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Description
The biography of Dr. Louise Aall who studied medicine in Germany and Switzerland before choosing to work as an itinerant bush doctor, setting up a clinic in Mahenge in Tanganyika (now Tanzania).
She was the first western physician to identify and treat a variant of epilepsy, now recognized by the World Health Organization as "Nodding Syndrome." While working at her clinic in 1959, Dr. Aall was asked by the Red Cross to fly to Matadi in the Belgian Congo to manage a 300-bed hospital. Protected by United Nations soldiers from Morocco, she served as the hospital's lone bedside physician during the height of the civil war atrocities.
In 1961, at the invitation of Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Albert Schweitzer, she worked with him at his renowned clinic in French Equatorial Africa (Gabon). Despite ongoing financial and geographical hurdles, her innovative treatment and rehabilitation programs for epilepsy in Tanzania continue to benefit thousands of African patients with "moon madness."
Contributor Notes
Alan Twigg, founder of BC BookWorld, has written twenty books and produced seven films. When the award-winning Twigg was accorded a Doctorate of Literature from Simon Fraser University in 2022, the university described him as "British Columbia's leading man of letters."
He received the 13th annual Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence in 2016. In 2015 he was inducted as a member of the Order of Canada. In 2011, he received the Mayor of Vancouver's Literary Arts Award. In 2007, he became the second person to accept the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellowship in the Humanities at Simon Fraser University "to recognize and support leaders in the humanities who are not necessarily part of the academy." In 2000, he was the inaugural recipient of the Gray Campbell Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contributions to literature and publishing. Visit him online at www.alantwigg.com
Editorial Review
"Moon Madness is a wonderful, inspiring, and sometimes heart-breaking read." - The Pacific Rim Review of Books
"This is a rare and refreshing study of unselfishness, proving that good people can be fascinating and adventurous." - Douglas Todd, Ethics Journalist and Author
"Albert Schweitzer praised her as 'The Lady from the North.' This inspiring biography reveals her superb work in Africa and beyond." - Douglas Gibson, author of Across Canada by Story
