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Dr. Andreas DeGroot direct from Zimbabwe by way of medical school at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, fresh and excited, took over the clinic after the Brit died. He ran into trouble from the start, although it was mainly his own thoughts of trouble that were the problem. The local community members did compare him to the former doctor who had become a myth that no one could measure up to. It is not at all true that people were unwilling to work with him, to support him, and no one ever thought he was trouble. Many people come to the southwest, who need time to adjust and who need the support of the community. No matter how unconventional any newcomers may seem to themselves they receive support.

The people of the community need a doctor to complement their ranks, to balance their social structure and relationships.

In his own mind, an affair he had with a patient could have been wonderful. But he lost his nerve. After making love to her through a number of weeks, he began to believe that the fantasy of having a stable relationship was an ideal that he could not fulfill.  He wondered whether his actions would be thought of as unethical.  He had no one to confide in and his thoughts tumbled out of control so that in the end he walked out of town. He abandoned the clinic, the chairs, the art, the files, the people. One night he moved to Regina to work with friends from Africa where he was confident of his friendships, of protection.

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image © D. Wall

 

Dr. DeGroot was completely wrong about the community. His fears were his own. He was lonely, homesick, and uncertain. The mayor, the arts council, the evening dancers, the farmers, had tried to make him welcome. Perhaps, he thought he heard a kind of politics that he felt were poles apart from the anti-apartheid ideals he had grown up with. He did not recognize this as CCF and New Democrat country. He had no idea what that might mean. He had been welcomed openly and he had not recognized it. He was, it was generally hoped, going to be a central member of the town and the area. But he ran from his own fears and from the prospect of having to open himself up to an unknown future.