- Title: VM-566B
- Summary: MEDICINE MAN: BLACK AFRICAN SURGEON & POET LENWAY PETERS NARRATES AND IS FOLLOWED BY CAMERA AS HE OPERATES, TREATS & TRAINS GAMBIAN NATIVES UNDER PRIMITIVE CONDITIONS. SQUALOR AND UNSANITARY CONDITIONS PREVAIL. (THE GAMBIA)
- Description:00:00:51 - LENWAY PETERS, BLACK AFRICAN SURGEON AND POET WALKS AROUND VILLAGE IN HIS COUNTRY OF GAMBIA. HE IS GREETED BY GROUP OF BLACK TEENS AS HE PASSES WITH CIGAR IN MOUTH. 00:01:12 - TALKING HEAD: PETERS SITS IN OFFICE WITH CIGAR IN HAND AND SPEAKS. HE RECITES A POEM 00:01:39 - AFRICAN WOMAN, IN NATIVE WEAR, SIT ALONG WATER'S EDGE & RELAX BEFORE THEY START WASHING THEIR CLOTHING IN RIVER, AS PETERS RECITES HIS POEM, "CATCHACALLI", ABOUT A GIRL, THE FEELING OF PEOPLE AND THEIR BELIEFS. 00:02:11 - PAN OF THICK BRUSH AND SMALL VILLAGE ALONG A RIVER 00:02:59 - NATIVE WOMEN AND MEN BALANCE BASKETS AND ALL SORTS OF ITEMS ON THEIR HEADS AT A VILLAGE MARKET 00:03:09 - NATIVE SITS ON GROUND AND PLAYS ODD-LOOKING STRING INSTRUMENT WITH HIS FINGERS. 00:03:19 - CIGAR WIELDING PETERS SITS IN EASY CHAIR WITH BOOK IN LAP AND CONTINUES HIS NARRATION. 00:03:28 - PETERS PUTS ON HIS SURGICAL GLOVES, MASK & GOWN & PREPARES FOR SURGERY ON NATIVE WOMAN IN HIS POORLY EQUIPPED OPERATING ROOM. CU PAN CONTAINING SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS 00:04:19 - WOMAN SITTING IN OPERATING TABLE BENDS OVER TO LET PETERS GIVES HER A SPINAL. HE THEN PERFORMS THE MAJOR SURGERY WITH AN ASSISTANT. 00:04:38 - CU DOCTOR PETERS, WITH HIS FACE COVERED WITH SURGICAL MASK, EXPLAINS THE PROCEDURE AND HORRID DETAILS THAT BROUGHT THE PATIENT TO HIM. 00:06:50 - POET PETERS READS ANOTHER POEM WITH SCENE OF NATIVES WORKING ALONG RIVER'S EDGE. CAMERA ZOOMS DOWN A VILLAGE DIRT STREET WITH CRUDE HOMES WHICH PETERS CALLS, "PYRAMIDS OF SQUALOR". 00:07:38 - NATIVE WOMEN POUND GRAIN, IN A CLAY BASKET, WITH POLES. MEN AND WOMEN IN NATIVE COSTUME GO ABOUT THEIR VILLAGE CHORES. 00:08:20 - DOCTOR PETERS STROLLS ALONG THE VILLAGE HOMES PAUSING TO CHAT WITH VILLAGERS IN THEIR COLORFUL ROBES, AS HE WALKS BY WITH CIGAR IN HAND. 00:09:50 - PETERS CHATS WITH COLORFULLY DRESSED NATIVES WITH BIKES. 00:10:14 - DOCTOR PETERS HOLDS UP X-RAY & EXPLAINS IT TO ANOTHER DOCTOR TREATING A BED RIDDEN BOY. 00:10:42 - GROUP OF BLACK NURSES LISTEN INTENTIVELY AS DR PETERS TELLS THEM HOW TO TREAT A CHILD PATIENT, AND HOW TO GO INTO COMMUNITY TO HELP. 00:11:13 - AS WOMAN WRAPS HER BABY SECURELY TO HER BACK PAPOOSE-STYLE, NURSE EXPLAINS WHY THE SAME WOMAN LOST 7 OF HER 9 CHILDREN THROUGH MEDICAL IGNORANCE 00:11:50 - CU BOTTLE CAPS ARE ATTACHED TO BABY'S BLANKET TO WARD OFF BAD CURSES. 00:12:00 - PROVINCIAL HOSPITAL NEAR GAMBIA RIVER IS ONLY HOSPITAL BETWEEN THE COASTAL CAPITAL AND WHERE GAMBIA RIVER MEETS SENEGALESE BORDER, IT HAS ONLY 2 DOCTORS, 3 NURSES AND 4 STUDENTS 00:12:22 - CU NATIVE MAN WITH PIERCED NOSE CONTAINING MANY ORNAMENTS. DOCTOR PETERS INTERVIEWS A NATIVE AT THE HOSPITAL. 00:13:57 - TALKING HEAD: I. M. GARBA-JAHUMPA, MINISTER OF HEALTH, THE GAMBIA SITS IN HIS COLORFUL ROBES AND SPEAKS OF THE NEED FOR AID AND PROMISE OF AID 00:14:35 - DOCTOR TREATS FEET OF A NATIVE WOMAN WHOSE PROBLEM COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN PREVENTED BY MEDICATION NOT AVAILABLE TO HER. NURSE TRAINEES WATCH. CU DOCTOR MOVES STIFF FOOT OF PATIENT 00:15:36 - CU MOTHER, WHO IS SUFFERING FROM MAL-NUTRITION BREAST FEEDS HER BABY 00:15:44 - CU DOCTOR IAN MCGREGOR, MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, SHOWS CHARTS INDICATING CHILD GROWTH IN WET SEASON IS BETTER THAN DRY SEASON. 00:16:22 - NURSE PLACES BLACK BABY ON SCALE AS MCGREGOR SPEAKS. LARGE GROUP OF NATIVE WOMEN WITH BABIES IN THEIR LAPS WAIT TO BE SEEN BY DOCTOR. PAN 00:17:20 - NATIVE WOMAN WALKS ALONG CARRYING HUGE BUNDLE OF FIRE WOOD ON HER HEAD. 00:17:58 - MEMBERS OF THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT DRIVE ONTO LARGE HAND-DRIVEN "FERRY" WITH THEIR 2 PICK-UP TRUCKS. ALL PEOPLE RIDING THE "FERRY" TAKE A HAND IN PULLING IT ACROSS RIVER WITH ROPE ON PULLEYS. 00:18:04 - NATIVE MAN HELPS WOMAN PLACE A LARGE TUB OF WATER, SHE FILLED IN THE RIVER, ON HER HEAD FOR CARRYING. 00:18:42 - HEALTH DEPARTMENT TRUCKS RIDES INTO THE BUSH TO SERVICE SMALL VILLAGE TRIBES. HEALTH WORKER ANNOUNCES HIS PRESENCE OVER HAND-HELD P.A. SYSTEM 00:19:12 - WOMAN CARRYING THEIR BABIES IN PAPOOSES GATHER FOR VACCINATIONS. HEALTH WORKER HOLDS UP PHOTOS OF CHILDREN BEARING AFFECTS OF DISEASE SO THE PEOPLE CAN RECOGNIZE THE SYMPTOMS 00:19:35 - WOMEN WITH THEIR BABIES STRAPPED TO THEIR BACKS LINE UP FOR VACCINATION DONE WITH MODERN VACCINATION GAUN. 00:19:56 - LITTLE GIRL SCREAMS LOUDLY TRYING TO RESIST THE INJECTION. 00:20:28 - CLASS FULL OF MEN AND WOMEN TRAINEES LISTEN ATTENTIVELY TO DOCTOR PETERS GIVE A FIRST AID LECTURE. 00:22:24 - VILLAGE "HEALER" IS ACCOMPANIED ON HIS ROUNDS BY DOCTOR PETERS WHO CRITICIZES HOW THE HEALER TREATED A YOUNG NATIVE'S BROKEN ARM. CU CRUDE SPLINT APPLIED TO BROKEN ARM IS SHOWN. 00:26:22 - PAN OF THICK JUNGLE ALONG A RIVER AS POET PETERS RECITES HIS POEM.
- Collection: Historic Films
- Producer:Historic Films
- Transmission Date:01/01/1970
- Rights:On request
- Decade: 1970s
- File Name: VM-566B