Quiet evening

First of all, let me say that I am ok. I am fine. It all could have turned out so much worse.

So now that I have that disclaimer out of the way, I am sure that you all are awaiting the news on why I felt the need to make this disclaimer! This weekend I went to the movies and then camping with volunteer friends and took a much needed two day hiatus from the Cradle. I love being here. But it sometimes gets overwhelming and you just need to do something fun. So, as you can see from my pictures, we went to to the only cinema in town and enjoyed the only movie they had playing in English… ECLIPSE! That’s right, ladies and gentlemen! I got to see a Twilight movie in Tanzania! How cool is that!?! They only have two screens here and the other screen always plays a bollywood/hindi movie. I think one day I will watch one just to say that I did. It will be fun.

Anyway, we had a great weekend in the nature of Africa. We were quite tired and dirty and so excited to get back to showers, food, and actual toilets! The company that had arranged our trip was driving us home. We were having a great conversation with some of the men from the company when IT happened. Less than 2 miles from our final destination, an apparently drunk driver pulled out of his lane to pass a dala dala (van taxi) and pulled DIRECTLY into our lane to hit our car head on. Our driver was already going at a slow rate of speed and tried to maneuver us into the shoulder as to avoid collision. The head-on driver swerved back into his lane to avoid hitting us head on, but due to the thick amount of night traffic, did not have enough room to fall back in line and swerved again towards us. And in a matter of 10 seconds, he had T-boned our car—and crashed into the back passenger door where I was sitting. Immediately, I was buzzed. I realized that I had slammed my head into the frame of the car, but nothing else seemed injured. No blood. No broken bones. But I was confused. My two friends with me starting talking to me to make sure I was ok, but for some reason I couldn’t talk. I thought I was answering their questions, but my brain was so jolted that I couldn’t get the words out! But when the fog was lifted from my brain, all I could see was 30-50 Tanzanian men SWARMING our car. Our driver was injured, but he was concerned for us and our safety. He and the other men from the company in the car with us would NOT let us out of the car and insisted that we not move. They were arguing with the people gathered around our car. It was total chaos.

Friends, I am not a scared person. I will walk places by myself and I am not afraid to try new experiences and to put myself out there. But when you have just been in an accident, you are in an unfamiliar country, and you have 50 Tanzanian men talking a mile a minute in Swahili and trying to get to you (and mostly our things) inside the car, its scary! At one point, someone from the outside had gotten one of the passenger doors open and the men inside our car start screaming at the man and reached behind and got the door shut and locked it tight. The men with us insisted that we NOT get out of the car. They were trying to protect us from the throng of people outside, while recovering from the crash themselves. And this all happened in a matter of minutes after the accident. I don’t know where all these Tanzanians came from. But it was pitch black. We were banged up. And had no way of knowing how this was going to play out. I was a little afraid.

But God had a plan that he had put into place a few months ago. When I arrived here, I was introduced to a young man named Almas. He worked for a local taxi company, and had been so punctual and fair with his taxi service, that we started using him for everything! He takes volunteers to the airport, to the market, and to fun activities. He escorts us to the hospital when we have sick babies and stays until treatment is complete, then drives us home. He never asks for more than what he is owed, and if we don’t have money at the moment, he just takes care of us anyway and says that he’ll get money from us later. He is a GOD SEND and in our moment of chaos from the crash, he was there! I called him from inside our crashed vehicle….dazed and confused… and pleaded for him to come find us. All I could really tell him was what road we were on and my approximation to where we might be! And in a miracle that can only be from God, he was there within 5 minutes! He pushed through the crowd to “find his wazungus”. He gathered us up and had a friend who lives RIGHT AT THE ACCIDENT SITE help get us through the crowd. No one bothered us as he got us safely inside his vehicle. He even searched through the wrecked vehicle to make sure that all of our things were intact and that no one had taken any of our stuff. Honestly, I cared more about our safety than our stuff. But this is Almas…. our knight in shining armor!!

In the few minutes it took to get back to campus, I started to vomit. As much as I hate to admit it, I had my first concussion. One of the friends/volunteers who was with me, Eilleen, is a Pediatrician. She and my other friend, Carolyn, were not injured in the accident. Just sore and bruised. Unfortunately, I vomited a few more times that night and Eilleen kept a close watch on me to make sure it was a mild concussion and nothing more. But I can say now that I am fine. I have the biggest knot on my head and feel like a sledge hammer was taken to my brain, but otherwise I am just sore. God REALLY blessed us and kept us relatively safe. It could have turned out so differently. I am very lucky….no… I am very cared for! God is good and had his hand in all of this. We are really ok.

So here are a few pictures from my weekend. Praise God for protecting us. Praise God for bringing Almas into my life. I’m really hungry right now. I think I am going to go try to eat something and bring a little peace to my starving stomach!

Carolyn and Eileen. My camping buddies and later car accident crash survivors!