Berkeley Vaughan

I really enjoy these medical missionary biographies. The story is told in journal format and almost reads like a blog. I appreciated the sense of humour of the author as he describes some of the crazy situations he ended up in whilst working in Papua amongst a primitive tribal people group.

The story switches about two thirds of the way through to detail the experiences of the author's fellow missionary in an unevangelised area of cannibals. The people in this tribe believed that they had to murder someone in order to earn the right to marry--it was their bride price ...they also believed in polygamy so there was much bloodshed. Some of the stories were seriously shocking which made the turn-around due to the missionary activity almost unbelievable.

I would have given this a higher rating if there had been more detail about the Gospel preaching. I've often found this with the medical missionaries--their accounts are fascinating due to the range of strange illnesses they are treating with little or no equipment. However, the Gospel seems to take a back-seat or fall by the wayside as advances in living standards are prioritised often in the name of health. This biography has some details of the Christian witness that was going on but it doesn't take centre stage.

Recommended reading for those who like this genre.… (más)