Dr. Albert Schweitzer - Part 7 of 8

On my way to my room, I come upon a wounded chameleon, just in time to save him from Lisa. His injured tail will not prevent him from taking care of himself out of her reach. Two o'clock. Every day at this time, able-bodied inhabitants of the community are called back to work. All too slowly, they assemble in front of my house. Hospital inmates who are expected to work include primarily the men and women who are here as companions of patients. We maintain them as well as the patients, and so I feel they should do their part. Although these men know little about the Bible, they are fond of quoting one phrase from it. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. They say it is so hot they sweat whether they work or not, so why work? After we distribute tools, more slowly than ever, our workers go off to their jobs. The riverboat arrives, bringing us a shipment of lumber from a sawmill downstream and other building material for the leper village. It's the signal for everyone who can to come to the Embarcadero to help in the unloading. We depend, for everything that we don't make or grow at the hospital, on these monthly visits of the regular Ogoe Riverboat. We have plenty of strong arms and backs at Lamberini, but the problem of finding skilled workers has always concerned me. From time to time I have been able to train patients to assist me in carpentry work, but usually as soon as they are well, they move on. Yet somehow the work gets done. You don't have to go far to be in the depths of the jungle. A narrow path leads from the hospital about a third of a mile to the leper village, where building is in progress. It's a big job, enlarging the site on the crest of a hill. Because of the storms, no trees can be left standing that might fall on buildings. With a heavy heart, I have to sacrifice a palm. Primitive methods are used to break up the heavy rocks on the site. The stone is heated with a brush fire. When cold water is thrown over it, it cracks from the force of rapid contraction and can easily be broken with a crowbar. With protective bandages on their legs, these patients break up the stones so badly needed for making concrete. We do not use the most modern methods in our work at Lamberini. Modern equipment is expensive and shipping costs are high. Complicated machinery is difficult to maintain in this weather. Most importantly, I have not wanted to introduce these simple people to techniques and tools upon which they might learn to depend, and which would be available to them when they return to their own communities. During my life, I have had to devote much time to construction. Thirty years ago, I built most of the hospital buildings as they stand today. For some years afterward, I was only incidentally concerned with construction work. But now, I am at it again. It has become necessary to build a new village for the lepers who have swarmed here in recent years. Since 1944, we have been treating our leprosy patients with new sulfur drugs, a great advance in the treatment of this terrible disease. There is now a possibility of curing leprosy. It may take from one and a half to two and a half years, and these people must stay with us for the length of the cure. We are, at present, treating more than 250 lepers. Up until now, they have been living in bamboo huts, which they built themselves. These houses have now outlived their usefulness. The new buildings rest on concrete foundations, six to twelve rooms in a row, each with its corresponding kitchen. The wood we build with is from the very hard okume tree. It is so hard that an auger is necessary to drill the holes where nails will be driven. It is the most common wood here, and it is impervious to the destructive termites. Once the framework of the walls is erected, a lattice of bamboo is prepared over which shingles of palm leaves are attached, then woven and bound on with raffia. When these walls, consisting of several layers of leaves, are protected from contact with the moist soil by a concrete foundation and from the rain by an iron roof, they last for years and are easy to replace when necessary. We have planned our buildings to provide lasting shelter at the lowest cost. Now I am able to roof all my buildings with iron, thanks to the money I received for the Nobel Peace Prize. As soon as the new quarters are finished, the lepers move in with all their belongings. How they enjoy their new homes.