Excerpt from draft of "Apostle to the Pygmies – The Doctor Jerry Galloway Story”
Dr. Jerry Galloway examining a child in the village.
Several weeks later, I traveled to Liamba to hold a well-baby clinic. Only thirty-five out of a possible one hundred and thirty women showed up. The Batwa women were slow to accept modern medicine or any modern ways. The men were a little more receptive to change, which may have been because more boys than girls went to school. Until last year, only three Batwa girls had attended primary school. In the past year, two schools opened in the Batwa villages, and about twenty-five percent of the students in the first classes were girls. Outside of Pendjua, almost no Batwa children attended school.
The schools were a small beginning to help the Batwa in their struggle for a better life. Their population was increasing, and game and fish were decreasing. The Batwa would have to change to survive and become independent from the Ekonda. The liberating message of Christ was the way to a better life.
Comments