Projects

1998 THE EXPLORERS’ GRAVEYARD Leh Ladakh India
Eileen Hewson of Kabristan Archives funded the restoration of the Explorers’ Graveyard in the old residency garden in the Himalayan town of Leh in conjunction with the Revd Elijah Gergan of the Leh Moravian Church.The benches were kindly donated by Bernie Doyle of Sligo, Ireland. The graveyard was renamed the Moravian Memorial Park.
    Leh was formerly a major trading post during the 19th century between Afghanistan and Kashgar in China where merchants and spies thronged the market place the former bartering Chinese jade, Bokhara silks, Tibetan medicines, Russian tea and hash from Kashmir.
     There are several famous people buried in the cemetery, their stories are told in MORAVIAN GRAVEYARDS India & Jamaica 1755-1971 or HIMALAYAN HEADSTONES from Ladakh Kashmir both by Eileen Hewson.
  
2000 SHEIKH BAGH CEMETERY Srinagar Kashmir India
Eileen Hewson organised a clean-up of the cemetery. The project was funded by the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia.
    Kashmir the tranquil valley portrayed in the travel brochures had a nasty underside on earlier times where the Maharajah ruled supreme. Anyone including foreigners who upset him were quietly ‘taken care of’  ending up in the graveyards.
    The burials include the British who ‘stayed-on’. missionaries, soldiers, suicides and murders and are detailed in GRAVEYARDS IN KASHMIR by Eileen Hewson.

2001 ST MARY’S CHURCH OF NORTHERN INDIA Kotgarh Himachal Pradesh India
Eileen Hewson organised the repairs to the graves, steps, retaining banks, and general clearance in the churchyard. The project was funded by the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia.

2007 THE BRITISH-AMERICAN CEMETERY Tura Garo Hills Meghaliya
Eileen Hewson in conjunction with Dr Milton Sangma a local historian organised the restoration of the British-American Cemetery which was inaugurated in 2007. Eileen Hewson was Guest of Honour. The project was funded by the British Association of Cemeteries in South Asia.
    The Garo Hills prior to its conversion to Christianity was a dangerous region, the foreigner travelled there at his peril. The Garos were headhunters and often the stranger could just be in the wrong place and the wrong time and would end up with his head on a pole. When the American Baptists arrived they brought hospitals, schools and many other benefits. Almost overnight the majority of the Garos became Christians.
    The burials which include missionaries, doctors and government agents are detailed in
ASSAM & NORTH-EAST INDIA Christian Cemeteries and Monuments 1783-2003 by Eileen Hewson .

2008 RATNAPURA GENERAL CEMETERY Ratnapura Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
Kabristan Archives sponsored the clean-up of the European graves.