Diary

Michel Lechat

It would be nice to say that Graham Greene just appeared one day in = Yonda,=20 the leprosy settlement in the Equateur Province of the then Belgian = Congo where=20 I was the doctor, stepping off the gangway of the bishop=92s riverboat = as Querry=20 does in A Burnt-Out Case. But Greene did not come unannounced. = His=20 visit to Yonda had been arranged through a common friend in Brussels. In = his=20 letter to this friend, he had expressed the wish =91for the purposes of = a book to=20 spend some weeks in a hospital of the Schweitzer kind in Africa, but run = by a=20 religious order=92. My first reaction was mixed: Dr Schweitzer was not = highly=20 regarded at the time by health professionals, and our settlement was = very=20 different from the leproseries that Greene seemed to be looking for. = Yonda was a=20 large village near the River Congo, with small brick houses set along = avenues=20 bordered by mango trees; it housed more than a thousand leprosy = patients. There=20 was no segregation of the =91lepers=92, a cruel and unnecessary measure = meant to=20 prevent the transmission of the disease. Leprosy is not particularly = contagious,=20 and out of some 100,000 patients at the time in the Congo, no more than = 10 per=20 cent would have been infectious. Patients could go freely in and out of = the=20 compound; their families lived with them if they chose to. There were = schools,=20 and children were examined at regular intervals for the onset of = symptoms, which=20 at an early stage are easy to cure. There were workshops, plots of land = for=20 cultivation and a dozen dugouts (which we called =91pirogues=92) on the = riverbanks.=20 Some patients used to be fishermen, and on the gravel road leading to = town one=20 was always coming across patients or their relatives pedalling to the = market,=20 carrying fish or piles of vegetables for sale on the backs of their = bicycles.=20 Yonda was aiming to become the prototype of a modern institution for the = care of=20 leprosy. It didn=92t seem what Greene had in mind for his prospective = book, and so=20 I did nothing to encourage him to come, though I did spend a Sunday = preparing a=20 large chart describing a dozen leproseries in Africa that seemed to me = better=20 suited than Yonda to accommodate him.

To tell the truth, I was not keen to have such a visitor. In spite of = Yonda=92s=20 relative remoteness, it was on its way to becoming if not a tourist = attraction,=20 at least a showpiece. I was also apprehensive that our guest, a famous = Catholic=20 writer, might upset the delicate balance between myself and the mission. = It is=20 not always easy to be a mission doctor, especially when one is also a = government=20 employee. How would the father superior react, cycling non-stop along = the=20 avenues chewing at his cheroot? Or the father in charge of construction, = who in=20 a previous life had taught Greek in a provincial Belgian town? Or the = brother in=20 charge of carpentry, who did not speak a word of anything except = Frisian, at=20 times mixed with some presumably horrendous expletives in Malay, which = he had=20 brought back from years spent in a Japanese concentration camp during = World War=20 Two? Not to mention the bishop, described in the Congo Journal = as =91a=20 wonderfully handsome old man with an 18th-century manner =96 or perhaps = the manner=20 of an Edwardian =93boulevardier=94=92? What if this =91pilgrim of the = dry season=92 =96 the=20 sarcastic term used by the colonials to designate passing travellers =96 = did not=20 go to Mass? Could he play bridge?

In any event, after a couple of weeks a letter arrived saying that = Greene=20 wanted to come to Yonda. And then a second letter arrived: =91The book = that I have=20 in mind has a leper mission purely as a background and I have no = intention, I=20 promise you, of producing a roman =E0 clef . . . Nor am I = looking for=20 any dramatic material. The more normal and routine-like that I can make = the=20 background the more effective it would be for my purpose.=92 There was a = third=20 letter in December: =91I want to see things as they are . . . = I want=20 also to reassure you about the subject of the novel. The real subject is = a=20 theological and psychological argument which . . . I can=92t = go into for=20 fear of destroying this still nebulous idea that it should take place = against=20 the background of an African hospital settlement.=92

I went to see the father superior in order to make the arrangements = for the=20 visit. He did not show reluctance or surprise. He was quite used to the = visitors=20 I brought in, as well as to the ones sent occasionally by the colonial=20 administration: a famous American ornithologist, an honorary Belgian = consul from=20 S=E3o Paulo, a Mr Arnold from the State Department, the manager of a = travelling=20 circus, a trainee physiotherapist, a renowned doctor who had crossed the = Atlantic on a raft, a socialist lady senator, a saxophonist etc. So we = prepared=20 for Greene=92s visit as usual, although we forgot to put a coathanger in = his room=20 (cassocks are not supposed to be hung on coathangers), which apparently=20 embarrassed him.

When Greene arrived nobody asked any questions. The fathers went on = driving=20 trucks, mixing cement, repairing generators, and went on teaching, = preaching and=20 distributing sweets to the children. The sisters cycled from the convent = to the=20 school and from the kitchen to the pharmacy. At the time, the mission = was=20 teeming with frantic building activity. After years of discussions with = the=20 colonial authorities, it had been decided to build a hospital to replace = the=20 four-room dispensary which, since my arrival five years before, had = served as=20 consulting-room cum laboratory and maternity ward. The fathers were = feverishly=20 drawing up blueprints; Edith, my wife, was typing orders. I was ordering = equipment; we would have electricity. Nobody had much time to devote to = our=20 guest.

In the morning Greene would walk through the meadow to the banks of = the=20 Congo, sit in an old pirogue and read until the heat became unbearable. = He=20 generally had lunch in the fathers=92 house; during the meal the four = missionaries=20 would exchange innocent jokes in Flemish, bursting into laughter that = left him=20 nonplussed. At the end of the day he would come to our house for a rest = on the=20 veranda and dinner with my wife and children. Now and then he joined me = in the=20 dispensary and sat on a chair between the door and the open window, = observing=20 the patients and asking questions. Twenty years later, he mentioned in = passing=20 in a letter to me the =91fear I felt the first few hours with you in the = leper=20 colony=92. I hadn=92t noticed.

It=92s a pity that no one photographed Greene staring at a patient, = as he=20 would: for example, at Imbonga Bernard, the man without fingers who had = been=20 taught to knit as well as any sister. He wrote, too, in his journal of = the woman=20 with the palsied eyelids who could not close her eyes or even blink. = =91The doctor=20 had bought her dark glasses but she would not wear them because they = were not a=20 medicine =96 she had trust only in drugs.=92 He added that the patients = who had been=20 given orthopaedic shoes because their feet were misshapen put them on = only on=20 Sundays.

We tried to protect Greene from people=92s curiosity. The most = obvious=20 nuisances were those who wanted his opinion on some manuscript they had = in a=20 drawer. The number of people in a colonial town looking for a publisher = is=20 amazing. They usually showed up after five o=92clock, =91just to have a = beer=92. We=20 were well rehearsed. As soon as a car was spotted turning off the road = and into=20 the long alley of palm trees, Greene would rush into the house, jump = through our=20 bedroom window, and out into the forest.

The settlement at Yonda was beginning to encroach on the equatorial = forest,=20 whose edges unfolded like huge green cliffs. =91The great trees with = their roots=20 like the ribs of ships. From the plane they had stood from the green = jungle=20 carpet, browning at the top like cauliflowers. Their trunks curve a = little this=20 way and that, giving the appearance of reptilian life.=92 So Greene = describes it=20 in Congo Journal. It might well have been while running away = from these=20 afternoon bores that he imagined the flight of Deo Gratias, Querry=92s = boy, into=20 the forest at night, on =91a rough track which . . . led = towards what=20 geographers might have called the centre of Africa=92.

Visitors to Yonda often pointed out things I no longer noticed. = Greene, by=20 contrast, while a pleasant companion when visiting a retired vet in his = cocoa=20 plantation, or strolling among the giant bamboo canes in a dilapidated = botanical=20 garden, kept his observations to himself. There was between us a tacit = pact of=20 mutual reserve; he would have called it a =91duty of reticence=92. He = never asked me=20 about my beliefs, half-beliefs and non-beliefs. The nearest we came to=20 discussing religion was on a Sunday driving to attend Mass at the church = in the=20 African township of Coq. He said: =91Michel, I hope it is not for me = that you are=20 going to Mass.=92 I returned the question. Harassed by so many people = eager to=20 discuss their religious anxieties with him =96 there was quite a bunch = of them =96 I=20 think he liked my restraint. I also avoided anecdotes that might suggest = the=20 framework of a novel. The colonial environment, including the missionary = world,=20 is a breeding ground for all kinds of conflict and entanglement. = Gratifying, I=20 imagine, to furnish a famous author with a subject.

When I arrived at the leprosarium as a young doctor, I had a fierce = battle=20 with some of the missionary sisters regarding the care of the patients, = a=20 quarrel between ancients and moderns. It was the perfect scenario for a = Greene=20 novel. I did not say a word about it. Twenty-five years later, when we = were=20 having lunch together at Felix=92s in Antibes, I raised the subject. He = told me=20 that when he had been in Yonda he had heard a rumour about the affair, = and that=20 he had been grateful to me for not having mentioned it, because it would = have=20 =91spoiled the whole thing=92.

In his Congo Journal he describes his morning walk through = the=20 meadow down to his pirogue: =91Egrets like patches of arctic snow stand = among the=20 small coffee-coloured cattle. The huge Congo flowing with the massive = speed of a=20 rush hour out over the great New York bridges. This had not changed = since=20 Conrad=92s day.=92 As a ship=92s officer, Conrad had manoeuvred the = wood-burning=20 stern-wheeler, the Roi des Belges, down the Congo, passing the = site of=20 Yonda. (Klein, his travelling companion and the inspiration for Kurtz, = is buried=20 downstream.) I mentioned Conrad once and immediately got the feeling = that I had=20 made a faux pas. I was interested to learn, years later, that the book = he was=20 reading when lying in his pirogue was indeed by Conrad, perhaps as a = sort of=20 exorcism.

The missionaries at Yonda were very tolerant. Greene wrote about this = in his=20 journal soon after he arrived:

The husbands are less inclined to follow their wives than the wives = the=20 husbands. The husband will set up in his village with another woman, = and when=20 the wife finds a lover to look after her in the colony, the husband = descends=20 demanding justice and the return of his =91dot=92 . . . = People here are=20 left alone and there are no moral inquisitions.

This attitude is evident throughout the novel. Greene tells the story = (a true=20 one) of a man with no fingers or toes who brought to be baptised a baby = he had=20 fathered by a woman crippled from polio. =91There were no questions and = no=20 admonitions. The fathers were too busy to bother themselves with what = the Church=20 considered sin.=92 The fathers really were unconcerned with private = lives. In=20 A Burnt-Out Case, however, Father Thomas is indignant that the = sisters=20 employ a young teacher who has =91a baby every year by a different man=20 . . . allowing her to teach with her cradle in the class. She = is=20 pregnant again. What kind of an example is that?=92 The father superior = replies:=20 =91We are here to help, father, not to condemn.=92

I believe that Greene was surprised by what he found in Yonda. Here = disease=20 rather than sin took precedence. =91The priests are more concerned with=20 engineering, electricity, navigation and the like, than with the life of = man or=20 God,=92 Greene wrote in Congo Journal. Querry =91has come = seeking another=20 form of love and is faced with electric turbines and problems of = building, and=20 he fails to understand the priests as much as they fail to understand = him=92. This=20 might explain why he found it hard to write about what he saw in Yonda. = =91Never=20 had a novel proved more recalcitrant,=92 he later said.

From the Congo, Greene flew to Douala in the Cameroons. He wrote us a = warm=20 note of thanks, and added: =91I forgot to tell you that I went to one = other=20 leproserie . . . a mixture of the sentimental and the squalid=20 . . . Altogether it made one to realise all the more strongly = what you=20 have accomplished at Yonda.=92 A couple of weeks later, another letter=20 arrived:

I have just received an account in a local Cameroon paper of a = meeting with=20 me in Douala and feel extremely annoyed because I am reported as = saying that I=20 preferred the little l=E9proserie of Dibamba to those in the Belgian = Congo =96=20 better built, industrialised and less human! I am quoted as saying = that I=20 would have liked to have passed a fortnight at Dibamba. Needless to = say I said=20 none of these things.

I wanted to know more about this place in Dibamba and got a copy of = the=20 article. It was described by the clerical interviewer as =91un peu de = tout, =E0 la=20 fran=E7aise=92. Greene was presented as =91ce g=E9ant aux yeux clairs, = qui prend la vie=20 comme un coll=E9gien en vacances=92. It was a lyrical elegy, comparing = Greene to=20 King Arthur in search of the Grail, a high-class Don Giovanni, the = bizarre trio=20 of Epicurus, Rabelais and Saint John the Baptist, as well as Chesterton, = Mao=20 Zedong, Maurice Barr=E8s and Victor Hugo. In this orgy of comparisons = and=20 endorsements, the Dibamba/Yonda contest is an insignificant and almost = ludicrous=20 footnote. I wrote to reassure him:

Please do not worry about the Douala article . . . It = could well=20 be that the l=E9proseries in the Congo are less compassionate than = those in the=20 Cameroon . . . Africans are not children. We are not here to = use=20 them for our self-fulfilment. We are here to help the patients into = developing=20 their responsibility as human beings . . . We are not = looking for=20 gratitude. We want them to get cured, whenever possible, and then to = forget us=20 afterwards . . . It would be good if your Jesuit journalist = thought=20 about that.

In the novel Greene has Doctor Colin say: =91A patient can always = detect=20 whether he is loved or whether it is only his leprosy which is loved. I = don=92t=20 want leprosy loved. I want it eliminated.=92

I cannot help asking myself now whether there was a little bit of = truth in=20 that Douala interview. Greene later wrote a heartfelt review of a book = about the=20 leper colony of Lambar=E9n=E9 where Albert Schweitzer worked in which he = claimed=20 that =91the sentimental hospital offers something to the human mind in = pain or=20 despair which the scientific may not be able to do, and the scientific = sometimes=20 fails by reason of its own dogmas.=92 Yonda was an example of good = management, but=20 this has its dangers. Could Greene have foreseen the drift towards a = faceless=20 world of cost-effectiveness, where cure is a return on investment, = people are=20 human resources, partners are stakeholders, and patients will soon = become=20 clients, disguised behind statistics?

The fathers and the sisters made no comment after A Burnt-Out = Case=20 was published, just as no questions had been asked while Greene was in = Yonda.=20 The book, I suppose, joined the few romans policiers and the = stock of=20 missionary journals on the chocolate-coloured dresser in the fathers=92 = common=20 room. They probably didn=92t read it. They didn=92t have time.

Michel = Lechat=20 was medical director of the Yonda leprosy settlement in the then Belgian = Congo=20 when Graham Greene arrived in 1959 to research the book that became = A=20 Burnt-Out Case; the novel is dedicated to = him.



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