Journey to Beronge (2001)

Journey to Beronge (2001) – Posted December 29, 2020

Excerpt from the draft of "Apostle to the Pygmies – The Doctor Jerry Galloway Story"

On January 27, I moved into my new mud hut in Liamba, and the people were delighted I moved back. It had been eight years since I last lived there. I furnished it with a bamboo bed, a small table, two chairs, and a bookcase.

Luba, Bola, and I traveled to Kiri. When we arrived, they told us the military took the craft and had not returned. The boat came on Saturday night, so we left for Beronge the next day. The wooden vessel was about twenty feet long and loaded with boxes of medicine. The first half of the trip went smooth as we traveled the broad, deep part of the river. The second half of the river was narrow, and many trees had fallen across it. We cut three trees to allow our boat to pass. The outboard motor broke down an hour from Ireko, where the Toyota was parked. Fortunately, we were close to a fishermen's camp, and we paddled the boat to it.

The chauffer was unable to fix the motor, so he and a fisherman went by dugout canoe to pick up an outboard motor in Ibeke. They left at 1:00 and returned five hours later. The fishermen were friendly and shared some fresh fish to eat. They were having a good season and had piles of smoked fish. I promised to return and buy some for the boarding home students.

When the chauffeur returned with the motor, I thought it was too late to continue, but the chauffeur insisted we leave for Ireko. By 6:30, it was completely dark. There were stumps and logs everywhere in the water. If it were not for the use of my large flashlight, we would not have found our way to Ireko. We landed at 7:00 p.m., loaded the Toyota truck, and drove to Beronge. The three Filipino confreres there were surprised to see me.