the hearts of all who aeended.
