Archive for November 2007

A Very, very BAD DAY and a Blessing!

November 20, 2007 by Stephen Day.

 11/18/2007 4:15:44 PM

 

I got to drive in

Tanzania for the first time today.  I also ended a perfect driving record covering more than 12 years and hundreds of thousands of miles.  This morning I left MTC at 8:30 AM driving Dr. Martin McCaan in the car he usually drives to the bus station.  The drive into town was uneventful.  After dropping Martin I went to the store I shop at and then left for Msalato at about 9:15.  About ten minutes later, I was driving and reached a crowded area with lots of people on the side of the road.  All of a sudden girl on the right hand side of the road ran out into the road. She ran right into my car.  I immediately stopped and got out.  The girl was on the other side of the car and crying.  A crowd gathered very quickly and I started to get scared…  Then two men scooped up the girl and said “hospital.”  So I got in the car and the two men and girl did the same.  They directed me to the hospital and I parked.  I was unsure of what to do at this point after hearing many stories of westerners involved in traffic accidents in the developing world.  But I went inside the hospital and followed the men.

 

            First we went to what I would guess is either triage or admitting.  The woman there then sent us to the business office, where a 1,000 shilling consultation fee had to be paid before the girl could be seen.  I paid that and then we went into an exam room where the girl was looked at by the doctor.  At that point I gave my name and explained what happened.  He then called the police.  I started to get a bit more nervous at this point.  Then the doctor said the girl needed to get an x-ray, so we went and sat outside the radiology department.  Around this time a police officer arrived and began asking questions of me and the men who were with the girl.  The father of the girl arrived eventually and added to the conversation.  After taking preliminary statements and getting the basics, the police officer informed me that it was time for me to go with him to the police station… at this point I got very nervous. 

 

I drove the officer to the police station and there some preliminary paperwork was started.  After about 30 minutes there he told me to take him to the scene of the accident.  I did so and sometime during this travel I inadvertently sent a text message to the principal of Msalato who is also currently serving as the Vicar General for the diocese, which means that he is serving as the bishop.  The text message I accidently sent him stated simply “I am now at the police station” and had been intended for another staff member at Msalato who I was trying to keep informed of my whereabouts following the accident.  The principal responded to that text by texting “You are what? Why?”  I then called him and explained the basic details.  He was in

Dar es Salaam and could not come to help, so he tried to reach the acting principal, but could not reach him.  Instead the principal contacted the former dean of the cathedral in

Dodoma, who had also been the General Secretary of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika. This wonderful man, George, called me while I was with the police officer at the scene of the accident.  He explained that he was on his way and then talked to the officer to get some basic details. 

 

After about fifteen minutes at the scene of the accident the officer and I returned to the police station.  There he filled out more paperwork.  He eventually wrote down what he understood to be my statement, in remarkably good English, and asked me to sign it.  I hesitantly did so.  Shortly after this, George arrived.  He quickly talked to the officer who took my statement and got the gist of what was going on.  At that point he said that we had to wait for the head of the police station to arrive and decide on my fate.  We went to a little café that was located next to the police station and sat and enjoyed, as much as I could, given the situation, some shade and a bottled water.  I explained what I did at Msalato and how I ended up there and George told me a bit about himself.  He has lived in

Dodoma for the past fifteen years, which is, evidently, a long time.  He knows many people, especially in the police department.  Currently, he works on men’s ministries within the diocese, which is difficult work, he explained, because many men feel that their role as leader of the family and household has been usurped by the Church, especially pastors, many of whom are younger than the men who head families.  We sat and talked for about thirty more minutes until the boss arrived.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the head of the police station was a woman.  She was well acquainted with George, which came in handy.  He explained the situation to her and what I do at Msalato.  She then said that she had a problem she hoped I could help her with.  She pulled out her cell phone, quite a nice one, I must say, and explained in Swahili that she had lent it to a friend who had inadvertently changed the language on the phone from English to Chinese and she could not fix it.  So I looked at it and within about thirty seconds had it switched back to English and then she pointed out that the time and date were wrong, so I fixed that too.  She was very appreciative.  She then talked rapidly with George in Swahili.  George explained that the car needed to be inspected and then I should be able to go free on bail.  I was a bit worried by the use of the word bail… So we got the car inspected… the inspector found that the front right indicator was broken.  I figured it was broken before the accident because there was no glass or plastic on the ground at the scene of the accident.  He also pointed out that I had not come to the police station when I first got my license to have it certified (which, I did not know I had to do).  So George said he had to do some talking with the gentleman and he asked for 10,000 shillings to give to the officer.  I gave it freely and George and the officer came to an understanding and I was levied a simple fine of 10,000 for the damage and for not having come to the station to get my license certified. 

 

So after all this, George was able to sign me out on bail.  No money exchanged hands, what he did was simply attest to the fact that I would not be fleeing the country anytime soon and that the girl would be looked after.  He explained that it was definitively declared that I was not at fault for the accident, which made me feel a great deal better.  We left the police station and went to the hospital to check on the girl.  We found her and learned that there was a cut on her foot that had required stitches and that there was some small dental problem.  They also said that they still wanted her to get an x ray to determine if there was a fracture in her leg.  The problem was that there was no x-ray technician on duty on Sundays.  So we waited for a time while it was debated whether the girl should be admitted or just come back on Monday.  Eventually, George decided that we should go with the doctor on duty at the hospital to pick up the x-ray technician at home and bring him back to the hospital.  We did so and the x-ray found that there was no fracture.  George and I then took the technician back home and returned to the hospital.  At that point the doctor explained the situation and that the girl would need to return Monday for a tetanus shot and another vaccination.  George, the girl, a family friend, and I loaded up in the car and headed out of town.   We dropped the girl off at her home and returned to Msalato at about 3:45 pm.  I had left that morning at 8:30 am and planned to be out for only about one hour. 

 

Once back at Msalato, George and I went to Moses’ house (Moses is the acting principal at Msalato) to brief him and explain the day’s events.  We did so and I then left to return home. 

 

So what was the blessing?  As Moses put it… that the girl had not died and that I was not put into custody.

 

 

11/19/2007 12:26:59 PM

 

            Well it has been a bit over twenty-four hours since the drama began.  It has been quite an experience.  This morning I left Msalato at 9:30 along with the college driver and Moses.  We went and picked up Catherine, the girl I hit/the girl who ran into the car and her uncle and then headed into

Dodoma.  We also picked up George at the Cathedral.  We went to the police station and then while we waited for the police officer involved in the incident, the college driver drove the Catherine and her uncle to the hospital so she could get her shots.  Moses, George, and Catherine’s father discussed the situation and eventually came to a settlement regarding the situation.  Some money was exchanged, but it was done one the behalf of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika and

Msalato Theological College.  After that, the car returned with Catherine and her uncle and eventually it was declared that the matter was settled.  

 

            The situation has been resolved, but I am not certain it has been within myself.  I just can’t believe how close I came to actually killing someone.   She did run into the car, but I was still driving that car and if she had died… Well, at least she didn’t.  I would appreciate your prayers for me and for Catherine and her family during the coming days and weeks.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Two delayed postings

November 20, 2007 by Stephen Day.

11/5/2007 12:44:57 PM

 

            It’s been a week since I have been able to post to my blog.  It has been a very busy week and the internet has been unavailable most of that time.  Our connection to DCT and the Aden Centere has not really been working for over two weeks.  This afternoon I am going to MAF to try to get us setup with them for internet access. 

 

            I spent most of last week working on small problems since the major problem was out of my control.  Things are going pretty well.  On Saturday, I was able to finally get a stove for my home.  It ended up costing 470,000 shillings, which is about $408 (

US).  I hope to have it all wired up and useable tonight.

 

            Yesterday, I went to a village with two missionaries (Kate and Iri Mato of

New Zealand) along with five students.  We left Msalato at about 8 am and arrived at the village at about 10:30.  It was a very long two and a half hours.  The road was unpaved and very, very bumpy.  When we hit the first bump of the ride my rear went up a few inches off my seat.  It was really bumpy.  Once we pulled up to the village I saw a few hundred people standing outside of their church all waiting for us.  They were very happy to see us.  They sang to us as we got out of the car and played their drums. 

 

            I took a bunch of pictures that helped to document the amazing experience.  I will share them ASAP.

 

 

 

11/16/2007 12:48:34 PM

 

            Sorry that I haven’t been able to post an update to my blog this month.  The internet situation has gotten direr that the outlook is rather bleak.  I setup an arrangement with MAF for limited internet access for MTC, but I then learned that Msalato does not have any more money for internet. 

           

            I am going to get personal internet access via MAF within a week or so.  This will allow me to better do my job.  I have been a bit stymied by the lack of internet access because I can’t fix a number of problems here.  For one, the terminal server now runs all the time at about 10% because there is no internet connection.  I hope to fix this during early December, but I can’t get advice on how to do this or download an updated version of Edubuntu Linux until I have an internet connection.

 

            Life has been good during these past two weeks.  Busy at times, but most of the time I have been unable to fix a number of problems. 

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

|