Zaïre: Getting There Was The Easy Part

‘When is the dental clinic going to start?’ was the question that the suffering people of Butembo were asking the Anglican pastor, Muhindo Ise-somo, every day in early 1988. He would then explain: ‘The missionaries need to settle in first. The dentist will start sometime after you see a container arrive in front of the church. All his dental equipment is in that container.’

Zaïre: Getting There Was the Easy Part is the much-awaited second book in Graham Toulmin’s ‘Zaïre’ series. In his first book Long Road to Zaïre, he told the story of ‘why’ an Australian dentist would sell his dental practice in the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney and take his wife and four young boys to live in a remote part of Africa so that he could pioneer a dental service there.

In this riveting new book, Graham explains ‘how’ that first year unfolded, and how he and his wife, Wendy, began the work that has continued and grown for the last 35 years. This captivating story describes, with humour, compassion and pathos, how they used their skills to serve the people in a country with little of the things that we take for granted in the developed countries of this world.

This story takes us on a journey through the highs and lows of life in an impoverished part of Africa, the adventures and misadventures, the joys and the sadness, an agonising decision and a tragic shooting. But above all, it highlights the people who welcomed them, worked with them and enabled them to survive and thrive.

About the author
Graham Toulmin is a dentist, a clinical educator at Sydney University, an author and occasional artist/illustrator.