An African Gift

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My Life with the Batwa Pygmies

By Dr. Scott Kellermann

In 2001 Dr. Scott and Carol Kellermann left a comfortable life in California for the remote Bwindi region of southwest Uganda. There began a deep friendship with the Batwa tribe, rainforest dwellers until they were displaced by gorilla trekking tourism. Initially the Kellermanns ministered to the Batwa and their Bakiga neighbors in mobile medical clinics, hanging IV drips for critically ill patients from Ficus trees. Through prayer, respectful and loving engagement, and innovative problem-solving, they gathered a coalition of churches, local leaders, and American friends to establish Bwindi Community Hospital.

In honest and gripping prose, sprinkled with pathos and good humor, Dr. Kellermann describes the struggles faced on this remarkable journey, and carries the story to new heights, as the hospital has become a thriving medical complex, added an acclaimed school of nursing, and enhanced regional public health, especially for the Batwa, whose future is brightening.

Scott Kellermann, MD, is a graduate of Tulane School of Medicine where he also received his Master’s in Public Health and Tropical Medicine. He currently serves as Adjunct Professor and Medical Director at the University of San Francisco School of Nursing and Health Professions. He has published articles in professional journals of medicine on such topics as the Zika and monkey pox viruses, and on public health in Africa, especially in the Bwindi region of Uganda where he founded Bwindi Community Hospital. He is the recipient of several awards and distinctions such as Rotary International’s “Service Above Self” award (2013), the Dalai Lama’s “Unsung Heroes of Compassion” (2014), Tulane School of Public Health’s Alumnus of the Year (2016), the Fulbright Scholar award (2018), the AMA’s Nathan Davis Award for International Service (2018).

Scott lives with his wife Carol in Nevada City, California, where they have received the support of friends and associates through their more than twenty years of service in southwest Uganda, as this book chronicles. They have two children and five grandchildren, all of whom have participated in different ways in this work of care and compassion. Scott returns to Uganda often to practice medicine at Bwindi Community Hospital, lecture at Uganda Nursing School Bwindi, visit his many friends from the Batwa tribe, and encourage his Ugandan colleagues as they continue to serve and heal.

Contact Information:

The Kellermann Foundation
Laura Corley, Executive Director
laura@kellermannfoundation.org
www.kellermannfoundation.org
(972) 685-0279