I’ve heard this phrase over and over again but felt that
last Tuesday, it was very applicable. I had discovered that because of the diet
here one of my medications needed to be increased, but I didn’t have enough. So
Sara, the founder/director of the ministry I am at agreed to take me to the
pharmacy to try to get some more. We were waiting for the road to clear to make
a right turn (driving on the opposite side of the road… it’s like a left turn)
the cars started honking behind us because this is Africa driving. The road had
cleared and as we began to turn a boda boda (a motorcycle with a paying
passenger) passed us on the right which is illegal. Because he did, we hit the
back and they went sliding across the pavement. The driver got up, but the
woman on the back didn’t move. I jumped out to check on her while Sara tried to
pull out of traffic. What I saw terrified me and I didn’t know what to do
except pray. The woman didn’t look good and I was sure there was brain damage
(no one wears helmets here). Next door to the pharmacy is a clinic so I ran
into the clinic and asked for a doctor. They moved fast which surprised me
because if you’ve ever been to Africa, nothing is fast except the driving.
Sara, a nurse, went in the clinic with the woman while I waited in the car with
the other American volunteering here right now, Kailey. Sara eventually came
back telling us that the woman had a complex fracture and they don’t have the
ability to set it at this clinic but she’ll have to be transferred but there
was no evidence of brain damage she was talking and in pain but cognitive and
fine. So there’s two possibilities it was shock and that’s why she looked so
bad when I saw her, or God healed her. I’m ok with either one. The police were
getting the driver and sara’s stories about what happened but the boda driver
was saying it wasn’t his fault but his account of what happened was the same as
Sara’s . Joseph, Sara’s husband, a
Ugandan, showed up, putting us all a little more at ease. The Woman’s husband
showed up and at this point Sara said even though it’s not her fault she wants
to help with the woman’s medical bills, knowing the boda driver
wouldn’t/couldn’t. After a couple hours at the scene, one of the staff members
from the ministry showed up to pick us up. Sara and Joseph went to the police
station to make their statement about what happened. As far as we knew it was
clear the police knew it was the boda driver’s fault and things should resolve
easily
The next morning Kailey had gotten a text from Sara that she
had been arrested but was later released. We knew nothing more. We were very
confused. That night we got more of the story. Things got complicated after the
police station, Sara wanted to check on the woman, the police said she should
not go, it would make her look guilty, but they went anyway. The husband was
very angry because there was a police officer who was telling lies to everyone
and he told the husband that it was Sara’s fault. There was a big upset and the
husband hit Sara’s husband, Joseph. There was a police officer there who was a
friend of the woman’s family and he decided to arrest Sara. He took sara back
to the same police station they just came from. The officer working looked up
the case number she gave him, he looked at it and told the police man who arrested
her, he could not arrest her. So she was released. Her car remained in evidence
for several days. Later there was a meeting with Sara and the Husband again and
he apologized for hitting Joseph and he agreed to not press charges against
Sara he understood the collision was not her fault.
The moral of the story…. Life is different in Africa. Things
are more complicated sometimes especially if the color of your skin is a little
different.
