My Life and Thought by Albert Schweitzer

By the autumn of 1913, they had expanded the hospital and even had an operating room. Although funds and equipment were scarce, they began to treat thousands of Africans, who traveled far to visit the little hospital. There they set up their hospital in a chicken hut on the banks of the Ogooué (Ogowe) River.

In the spring of 1913, Albert Schweitzer and his wife, who was a trained nurse, left for Lambaréné in the Gabon province of French Equatorial Africa. Despite racial prejudice, religious intolerance, and government bureaucratic efforts to stop him, he persevered and was able to realize his dreams. When I was younger, I did not realize he had to face down prejudice of every sort in order to build and staff his hospital in Africa. When I was 13, I read a more complex biography called Out of My Life and Thought, and was inspired by his persistence in accomplishing his goals even when he was blocked by religious, government, and political establishments. While at school he decided that he wanted to go to Africa to practice medicine, and he raised money for the trip by giving organ concerts.

When he was blocked from practicing as a minister, he decided to become a medical doctor. His father tutored him in theology and music, which he went on to study at university. He was also bullied by the other children in his village because his father was the town pastor. He was sickly as a child, and lost a sister to illness when he was quite young. This was very distressing to me, and I wanted to go to Africa to help.Īlbert Schweitzer was born in 1875 in Kaysersberg, Germany. It was the first time I understood that there were people in the world who did not have access to the help they needed when they were sick. In gratitude for your good fortune, you must render in return some sacrifice of your own life for other life.”Īlbert Schweitzer became one of my first heroes when I read his biography at 8 years old. “Whatever you have received more than others – in health, in talents, in ability, in success, in a pleasant childhood, in harmonious conditions of home life – all this you must not take to yourself as a matter of course. Blog: The Life and Work of Albert Schweitzer By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.

My Life and Thought by Albert Schweitzer