Ch 1 Mingling with Savages

It is a gift to be simple, and Dr Johannes van der Kemp had that gift. Maybe it was because he was over 50 when he started his global health career. Maybe it was the tragedy in his own life. Maybe it was that the medicine of his day had so little to offer. Whatever the reason, he was not ashamed of his true simplicity - “to bow and bend” - and that bowing and bending gave him a chance to live in solidarity with the people he came to serve.

Or at least try to. Not many of his contemporaries respected what he was doing, and the legacy of his simplicity and solidarity was… well there is no legacy. Still, I invite you to at least hear the story of Dr. van der Kemp, the man who mingled with savages.