Mission Doctor Stands By Patients In Congo

Press, Volume C, Issue 29532, 6 June 1961, Page 2

Mission Doctor Stands By Patients In Congo

The story of a courageous doctor standing by operation cases who could not be moved in a mission hospital at Mulongo (about 200 miles from Elizabethville in the Congo) as Katanga soldiers attacked and plundered the area, is revealed in a letter to a former member of his nursing staff. The nurse is Miss Audrey Smith, who has sent the letter to relatives in the Nelson district Fighting mad, the soldiers killed, plundered and set buildings on fire. All the belongings left behind by Miss Smith, now on the nursing staff of a hospital in Northern Rhodesia, have been looted, the medical officer (Dr. Ray Williams) says.

“I feel very guilty about thia; and you will ask what I was doing while it was all going on,” he says. ”Well. my only excuse is that my thoughts were with the hospital and patients remaining there, as we had all heard that the Conakats were out to kill every Balubakat they met, and I was afraid they would come and shoot them in their beds. “We spent the short time I had (before the attackers arrived) carrying wounded soldiers into the grass, as I was sure they would be fair game even if I could establish the neutrality of the hospital. "AU the infirmiers had fled and I was afraid to leave the hospital any more as the shooting sounded very close. AU my prayers were directed to the saving of their (the patients') Uves. I never gave a thought to the houses and goods and could only be thankful that you all weren’t here. I'm sure that is why the Lord caUed you out for this time and I trust you wiU take the spoiling of your goods as cheerfully as you did the leaving," he says. The attackers killed everyone they found In the village, between 20 and 40 according

to varying reports, for the rest of the population had fled to the bush. Lepers Killed Those killed included two lepers who were caught as they tried to cross a river. Their hands were tied and they were pushed on their faces so that they drowned, Dr. Williams says. "Actually, on looking back now from a week later, the soldiers were very moderate to us (at the mission) apart from the looting. The Lord has, indeed, protected us from all harm. The school and hospital buildings were completely untouched." Earlier in the letter he mentions that the mission church, houses and other buildings were burnt. “The Katangais have overwhelming military (white) strength and they are confident of remaining in power here. I think they are likely to establish a permanent administration unless there should be ‘Red’ help—at Stanleyville. U.N. at Manono? “Don't know what has happened to U.N. at Manono (about 50 miles from Mulongo) to let this sort of massacre go on,” he says. The letter, written in April,

reports that about 200 patients had returned to the daily clinic at the mission hospital for treatment. “It is the maximum I can manage on my own, and by the look of things none of the infirmiers is likely to turn up for a long time. “I’m glad I lost everything (except the clothes I sit in) as otherwise I'm sure I'd seem like a collaborator with the enemy, as I wasn’t imprisoned and I treat their wounded. So far, I am accepted (and commiserated with) by both sides,’’ Dr. Williams says. Miss Audrey Smith did her nursing training at the Nelson Hosiptal and at Kew Hospital, Invercargill. She has been a missionary nurse in the Congo for about eight years, working mainly as a maternity nurse.