Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Africa IV: Gabon II

Gabon is also the home of the Albert Schweizer Hospital. 

It was quite an experience to go there, to see the result of one person trying to atone for the sins of the colonists in Africa, in a humanitarian way. It was spotless, a shrine, a place that made one think about inequality in the world. It is in a nice area near Lambaréné. He worked from a religious conviction translated into action. Yet I think one can do good as well from a non-religious grounded way of thinking. Afterwards we made a short boat trip on the river Ogooué. It was a motor boat and the only way to get on it was basically on all fours, one's butt to the quay. The comment by the guys on  the quay was: quel beau petit derrière... (What a nice little behind!) I had to laugh, it had never been called small before. So all is relative. That is something I had to learn over and over again in Africa. There are no absolutes. All is relative.

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