DOCTOR WHITE

“Bless our afterlife dear God, it seems this storm would go down with our ship”

Those were the last words of Captain Jack, captain of the “PATH FINDER” an 1899 British navigation ship on which Tom Hallows was aboard, before the storms went down with him and the entire crew. Tom was a British man in his early thirties, tall and slender, he had curly hairs and an up-long face which held his bluish little eyes, wide lips and protruded nose. He was the crew doctor on board the ship which was on course the Atlantic Ocean approaching the West African territories while navigating the African sea routes. It happened that all on board except Tom lost their lives in the sea storm, he only managed to survive as he was washed ashore by the benevolence of Nature.

He had only a bag on him which was fastened to his back, it contained his medical paraphernalia and a few pieces of clothes, his other luggage were lost in the sea including his gadgets and other means of communication, hence there was no way to contact his country about his whereabouts, frustrated and stranded on an unknown land, he wandered into the bushes in search of shelter and food as the barrels containing the food stuffs for the crew had all been lost at sea. 

While wandering in the bushes in search of both shelter and fruits to eat, he saw a group of men about five in number who he thought were most likely hunters and guessed were from a nearby uncivilized community, as they had only animal skins wrapped around their waist through the groin and their hair entirely shaven from their head, they had no foot wears on their feet either. Uncertain of what to do next, he hid behind a giant tree that stood amidst other trees in the forest, but the hunters had already seen him some minutes before he did and had only followed him from a distance observing his bodily features and trying to ascertain his purpose on their land.

One of the hunters was quick to notice his extremely fair skin.

“Look at his skin, its looks like that of a chicken whose feathers have been pulled of” Agba the leader of all of the hunters said. He was a muscularly built young man in his mid twenties, agile and hardworking, yet humorous and hospitable to anyone who came by him.

“That is right and look how tall and slender he looks” Atsu added, he was the community youth leader, courtesy of his authoritative nature, he also was well built but nature had chosen to withhold his height. Unlike Agba he wasn’t hospitable. “His hair is also curly and lightly brown” he continued.

“May be in his land what separates a man from the woman is what lies between their thighs, I mean how can a man be that pretty” Agba added as they all laughed out aloud.

All the while Tom could hear what they were saying but he could not understand even a sentence as they spoke in their native tongue, it was in the early 1900s, so it was obvious that English language hadn’t been spoken in all parts of West Africa yet. Bewildered and unable to ascertain what they were saying he decided to escape from their reach rather than approach them, just as he bent to tie his shoe laces in preparation to flee, he felt a strong blow on his head, the effect of which he passed out, by the time he woke up, he was in an entirely different world, far different from his country’s, he found himself kneeling in the midst of gathered villagers, who all gazed in awe at his physical appearances, the villagers had assembled at the town head’s palace upon summon by the town crier.

“Could this be a spirit or is he a man like us?” one of the villagers asked in their language.

“He has the appearances and physique of a man but his skin and hairs seem far from that we have ever seen” one said.

 “I think he is a man like us from a far away land well endowed by the gods themselves” another said.

“Quite everyone” the town head commanded “The stranger hasn’t spoken any words let us hear what he has to say before I make my pronouncements”

All the while they had been speaking the stranger didn’t understand a word, he was lost in their conversation, signs had to be made to him before he spoke  

“I am Doctor Tom Hallows, I am a citizen of Great Britain, a land very far away from yours, I have come here on grounds of peace and not of war” he said.

The villagers all burst into laughter as they couldn’t fathom what he had said.

“What is he saying, the stranger speaks in tongues unheard by any of us” one of the villagers said.

“I think we should search his luggage, the contents may tell us his motive on our land” Atsu said. His bag was opened and to the amazement of the villagers, it contained only a few pieces of clothes, lots of leather coated tablets of various drugs, bowels, Cotton wools and lots of surgical tools that were meant for the treatment of the crew on board the lost ship, the tools seemed to the villagers as weapons used in times of war, some were small sized blades, while others were big.

 “He is an enemy not a friend!!”

they all exclaimed.

“We should keep him under custody I think, we can’t kill a man when we haven’t understood a word he has said” Agba said.  

Lots of deliberations went on at the town head’s palace as regards what was to be done with the stranger, finally it was agreed that he be kept in a cell under the custody of Agba, who was also placed in charge of his well being, which meant information as well as meals had to get to the stranger through his hands. Every day the women had to choose amongst themselves who was to provide the stranger’s meal. Sequel to his appeal, the stranger’s luggage was sun dried, repacked and kept in the town heads possession.

Through out the first month of the stranger’s arrival, the villagers were hostile towards him as most of them saw him as a potential enemy, most times the women allotted to provide his meals claimed to be unable to do so, as they claimed to be sick or forged other flimsy excuses, hence on such days he stayed hungry. Only Agba was friendly towards the stranger, he spent most of his time at his cell listening to him, he communicated with the stranger through signs and illustrations on the ground, from Agba’s observances the stranger seemed harmless, rather he was friendly, from their sign language and illustrative communications, Agba got to know about the improved standards of living in the stranger's land, how the stranger had arrived on their land, the storm at sea, the loss of the entire crew and being washed ashore with his luggage, he was moved with compassion for the stranger as he thought of how life could be for him in a land far from home. While in custody, the stranger had begun to teach Agba how to speak in English by pronouncing words and using corresponding signs to tell the meaning.

Over two months had gone by since the stranger had been placed in custody, Agba thought it wise to convince the town head to let the stranger out of custody to mingle with the villagers, hence one day he paid the town head a visit which coincided with the meeting which was going on with the various district heads. His visit to the town head lasted over an hour and after deliberations were made together with the district heads it was agreed that the stranger be released from custody and his own hut built for him, his meals were still to be provided by the maidens of the town, however a condition was placed that the responsibility of any harm resulting from the release of the stranger was Agba’s to bear.

The stranger was eventually released from the cell and given his own hut made from baked clay soil and bamboo sticks, the two essential materials needed for the making of a hut at that time. After his release, the stranger was free to move around the town, he got to know of the poor hygienic state of the town and how it had been ravaged by malaria and cholera through Agba who had become his personal assistant and interpreter. 

Courtesy of the benevolence he had begun to receive from the villagers upon his release from custody, he decided to be of help to them by putting his medical knowledge into usage for the benefit of the town while he looked for a way to contact his country. He got his luggage from the town head and began to treat the villagers who were sick with his medical paraphernalia to their amazement, they had only thought of him as a stranger who had lost his way back home. He treated their injuries as well as those infected by malaria and likewise cholera with the use of drugs and advanced herbal mixtures unlike the local mixtures they had known and depended on. As time went by he realized that he could not carry on with the workload alone, hence he began to recruit the youths who had already gotten little knowledge of herbal treatments from their parents to work with him while he taught them the advanced treatments with herbs and proper medical approach to emergencies relating to ill health or injuries. He also discovered that the more he treated patients with malaria the more they increased, hence he taught them how to burn the skins peeled of specific trees at night in their rooms to keep mosquitoes away, with time the technique proved efficient as the rate of malaria infections decreased rapidly. He had set out on sea with large pieces of sandstone for the purification of water for the crew, since things had gone north with the crew, he decided to use them for the benefit of the of the villagers, he also taught them how to use the purifying stones before cutting them into pieces and giving a piece to each household, it was a small town, hence the pieces were sufficient. A couple of months had gone by since the stranger had begun to treat the villagers and the health standard of the villagers had improved to a remarkable degree, as an appreciation for his hard work, the villagers built him a little clinic in which he carried out his medical operations, they chose the name for the clinic themselves “DOCTOR WHITE” the name they had become fond of calling the stranger. The stranger with the assistance of Agba taught the villagers how to speak, read and write in English at least to the elementary level and in a couple of months communication between himself and the villagers had become easy as neither of the parties needed an interpreter except for the aged who couldn’t learn anymore and those who didn’t deem learning the language a necessity.

Over eleven months had gone by since Dr Tom arrived in the town, when one sunny afternoon on the tenth day of the eleventh month a set of explorers stopped by the land of Olobri on their way to explore the mountains of western part of Africa in search of a plateau they had heard about, they spent a couple of days in the town during which they learnt of the tragedy that had befallen the Doctor and his crew and how he had been unable to contact his country for over ten months to inform them of his whereabouts. Through the assistance of the explorers he was able to contact his homeland and inform them that he was still alive as well as his whereabouts, they all thought that everyone had lost their lives in the sea storm, hence the joy of knowing he had survived made them make preparations to get him back home without delay.

A week after he contacted his country and informed them of his whereabout, an envoy was sent to get him home. On the night before his departure from the town the villagers gave him a befitting send off party, there were lots to eat and drink as the hunters were sure have had their biggest catches, Dr tom had arrived during the fall which was the planting season and eleven months later it was winter which was for the season for harvest hence the farmers brought forth their finest crops for the send off of the stranger, hence there were lots to eats as well. There was also good music produced from the local instruments, as some danced to the melody alongside the stranger, others were in tears as the thought of the departure of the kind stranger filled their minds. The party went on all through the night and at the early hours of dawn, the villagers gathered on the shore to see him off with his envoy, they had packed lots of stuffs for the stranger which included tubers of yam, cassava and all other local crops he liked. The villagers waved goodbye at the ship as it sailed forward until it vanished from sight.

The villagers continued their daily activities of farming and hunting. However most of them had taken interest in the local medical profession, farming of herbs was highly encouraged and the purification of water before usage as well, the medical center was under the administration of Agba who had learned the most from the stranger. Malaria and cholera weren’t a challenge for the town anymore as the villagers had learnt to deal with them efficiently through local medical approaches and means.

A month after Doctor Tom had departed for his country, a large ship arrived at the same shore the villagers had waved goodbye to the stranger, the villagers gathered at the shore ready for whatever purpose the ship had arrived their land for, be it for peace or war. The crew leader of the ship stepped down and addressed the villagers “we are messengers from a land far from yours called Britain who have come here on grounds of peace, we have been sent to deliver items to you from a man in our country, he has asked us not to disclose his identity ourselves, as all necessary information are contained inside the boxes”

Having said that, he beckoned on the villagers for assistance and together with the crew on board, they packed the boxes to the shore. The weather was favorable that day, hence they messengers decided to start their sail home that same day, they were sea men hence rest wasn’t necessarily an option for them. One after the other, the villagers packed the boxes to the town head’s residence where the boxes were opened and to the joy and amazement of the villagers, they contained gifts bearing the inscriptions “Doctor White”. The gifts included equipments for the medical center, hundreds of mosquito nets enough for each household, herbal pills for the treatment of malaria and cholera with their prescriptions on them, beverages, boxes of medical gloves as well as masks, syringes and others, there was also a promissory note that more gifts were on the way.

The joy of the villagers knew no bounds as there were shouts of joy and praises as well as blessings for Doctor White. A statue was erected in honor of Doctor White with an inscription “The gods came to us in form of a stranger”

The End

By

Azaushubel, Emmanuel U.