Branhamites and motorbikes

Have any of you ever heard of William Branham? All you Kentuckians better raise your hands, he was born there! Anyway, there's this group called the Branhamites who are disciples of....that's right, W. Branham. Well, we had been 'advised' that there were Branhamites in Kole (of all places!!) and that we were to steer clear. COME ON! That's like telling a little kid (good comparison) that a house is haunted and to stay away. So what did I do? Naturally, I invited them to the house!

Now, before you go all crazy (and no, I didn't get converted, I don't think) I did my due diligence and researched this whole deal to see what the hubbub was all about. If you want to do a neat experiment, Google the word 'Branhamites' and count how many times the word 'cult' comes up. By the way, they don't refer to themselves as 'Branhamites', at least not outwardly, there as a bunch of different names. Anyway, there were some concerns from the powers that be (my bosses, not God) that they were operating in the area and were an issue. They confessed that they had little to no direct info so it was best to play it safe. Well, DANGER is my middle name, though my nick name is 'special ed'.

Like I said, they seemed like a nice bunch so I had them over for a chat. 2 guys showed up carrying a book. Why is there always a book? And no, it was NOT the Bible. It was Branham's notes on the Bible. They gave me the low down on the church, number of members, locations, how they are financed (supposedly), etc. etc. For a mysterious group they were pretty forthcoming. I passed on the info to the 'Powers' who demanded that I reveal my source! Though admittedly not that dramatic, it was more like, "Who told you that?!" I laid out the [ahem] story of how I came into these tidings (sans the invitation) and they were content for the time being.

I'll keep this next one short.

So we were running drastically short on patients and would be out by the time the next group got here if we didn't find more. So one of the guides and I saddled up the bikes and took off for Gengwa, where most of our patients had come from (see map below). After a tortuous 4 hours and 85km, we finally pulled into the local health clinic to discover there were NO patients. In fact no one had seen a monkeypox patient in about a month.

But amazingly...what they did have...were villagers with leprosy! How many people in the course of a career in nursing actually get to see leprosy, in person? While I felt truly sorry for the patients, I couldn't help the fascination with seeing them up close and touching them (with gloves). I couldn't imagine what an entire colony of people affected with this disease must have been like....unbelievable. After I had finished interviewing the staff we (dreadfully) headed back. Imagine driving from Fredrick to DC and back...on a motocross track. Fun you say? Ever see saddle burn from a motorcycle? Not pretty!