Life and Death

A few nights ago, I was leaving the Ubuntu Campus after having dinner with Jon and Jillian. The distance to the Ark is a short 2 or 3 Kilometers (1.2-1.8 miles) but I'm driving because at night the village dogs roam in packs and can be vicious. Ubuntu doesn't have power yet, so the only lights are the headlights on the Nissan Patrol. Headed towards the hospital, I saw a man walking his bike ahead. From a distance, I saw him switch from the right side of the road to the left side of the road, which is the side people drive on here. In the bush, the "rules-of-the-road" don't necessarily apply, so I easily drifted to the 'wrong' side of the road to avoid a collision with this man walking his bike in my direction. As I was approaching him, he stopped walking and began to wave. I didn't think much of it, we were going in opposite directions and I didn't recognize him, so I just kept on keepin' on.

Minutes after I arrived at the pad, I received a phone call from Jon, He was asking if I could come and get this girl who was trying to make it to the hospital but no longer had the strength to continue. As he asked me, I recalled that there was a man visiting from Lusaka who had a Patrol and was there at Ubuntu, so I advised Jon to ask him if he could help, otherwise I would drive back out as quickly as possible. Less than 5 minutes later my phone started ringing, and immediately grabbed the keys and started out the door as I was answering the phone. When I answered, Jon told me that the other guy took the girl and her brother and I didn't need to come out and get them.

Without much more thought, I brushed the teeth and checked my email and went to sleep. The next day, I saw the guy who had taken the girl into the hospital the night before and I asked him if everything went okay. He looked at me and asked, "So, you don't know what happened?" "No what happened?" I responded. He went on saying that the girl died of heart failure and she was only 15 years old. He said that she was traveling to the hospital from far with her brother on bicycles when she couldn't continue and he went on to the hospital to get someone to drive out, but no one would and so he was heading back to her. I realized that he must've been the one I past when I was driving. Beginning to feel like maybe if I had stopped the girl might be alive, I was thinking over what had happened. When I past the guy on the road, I didn't sense that he was in distress or that there was an emergency. My thoughts went to 'what would I have done?' and I was thinking "If it were my sister, I would've stood in front of the vehicle, anything to get someone to stop and help." In my head, I started asking why didn't he do what I would've done, why did he just wave? Of course, I realize that there is a clash of two cultures here. Maybe if I were Zambian, I would've sensed the need?

Later, I was asked one of the doctors if he knew about this girl. He told me that he did and he went on the say that when she arrived there wasn't much they could've done for her, because there is no life support and such equipment that larger more advanced hospitals have. He said, if she was bleeding to death or dehydrated, they have blood and fluids.

Death here in Zambia is much more part of daily life. The life expectancy is quite lower than in the States and out here in the bush, the resources aren't as readily available to handle every medical case. Often, people have to walk 2 days to get to this hospital and may arrive too late to be properly cared for. This hospital has however, saved countless lives since it was built by the church 50 years ago. Still there is wailing almost everyday at the hospital, where loved ones are mourning the dead not far from where I stay at the Ark. I have to be careful not to become de-sensitized to this, so that I can remember that death is real and life shouldn't be wasted on meaningless activities.