Excerpt from draft of "Apostle to the Pygmies – The Doctor Jerry Galloway Story”
From Mushie, we took a two and one-half hour boat ride to Bandundu and met with the medical director of that region, as he had the papers, we were required to sign. The director was not there, so once again, we waited. After three long days the barge finally arrived. I officially learned the meaning of “African time.” Watches and calendars did not mean much in Zaire.
At 5:00 a.m. the morning after the barge arrived, the second leg of our journey began. Within the barge was a small cabin with one bed, a stove, a table and chairs. We travelled under a full moon and I could see rivers and swamps and many fishermen in dugout canoes fishing with gill nets. After arriving in Kutu we waited for almost a week to allow the barge to be unloaded. Then we continued to Inongo, which was another twelve-hour boat ride away. The trip continued to the headwaters of Lake Mai-Ndombe and followed a long, curving, narrow river filled with Cypress trees.
The barge arrived in Kiri, which was a town of 15,000. There was not a single store or car in Kiri except for one Jeep at the mission. Our plan was to stay in Kiri until Monday, then drive on to Pendjua. However, on Saturday, there was a medical emergency. A woman had a ruptured uterus and needed immediate surgery. I rushed to the hospital and discovered that there was no equipment for blood transfusions, no intravenous fluids and no sterile equipment, so I loaded the woman into the Jeep and raced over to Pendjua, where I could operate on her.
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