There was plenty to keep people amused at the hospital. Animals are fun (most of the time). There was the parrot that used to shout “Get out of here” at departing guests. There was the red pig that enjoyed it when Schweitzer used its bristles to shine his shoes. The chimpanzees were up to all sorts of tricks.

Human beings can be fun too.

There was the visiting lady who, when Schweitzer mentioned St. Paul’s Epistles, said “Where I come from, we don’t read other people’s mail.”

And there was the local post office clerk who regularly ordered goods from Paris for people in his village, and when they arrived sent an official letter saying "Purchaser Deceased" so that nobody had to pay the bill. "That man," said the African nurse, Joseph, "is not stupid at all."

Joseph himself was a famous character: having been a cook he would say, “This patient has a pain in the cutlet” or “a wounded ham”.