In this blog post, we will look at why Albert Schweitzer chose to give up a stable life in Europe and serve as a medical missionary in Africa.
Albert Schweitzer laid the foundation for medical service. He extended the first helping hand of salvation to African people who were dying from all kinds of diseases without proper hospitals, doctors, or medicine. Until the early 1900s, Africa’s medical conditions were very poor. Albert Schweitzer was deeply impressed by a missionary’s writing. “There are no doctors here. If you are a doctor, please come!” Upon hearing this, Albert Schweitzer realized the suffering of the Africans and decided to become a doctor and dedicate his life to serving them.
He gave up his comfortable life in Europe and chose to serve in Africa. At the age of 27, Albert Schweitzer became a professor at the Theological University of Strasbourg, where he was guaranteed a stable life in Europe. However, he began his difficult and lengthy medical studies with a single belief in medical service, and after seven years, he passed the medical exam and became a doctor. Albert Schweitzer, who became a doctor, immediately left for Africa and established the Lambaréné Hospital and began providing free medical care. In this way, Albert Schweitzer became an example to many by establishing the concept of overseas medical service for the first time.
In addition, Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s approach to medical service is an example for others. He encouraged Africans to run their own hospitals. The money, bananas, chickens, and eggs they received were used to run the hospitals. I think his efforts to help Africans become self-reliant in the long term, rather than temporarily improving their environment by providing free medical care, are admirable. In the short term, treating diseases would have left Africans dependent on Albert Schweitzer. However, he encouraged Africans to take ownership of their hospitals. As a result, Africans took responsibility for improving their own situation rather than blindly relying on him.
Albert Schweitzer’s achievements are significant in that he established the concept of medical service and expanded it. Since he built the first hospital in Africa, many people have followed in his footsteps. For example, Larry Mellon, a successful American businessman, was inspired by an article about Albert Schweitzer and built Hôpital Albert Schweitzer Haiti in the small Caribbean island nation of Haiti to help improve people’s health. Larry Mellon began seeking advice from Albert Schweitzer after reading an article about him in Life on October 6, 1947, and spent several years studying to become a doctor. He then founded the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in the Artibonite Valley of Haiti, hiring doctors at his own expense to provide free care to patients and establishing an educational facility. Albert Schweitzer’s noble spirit of humanity spread to Haiti through Larry Mellon, and even today, his grandchildren are running the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti, continuing the spirit of service.
Albert Schweitzer also expanded the path of medical service through his writing activities. His books not only provided information to many Europeans who were not aware of the situation in Africa, but also conveyed the inspiration and enlightenment of life through medical service. For example, Zwischen Wasser und Urwald, published in 1918, vividly conveyed the poor conditions in Africa to Europeans, encouraging many to donate and helping Albert Schweitzer’s medical service. When he first went to Africa, only his wife helped him, but when he headed back to Africa in 1925, several doctors and nurses participated in the medical service. In his book Aus meinem Leben und Denken, he wrote, “I think we should all share the burden of suffering in this world,” directly appealing for many people to participate in the medical service.
Albert Schweitzer, who first pioneered the path of medical service and expanded it, was a medical professional who made a great contribution to society. His life is a great example for medical professionals today, and I hope that his noble spirit of humanitarianism will be widely known.
