THE GOOD DOCTOR

Dr. David Livingstone

In the heart of Southern Africa, well over 100 years ago, a young Scottish Missionary/doctor camped among the savages of a village. He made friends with the Chieftain gave medicines to the tribe and preached about a God who was the father of all men. This man was none other than Dr. David Livingstone.

Dr. David Livingstone was born on March 19, 1813 in Lanarkshire, Scotland. As a young lad, he worked in a spinning mill 12 hours a day. Later he studied for the ministry at Edinburgh University. He was a handsome youth, well built, but very shy and ill at ease in public. On his first attempt to preach, words failed him and he stepped down from the pulpit in shame.

He was later encouraged to become a doctor and David Livingstone decided to become a preacher as well as a doctor and a foreign missionary. Soon after, he was sent to Africa for his medical studies.

David Livingstone developed a burning compassion for the people of Africa. The slave traffic shocked and sickened him and he vowed to devote his life in stamping out this evil practice.

He watched the fears and suspicion of the Africans melt when he applied his healing medicines and tried to teach them better ways of living. He saw their joy at learning and they called him’ The Good One’. His plan was to establish a mission point, select some good native converts to lead it and then go on to new tribes and unexplored fields.

With every step forward, this hardy crusader ventured into exciting and dangerous adventures. Leading his caravan, he would fearlessly greet tribesmen who had never before seen a white man. He would bargain cloth, beads and implements for their friendship. Later he would treat the sick with his medicines and when he won their confidence by his treatments, he would work among them for weeks or months.

On Sabbath mornings, he would gather people and preach with stubborn determination. He practiced his gospel messages in those various difficult dialects. At first, the wondering savages did not understand his words, but they knew he was ‘The Good One’ and that the God he talked about must be good too.

Time and again Dr. David Livingstone’s life was saved by divine interventions. At Mabotsa an enraged lion attacked and mauled him, breaking his left arm. A young superintendent of school saved him at the nick of time. Never again was Dr. David Livingstone able to lift that arm above his shoulder without pain. This extraordinary doctor/preacher was known for his endurance and scorn of danger so much so that it became legendary. His work as a doctor was very important to his preaching. He demonstrated the use of quinine in treating malaria. During the first 5 years of his work, he himself had 31 attacks of fever. Without quinine he could not have lived. He saved a whole lot of families and tribes.

Dr. David Livingstone’s feats of exploration ranked with the greatest. He explored 1/3 of the huge continent – from the Cape almost to the equator and from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. He opened up a vast unknown area of the earth’s surface than any other single man.

He charted all the regions he visited and sent precise reports to the Royal Geographical Society in London. He discovered some magnificent falls, more than twice as high as Niagara and named it ‘Victoria Falls’ in honour of his Queen. His wife cheerfully shared the perils of her husband’s work, nursed him through numerous illnesses and bore him 4 children. They lived in England.

Once when Dr. David Livingstone was away in England, the Boers raided his station, stole his furniture and burnt his books. They also closed his school and terrified his convert helpers. It was a warning from the South African authorities against his agitation over slave traffic.

But Dr. David Livingstone, fearless that he was, he denounced slavery at every turn. He requested the British Government to help stop the slave trade. He wrote ‘Missionary Travels’ the first of several books and became a famous man. The Queen gave civil authority to Dr. David Livingstone in dealing with the African tribes. She also gave authorization for another expedition and exploration of Eastern and Central Africa. For the next 6 years. Dr. David Livingstone was an explorer rather than a missionary. He explored the Zambezi waterways and discovered Lake Nyasa. He established schools, mission points and trade routes. In the meanwhile, his wife died and in sorrow, he completed his difficult expedition. Wherever he turned, he saw Churches thriving, children being educated and sanitation practice taking root. Yet he was not satisfied, for he had one unfulfilled dream to discover, the sources of the Nile, so that European trade might come from the north to the interior of Africa. So in 1866, he undertook the dangerous task of exploring the watershed between Lake Nyasa and Lake Tanganyika.

From the time he left on this memorable expedition, only one man saw him alive. On this expedition, he met with every possible discouragement. He was ill with pneumonia most of the time. Incessant rains and tsetse flies made travel almost impossible. His supplies were stolen by unfriendly tribesmen. Some of his helpers deserted him. Being very sick, he was carried on a litter to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika which was a 2-month trek. For more than 2 years there was no word of the missionary explorer. Two relief expeditions were sent out and both of these failed to locate the Good Doctor.

Star reporter of New York Herald, Henry Stanley, sensing the journalistic possibilities of a story on the lost doctor missionary in the heart of Africa, set out in search of him. Henry Stanley assembled a party of 192 members and started westward in February 1871. He had only heard of rumours of Dr. David Livingstone’s possible whereabouts. His search for the Good Doctor was fraught with difficulties from day one. His caravan mutinied, two leaders tried to kill him and heavy rains bogged the trails. He was struck with malaria and dysentery. Physically he was down to nothing, but his spirit was the same as the day he set sail to Africa. For 9 months, he courageously searched for the brave doctor in the dark interiors of Africa. On 10th November he at last arrived at Ujiji to find the doctor/preacher very emaciated, but erect and dignified as ever. For 2 years Dr. David Livingstone had been living outside civilization without medicines or essentials. Henry Stanley came just in time to deliver them. The doctor gratefully accepted the new clothes, supplies, medicines from Stanley and eagerly read letters and heard news of the outside world.

But for all of Stanley’s pleading, Dr. David Livingstone refused to return with him to England. He said “I still have much work to do”. So Henry Stanley turned back disappointed only carrying with him material for dispatches. Dr. David Livingstone was the most talked of man to this day.

With a new caravan and supplies, the courageous preacher marched on searching for the headwaters of Nile. His strength was ebbing, but he continued stubbornly. At an Ilala Village, one evening, he was too exhausted to talk and went to rest on his bed. Just before dawn he passed away.

Thousands of his disciples came to pay their last respects. They embalmed his body, removed his heart to place it reverently in their own soil where it belonged. Then began the longest funeral march in history, chanting gospel hymns the doctor had taught them, the procession of mourners started their 9-month trek to the coast. From Zanzibar a British vessel brought the body of Dr. David Livingstone home. On 18^th April, 1874, Dr. David Livingstone was laid to rest in honour in West Minister Abbey.

Acknowledging the late crusader’s mission against African slavery, Queen Victoria announced in 1880, the treaties had been signed with the Sultan of Zanzibar and other sovereigns prohibiting slave traffic by land or sea.

Dr. David Livingstone carried the light of faith and freedom to the world’s most backward area. Largely because of his efforts, Africa became a charted land open to settlement and trade. He led a ceaseless crusade against slavery, superstition and illiteracy. He was indeed one of the world’s greatest doctors/missionary of all times.