Mbongi John (2006)
- Kent Galloway
- Jun 19, 2021
- 1 min read
An excerpt from "Courage in the Congo: A Doctor's Fight to Save the Pygmies"
Available now on Amazon:
My best ninth-grade student, Mbongi John, did not show up to school. When I asked John's older brother why John did not come to school, he told me John had fallen sick and would be absent. John's father showed up and said his son had become very ill with a high temperature, headaches, and neck pain. I realized that if he had meningitis, he might die. I bawled out the father for not bringing his son to the hospital.
John stood only four-foot-tall and weighed just 65 pounds. The village men could have carried him here in one of their homemade portable chairs. I ordered the father to go home and bring John to the hospital. They arrived with him the next day. It turned out he had malaria.
I asked John why he did not come to the hospital sooner. He said his family thought a sorcerer caused the illness. They took him to a village where one of Moses' "apostles" had a pond with "blessed" water. They bathed him in the water for four days, and when he did not get any better, John told his father to go and see Dr. Jerry. It made me mad that they didn't bring John to me first.
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