War and Suffering (1997)

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

Later, we received news that there were 300 Hutu Rwandese armed soldiers in the woods to the east, but they would bypass the mission. I hoped so because these soldiers were mean and dangerous. They were like trapped animals who could not escape Kabila's army. The army consisted mainly of Tutsis, who hated the Hutus.

Kiri had 250 Hutus arrive this past week, and the situation became terrible. The soldiers broke into the pharmacy and stole a large quantity of medicine. They threatened to kill Dr. Botuli because he looked like a Tutsi. Dr. Botuli paid them 25 million Zaires ($150). The priest in Kiri hired a large barge to evacuate the soldiers to a village 100 kilometers downriver.

I contended with all the Zairian soldiers who passed through to Kiri port. The soldiers wanted river transportation to be able to return to Kinshasa. All this chaos and danger prevented the mission barge from bringing much-needed antibiotics. The health center pharmacy shelves were almost empty. The Kiri hospital had depleted almost all of its medicine.

I still did not know if I would be able to return to the U.S. There were no flights to the interior. The mission continued to experience the effects of war. Hundreds of Rwandese refugees passed through Pendjua, hoping to reach the Zairian River to cross to Congo Brazzaville.

There were 500 armed Hutu militiamen, only 10 miles to the north, at Ikongo. They stole everything in sight. Everyone thought they would come on the road through Pendjua, and they panicked. People took their belongings and animals into the forest to hide. At the mission, we had a large cellar in the workshop, so we put our valuables in there. We pushed a large cabinet in front of the door so no one could see there we had a cellar.