Long version: Ambulance, taxi, moving truck
posted by Jesse on Saturday, July 31, 2010 at 7:36 am
This is a very detailed version of the story that is meant to keep a memory for our family that we can read in the future, but if you like all the details of a story go ahead, but you’ve been warned…
This time last week I was having a pretty normal Friday afternoon when I received a phone call from some missionary friends of ours in Lomé. They explained that some of their coworkers had been in a terrible car accident near Dapaong, and asked if we would be willing to drive up and help them out if necessary. They didn’t know many details at the time, but we told them we’d of course do whatever we could to help.
Two hours later Tiffany and I were headed North with our SUV and our coworker’s truck, still not really knowing what exactly what the situation was, what we needed to do, or how long we’d be gone. What we did know is that one guy, Rick, was in the hospital in Dapaong and that the guy who was driving, Glen, and his wife, Karen, were not hurt but had all their personal belongings sitting on the side of the road next to the accident. They were in the process of moving from Lomé up to Mali, so the vehicle was packed to the brim with all their household things. In case you’re wondering, it’s generally not a good idea for all your possessions to sit on a roadside in Africa. On top of that, it had been raining all day.
When we arrived we met Glen and immediately started loading all their things into the two trucks. One of the many miracles of this whole situation was that the accident happened not even one mile away from one of their mission’s Bible schools, so the first people to show up on the scene were the pastor of the local church and some of the members!
While we did this, Tiffany talked with Karen to make sure she was alright. She was visibly shook up what happened, but not hurt in any way. Once they explained the accident we understood why she was so shook up. They were traveling through a rural area when they came up on a village, going about 60 miles per hour. Coming up on their right side were three large cows and a small boy “leading” them. At the very last moment one of the cows stepped into the road directly in front of the truck. Glen quickly swerved to the left and managed to miss it, but because of their top and rear-heavy load the inertia caused them to spin out, bringing them to the right side of the road where the truck went down an embankment and rolled two times. When it finally stopped, Glen’s window was flat against the ground, Karen was suspended in air by her seatbelt, and Rick had been bounced all around the back because he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt (kids, take note!).
Then it was off to the hospital to check on Rick. Because of the poor quality x-ray machine, we did not know at the time what the extent of his injuries were other than some possible fractured or broken ribs. It turns out that he broke four ribs on his left side, one on his right, and the membrane from his lungs separated from the ribs. I’m no doctor, but that just doesn’t sound good! He was amazingly in great spirits though. By the end of our four hours at the hospital it was decided that he was in too much pain to drive, so we arranged for Randy Alderman to come up the next morning in his airplane to pick him up and bring him to Lomé.
By this time it was too late for Tiffany and I to head back down to Kara for the night so we ended up staying the night in a local hotel. We learned an important lesson that day: always come prepared to stay the night! In typical only-in-Africa fashion, our hotel room evidently was the local breeding ground for mosquitoes. I killed 30 or so, was satisfied that I had got them all, and went to bed only to be bitten through the sheets from head to toe. After killing another 20, I figured there had to be a hole in the window screens where they were flooding into the room. After changing rooms (it’s now 1:30 in the morning) I discovered that there was one, yes only one, mosquito in our new room. How do I know this? Because at 3:30 I awoke from a very restless and itchy sleep to kill the accursed blood-filled agent of death. Then I went to bed for a very restful hour and a half when Randy called letting me know he was clear to fly that morning.
This is the part of the story that gets very painful for Rick. Because the hospital’s sole ambulance was broken down, we had to load him into the truck I was driving, bring him 15 kilometers to the airstrip, and load him onto the airplane. Even though I drove a maximum of 2 mph down the bumpy road to the airstrip, he often winced in pain and asked at least 10 times, “Are we there yet?”
As he and Karen took off in that tiny airplane, I remember thinking how thankful I was that the situation worked out as it did. After seeing the vehicle, I was amazed that the worst that happened was a few broken ribs.
The next few hours were spent taking Glen where he needed to go in order to take care of the legalities regarding the accident, then we finally headed home. I had a really great time talking and getting to know Glen while we drove and Tiffany, well, she followed behind us. I felt bad that she had nobody to talk to, but I think she probably enjoyed the peace and quiet.
That night we emptied both vehicles’ loads into our living room where Glen sorted through all the broken and damaged luggage. Surprisingly, there was not a lot that was broken, even from the two trucks that were strapped to the roof and therefore had been crushed, twice. The trunks have seen better days, but the only major losses were Glen’s Kindle (he’s an avid reader) and their coffee maker (a great tragedy!).
The next morning some of Glen’s coworkers came and picked him up along with all his things to bring them back to Lomé, which is ironically where their journey started.
That night (Sunday), I started to feel unusually tired, achy, and chilled. Guess what that means? It’s malaria time! Thankfully after having it twice I know what it feels like at the beginning so I was able to begin treating it right away and by Wednesday morning it was completely gone. Unfortunately, Tiffany and I both picked up some kind of illness, probably from Dapaong, which has caused all kinds of stomach issues including not being able to wander too far from a bathroom. Thankfully Tiffany got over this pretty quickly, but I’m still having major problems with it a week later.
We are incredibly thankful that God allowed us to help out these people in need and to make three new friends in the process. It was a very unfortunate circumstance but we’re glad to see that everyone came out of it with their lives.
Oh, and the truck? It’s a Toyota Landcruiser, which are evidently indestructible because the mechanics simply changed the tires on one side and drove it three hours South to Kara! I didn’t think it was good for anything but scraps, but the mechanic says he’ll getting running like new! Only in Africa.
Category: personal
