Extensions of Remarks. Hon. Donald M. Fraser

February 19, 1969 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 4031 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS. AID FOR BIAFRAN CHILDREN be known as the "Ravensbrueck Lapins" tions. On the basis of his first-hand obser was of a dual nature. One aspect was to bring vations, Mr. Cohen spoke of growing problems them to the United States for medical and confronting evacuation of children by air. HON. DONALD M. FRASER surgical care. The other aspect was to obtain He brought U3 together with Mr. G. A. On Oi' MINNESOTA from the German government at Bonn ade yegbula, Permanent Secretary of Biafra, who quate compensation that would enable them had just arrived in New York on a brief gov IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES to live Without continued and excessive hard ernment mission. Mr. Onyegbula spoke of the Tuesday, February 18, 1969 ship. Both these parts of the project were severity of Biafra's needs. Two thousand carried out. children and 4,000 adults were dying daily Mr. FRASER. Mr. Speaker, one of the The editors now invite the readers of SR of starvation. Food and medical supplies most remarkable humanitarian efforts to join them in a fourth project. It is called were being flown into Bia.fra In larger quan directed at relieving the misery of the ABc-Aid for Biafran Children. HereWith, tities than had been possible for some Nigerian-Biafran tragedy is known as some background. months. But the situation continued to be Aid for Biafran Children-ABC. Last September, when the food blockade of critical and was apt to remain that way Biafra was at its worst, and when thousands until there was a dramatic breakthrough in One of the principals in this effort is of children were dying from protein shortage, direct access. He asked whether we would be Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday it seemed to the editors that it might be use willing to consider mounting a relief program Review. Another is a pediatrician, Dr. ful to evacuate som" Bla.fran children by air. directly inside Biafra Itself. Fergus Pope, of the Mayo Clinic in The plan envisioned an airlift to the United The shortage of Bia.fran doctors, Mr. On Rochester, Minn., a man with whom I States of approximately 150 children who yegbula said, was not as acute as had been discussed ABC several months ago in my lacked paren tal care or were homeless and commonly supposed; the difficulty, he added, Washington office. who were in need of urgent hospital treat was in providing them with adequate med These men and others in their group ment. We put the proposal before representa ical and surgical equipment and transport tives of the Biafran government and were ing them to the places where they were most have undertaken the organization of a assured of its full cooperation. We then com needed. He also spoke of a hospital field sta mobile medical program in Biafra, di municated with hospitals in the New York tion inside Biafra for which he hoped we rected chie:fly at treating children but metropolitan area, asking each one to accept would accept supervisory and operational re turning away no one of any age. responsib111ty for one or more Biafran chil sponsibillty, and where American and Biafran So far ABC has been a modest effort. dren. The response was immediate and heart doctors could work side by side. We told Dr. Pope, Mr. Cousins, and their asso ening. Some fifty hospitals offered to par Minister Onyegbula we would try to help in ciates have limited resources. They are ticipate. All 150 children would have hospital any way that might be useful. beds. Pan American World Airways would The more we pondered the Onyegbula pro not using a professional fundraising provide and equip a plane for the direct organization and have made no formal posals, the clearer it became that the mas flight to the United States. Convalescent care sive airlift ought to be deferred in favor of appeals. Support for their plan has come would be undertaken by the New York Cen on-site operations. We needed a medical field mostly from Saturday Review readers ter of the American Friends Service Com director. Dr. Catchpool was an obvious choice, and from persons who have heard about mittee, which had mounted the out-of-hos but he was already at the Schweitzer Hospi the project by word of mouth. pital care programs for the Hiroshima Maid tal in Lambarene. Two other names came It is an impressive story of humani ens and the Ravensbrueck Lapins. Many immediately to mind: Dr. Fergus Pope, of Biafran students from the New York City the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota; tarianism, as Mr. Cousins reports on the area volunteered to maintain contact with background and progress of ABC in the and Dr. Omar Fareed, of the Carr Founda the children, thereby reducing cultural ad tion in Los Angeles, who had undertaken following article from the February 1 justment problems. medical field projects in equatorial nations We also appealed to the board of directors Saturday Review: around the world. ABC of the Schweitzer Fellowship, of which we are a member. The board followed the urgent Fergus Pope was a footloose young man Over the years, the editor and readers of recommendation of its then-president, Mr. of twenty-five when he decided in 1956 to SR have been engaged in various projects Leslie Paffrath, to finance a relief program motorcycle in Africa. He dropped in on the that come under the general heading of the for child refugees at the Albert Schweitzer Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Gabon, helped human situation. After the end of the Second Hospital in Lambarene, Gabon, only a few to fix the hospital generator, and, like many World War, for example, they accepted re hundred miles away from Bia.fra. The advan people who were exposed to "le grand doc sponsibillty for 400 children in Hiroshima tage of the Schweitzer Hospital in Lam teur,, decided the life he had been living who were orphaned by the atomic explosion. barene was that it had accumulated invalu wasn't good enough. Though he lacked a The children were brought up in Japan but able experience over the years in dealing With science background, he decided to obtain a their "moral parents" in the United States children's diseases native to the area. full medical education in order to serve un helped to meet their various needs, including By a stroke of good fortune, at just about der Dr. Schweitzer at Lambarene. He went college education in many cases. this time, we received a telephone ca.ll from to London, completed his qualifying studies, A second project involved several dozen Dr. Frank Catchpoolin California. Dr. Catch then enrolled in the University of London girls who had been disfigured or disabled by pool, whom we had met for the first time School of Medicine at St. Bartholomew's Hos the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The girls at the Schweitzer Hospital in Lambarene ten pital. After seven years, he returned to Lam were brought to the United States for plastic years ago, and who was now doing advanced barene as a full-fledged physician. Following and rehabilltative surgery, and, in some in medical research in the United Rtates, was Dr. Schweitzer's death, Dr. Pope decided to stances, vocational training. The girls re eager to undertake a medical relief program specialize in pediatrics. This brought him to turned to Japan after a year in the United in behalf of the Biafran evacuees. He was the Mayo Clinic in the United States as a States. Many are now married and have an ideal person to carry out the project at resident in pediatrics. families; others are in business for them the Lambarene Hospital under the auspices We put in a telephone call to Dr. Pope in selves as dress designers or beauty shop op of the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. Dr. Rochester. Would he be able to take_a leave erators; some are working for social agencies. Catchpool came to New York for extended of absence from the Mayo Clinic to work An integral part of this project was the train discussions, then left for Lambarene, from With us-for perhaps six months or more? ing of several Japanese doctors in plastic which he has recently sent exciting progress Affirmative response. Two days later, Fergus surgery. These doctors in turn trained col reports; Biafran children are already at the Pope was at our office in New York, going leagues in Japan, the result being that hun Schweitzer Hospital and are responding over the project plans in detail. dreds of disfigured victims of the atomic favorably to treatment. Dr. F areed is a Los Angeles internist who explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki re hoo spent at least half his time traveling to ceived special surgical treatment. Meanwhile, we also had the good luck to meet Mr. George Orick, who had lived far-off places such as Vietnam, the Congo, A third SR project involved thirty-five in Nigeria for several years and was working and Peru doing medical field work or pur Polish women whose bodies and minds had as consultant to the United Nations Chil suing projects such as the distribution of been badly scarred as the result of their ex dren's Fund. Mr. Orick joined our project "Meals for Millions," an inexpensive, high periences at the Ravensbrueck Concentra and proceeded to develop plans for translat protein food. He also worked with AMDOC, tion Camp in the Second World War. They had been used as involuntary human guinea ing the experience of the pilot program into a coordinating organrnation for voluntary pigs by Nazi doctors who had cracked open a massive airlift involving 100,000 children service abroad by American physicians.

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