Excerpt from draft of "Apostle to the Pygmies – The Doctor Jerry Galloway Story”
A couple of weeks later I finally arrived at the mission in Pendjua. This was not quite how the trip was planned. I guess I would describe Pendjua as being at “the end of the world.” The trip which was to have started on February 14th and take seven to fourteen days ended up taking six weeks to complete. I was now in the village that would become my home for the next twenty-seven years.
The mission house was built of plain cement blocks and was the width of one large room, with windows on the north and south sides so wind could blow through. The four of us missionaries each had one room with a drape partition. We each had an office and a cot with a mattress. The house had a dining and recreation room, a kitchen with a wood burning stove and a refrigerator that ran on kerosene.
Map showing the city of Pendjua and the mission house (CICM Residence) and Jerry's room (bottom left). Map created by Dr. Brian Bakoko Nselebete., MD MPH
The young Batwa Pygmy adults were in a transition period and wanted to learn new skills so they could earn a cash income. Several groups of men had begun to hand saw trees into planks. Since most of the saw mills were inoperable, they were able to sell the planks, even though they were not perfect. I believed that there were several small projects that could be started with minimal capital, such as rice, peanut and bean fields. Everything would have to be hand cultivated, as they did not have the right equipment or know how to use it.
My team and I needed to be able to take health care to the villages. I hoped to train “bare foot doctors” to work in remote villages. This was a concept that started in China, where young adults were selected from each village and were trained in first aid, public health and the treatment of common diseases like malaria and worms.
Comments