Many people have contributed in many ways to this book. I heartily thank all of them. Some deserve particular mentioning. Hubert Steinke provided the best setting one could wish for and invaluable inputs in regards of content and strategy. Walter Bruchhausen shared his endless expertise. Without Hines Mabika, this book would not exist and his advice was very welcome. Our advisory board (Wolfgang Eckart, Nancy Rose Hunt, Gesine Krüger, Elísio Macamo, Laurence Monnais, William Schneider, Joseph Tonda) travelled all the way to Bern and gave encouraging and treasured feedback. Neil Kodesh enabled my fruitful stay at UW-Madison and took time for stimulating discussions on my drafts. Florence Bernault also gave extremely useful comments. My colleagues from the IMG, especially Beat Bächi, Urs Germann, and Pascal German, provided valuable exchanges and inputs. Numerous peers, too many to name, at academic events commented various stages of my work and enabled good times. My favorite librarians Pia Burkhalter and Bruno Müller made life a lot easier. Romain Collot and the team at the Maison Schweitzer were a great help. Frank Huisman and an anonymous reviewer helped me to sharpen important things in this book, especially reformulating the Introduction. Rosanna Woensdregt from Brill was always very helpful. I want to specifically thank all the interviewees for sharing their experiences and thoughts. Jacques-Adrien Rolagho provided precious contacts and guide services. Benoit Moussavou-Wora and his family offered their very kind hospitality. I am very grateful to my parents who have always supported me in all my endeavors. My friends, and also my sister, are the best. I am happy, lucky, and thankful that I spent the time surrounding this book with Rahel.
Patrick Grogan has edited this book, which greatly improved the quality of the arguments and the writing. John Boonstra has corrected parts of the Introduction and the whole Conclusion. I have translated all the quotes from primary sources and secondary literature in German or French into English. Vincent Hischier has created Maps 1–3 for me. The ‘Association Internationale Albert Schweitzer’ and the ‘Schweizer Hilfsverein für das Albert-Schweitzer-Spital in Lambarene’ supported this project, also financially. The doctoral research, out of which this book has developed, has been funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) as part of the project 100011_149880 (2014–2017).