Upon his entrance to Gabon, West Africa, Britz learns there is no French word for paramedic. Still, he’s more than a medical professional. He’s a diplomat, a righter of wrongs, and a man of unshakeable faith. He has no problem getting his hands dirty, and his firm sense of right and wrong allows for no fear during his daily trials. He loves children, God, building up his brothers, dogs, sky-rending storms, and country music. Kidnappers, thugs, thieves, murderers, and witch doctors take heed. Dr. Richard has his sights set on you, and your life will never be the same.

Africa Journal I comprises Britz’s correspondence with friends and family back home during his time working in Gabon and Nigeria. His almost daily reports of success and failure, hope and wrenching sorrow speak of the changes wrought in him even as he tries to make changes for his brothers and sisters in the bush.

Sometimes his work consists of sitting counterweight on the hood of a 4-wheeler during a drilling rig tow. Other times his work has him sitting on the dirt floor of a hut deep in the bush, surrounded by wildly painted juju men and heavily armed bodyguards. Sometimes he returns to camp tired but content; other times, filthy, bloodied, and in utter despair. His patients might be local workers injured by a machete slip, or they might be the rejected and forsaken left to die hopeless in a rubbish dump. He loves them all and ministers to their bodies, minds, hearts, and souls with equal dedication.

Africa Journal I is sometimes hard to read. Things happen in the bush that a first-world reader cannot imagine. Britz pleads to God daily for the strength and resources to make a difference in the lives of the least, the lowest, and the lost. Readers will laugh, then four pages later, weep or cry out in dismay as their hearts join Britz’s in his work for the common man.