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GOACOM BIOGRAPHY SERIES
THE PIONEER DOCTOR
Dr. Rosendo Ayres Ribeiro
1871 - 1951
![[Dr Ribeiro]](./ribeiro.jpg)
Dr.Ribeiro on his famous zebra, early 1900's
From ref 1
By: John J. D'Souza
Following the arrival of the railway in 1897, Nairobi had soon grown into a town with muddy streets and ram
shackle wood and sheet-metal buildings built on stone plinths to ward off termites.
Our next hero, Dr. Rosendo Ayres Ribeiro, appears on this scene in Nairobi, February 1900, as the first
private medical doctor. For six months, he and his assistant, Mr. C. Pinto, shared a tent as home and practice. In
the evenings by candlelight, they made up prescriptions of his invention, including a special malarial cure which
was patented and eventually sold to an international company.2.
Later, when the Indian Bazaar expanded, he built his surgery from the packing cases used for shipping
his drug supplies from England. It was Dr. Ribeiro who, in 1902, had diagnosed bubonic plague in two Somali
patients and reported it. The Medical Officer of Health, with no experience of tropical diseases, panicked at the
news, ordered the Indian Bazaar evacuated and burnt to the ground. Dr. Ribeiro's surgery went up in flames with
the rest. The government in recognition for his services gave him a concession of sixteen acres of land in the
township, part of which he was able to sell to Julius Campos, another Goan Pioneer. A street, Campos Ribeiro
Avenue, was named after them. .
In Nairobi, the automobile was yet come to its own then. Horses were still relied upon to get around town,
but they suffered from an equine fever in the hot tropical climate, which reduced their life span considerably. It was
felt that the thousands of zebras that populated the grasslands around Nairobi should be trained to replace horses.
Two schools of thought emerged on this subject. The first were of the opinion that the animals were stupid and
untrainable. The second took the side of the zebras. They concluded that the zebra species had already done
enough for human kind... they gave aesthetic appeal to the many zoos over the world, made street crossings safe for
children, and had their skins crafted into numerous home furnishings and wall hangings. There was no need for
zebras to go further, and make asses of themselves!.
An exception seems to have been made for Dr. Riberio. He managed to train a zebra, and ride him around
town for house calls. As a founder member of the Goan Institute, he rode his zebra right up to the verandah of the
club and hitched it to the front post. A photo of Dr. Riberio on his famous zebra is included in the 1950 Souvenir
Brochure of Nairobi City to convince skeptics of this account! .
Dr. Ribeiro rendered sterling service to the community. He was known to personally attend to even the
most minor ailments of his patients ... like removing a jigger from one's foot: a job which could easily be done by
his assistants.
In the early thirties, when the community faced a problem in finding adequate schools for it's children, he
made his premises available for use as classrooms. He made a large donation to the institution which later became
the " Dr. Ribeiro Goan School, Nairobi"..
In the time following the WW II, when only a few in the community could afford cars, Dr. Riberio now
quite aged, was chauffeured around in the newest America limousine of the day. It was quite a sight to see him
arrive with his wife for high mass at St. Francis Xavier Church. The limo drove up to the front steps of the
church, the doors opened for the doctor, impeccably dressed in morning suit and his distinctive homburg hat, to
emerge, accompanied by Mrs. Riberio, wearing a fox fur stole. The parish priest and mass servers were at the
church doors to greet him, and then only could the mass commence. .
Dr. Ribeiro gave a sense of style to colonial life in Kenya. He is no doubt remembered even today when alumni of
the school which once carried his name gather for reunions, or write down the school name on job applications. .
End..
References:
1. Photo from "A Jubilee History of Nairobi", by James Smart, 1950. ( probably from the Dr.Ribeiro family
collection)
2. Errol Trzebinski, "The Kenya Pioneers", Heinemann: London, 1985.
3. Jigger: Small parasite - latin name -Pulex irritans - the size of a fine black dot which burrows its way into ones
toes to lay its eggs. Symptoms severe itching in toe. Removed by careful insertion of sterilized needle to remove
egg sac. ( from ref. 2)
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