How Rumors Get Started (2005)
- Kent Galloway
- May 27, 2021
- 2 min read
An excerpt from "Courage in the Congo: A Doctor's Fight to Save the Pygmies"
Available now on Amazon:
On Sunday, I planned to leave early. Sister Rosaria, the principal of the Catholic high school in Kiri, accompanied me. We took a larger craft since we had at least 400 pounds of baggage. Within a short time, we discovered the boat had several leaks. When we got to the lake, a strong wind whipped up that worsened as we went along. After two hours of tossing about, we decided to stop at a village until the wind died.
Our lives were in danger every time we traveled in rickety old aluminum boats. We asked the villagers for some vines to tie the baggage to the seats to keep them off the leaky floor. I always had my life jacket with me in case the boat sank. The wind died down, and we continued to Inongo, where we stopped for lunch. Father Mongo told me that everyone expressed amazement to see me alive. A rumor went around that the "prophet" Moses caused me to have an accident in the U.S. and claimed I died. Father Mongo told the people at Sunday Mass that they would be the first to know if anything happened to me. He assured them that Brother Jerry would arrive in Inongo at noon. I find it funny how rumors got started.
With the lake now calm, we decided to continue to Kiri. We arrived in the evening, and Father Yves waited for us. I left early the next day and arrived in Pendjua at noon. Many people were amazed to see me alive and well. They also heard the stories going around about my death. One claimed I had seen Moses before leaving Kiri. Since I refused to give him the cross I wore, Moses put a hex on me, and I died in an accident. The people believed the story.
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