So, back to Sunday… the infamous Sunday the 21st
of November, 2010 in Malawi. That morning we had successfully ‘planted a church’
in a small village just outside of Ntscheu (pronounced Che-Woo). Some of the
people there wanted to be baptized, so we loaded up about 40 people in the back
of a small pickup truck and drove to the river. The river ended up being a
stagnant cesspool of filth that was about 3 feet deep. TIA. Dan took the honor
of baptizing about a dozen people in that cesspool, it was a magical moment.
After that we went back to our living quarters, aka a church in Ntscheu,
rounded up our bags and shoved off for Lake Malawi. You see, after 2 weeks of
spiritual and physically draining work, we were longing for a couple of days to
just kick our feet up and chill out. Lake Malawi is apparently like paradise,
tropical plants and exotic animals everywhere.
So we rented a mini van to take us to the lake. We made a deal with the driver
that we would pay him more if he would pick up only two local passengers. These
mini vans are in the business of cramming as many people as possible into a 15
passenger van to make more money. So there we are, cruising along, 8 of us,
with 2 Malawian passengers and the driver. We had to deny a mother and her
newborn baby that wanted a ride so the driver could keep his end of the
bargain. I busted out my ipod and was dozing in and out of sleep. The roof of
the van was too low for me to sit up straight so I was slightly leaning to the
side onto a backpack. Suddenly, I heard a loud ‘POP’ and was roused out of a
light sleep. I heard screaming and all I saw was the van careening for a ditch.
…The next thing I remember is being underneath the van. It
was so strange, but the thoughts of rolling in the van flooded my mind, like
they were memories from a long time ago and I was just recalling them. I was
pinned on my right side, the van crushing my left hip. I tried to squirm to get
free but there was no hope, I wasn’t budging. I just started yelling, ‘HELP!’. Luckily my cries were heard and
apparently Melissa actually saw me get thrown out of the window. Everyone pilled out of the van to help lift
the van and pull me out. I still do not understand how I got out of the van.
The window was not very large and there was a solid metal bar cutting across
the center of it, making it impossible to fit out of, but apparently I did. Anyway I flew out of the vehicle and judging
from my swollen lower back, I must have hit the ground flat on my back and slid
a while.
God’s provision and
protection was with us. Moments later a military truck with a stretcher and
soldiers trained in first aid just happened to drive by. I was put on a
stretcher and taken to a hospital that just happened to be a few kilometers up
the road. God is good. I was given some stitches and basic medical attention at
that hospital. Natalie helped out the doctors a lot. I was soon transferred to
a different hospital right next to the Lake, so about 40 km away. They did not
do too much, expect give me a make shift neck brace. I will never forget this
hospital though because of what Natalie and Juliette did. I was being rolled in
on a stretcher, Natalie was stabilizing my neck and Juliette was holding my
I.V. bag as we walked to the ER. I could do nothing but look up at the moment
and all I saw was those two women sacrificing to help me out. They were in the
same accident I was in and they had their own injuries to attend to. Juliette
was favoring one of her arms, at the time we were pretty sure it was broken,
but she still carried my I.V. bag with her good arm and never complained once.
It was a beautiful display of love.
Left leg got it pretty good. I had Natalie catalog all of my injuries.
I was soon discharged from that
hospital and we were sent on our way to Lilongwe, the capital. Here I am in the
hospital in Lilongwe. The doctors and nurses and phenomenal. They ran all of
the tests Sunday night to make sure nothing was seriously wrong and to make
sure I did not need surgery. This
involved getting some x-rays and an ultrasound. I was told before my ultra
sound that I needed to go pee before they could run the test. I overheard the
doctors talking about a capiter and I just about lost it. ‘A tube shoved into my pee hole?… nuh-uh… no… that’s not happening.,( I must point out that at this point and
time I was heavily sedated on some good stuff.)
They told me I must pee into a bottle while lying down and if I am
successful I will be able to avoid getting a capiter.
A challenge huh? my mind thought… ‘Give me that bottle!’, I yelled at the doctor.
At this point my only thoughts were only about babbling brooks and flushing
meadows. I had to focus… the stakes could not be any higher when the
consequence of failure involves an African shoving a foreign object into your
pee-hole… Who knew that peeing while lying down was so difficult? Gravity is
something that we seriously take for granted. Fortunately the Lord was still on
my side and I eventually filled the bottle and avoided the capiter.
Continue reading- chapter IV
http://tommysullivan.theworldrace.org/?filename=when-god-saved-my-life-other-tales-from-the-african-plain-chapter-iv
