Since the publication of Stories from Another Place (Pendle Hill Pamphlet #319, 1995), my wife Elizabeth and I have had occasion to visit and speak with various groups of Friends across the country. As we described experiences from our life and work at Friends Lugulu Hospital in Kenya, many have encouraged us to commit some of these stories to writing, and this pamphlet is an attempt to honor those requests.
All of the stories in this present volume are about specific patients that I cared for during my work as a physician in Lugulu. I have chosen these stories of sickness and healing partly because they reflect the medical work which took us to Kenya in the first place, but more importantly because I have come to believe that in these matters, Africa has much to teach us. We in the developed world, having spent enormous energy over the last several generations in a futile attempt to deny our own suffering and mortality, have largely forgotten the meaning of such suffering, but Africa still knows.
