A ministry day

On August 20, 2007 at about 0930 I was in the backyard of our house with my friend, Zeria and our helper, Matthew when all of the sudden we heard a loud sound, that of tin tumbling down the hill in front of our home. We looked and saw a great cloud of white dust rising from the road and knew that something was happening. We ran to our gate only to find that a truck hauling groundnuts (peanuts) had crashed into our neighbor’s brick wall. The truck was surrounded by many children and adults all in shock at the event that had just taken place. As Zeria went to the truck, I explained to her that I would need her help in communicating that I had first aid experience and could help the ones that were injured. Due to the fact that I am only about 6 weeks into my language learning I needed her there with me in case of communication barriers. As I hurried to the truck I prepared my heart and my mind for the worst. The windscreen (windshield) was completely shattered and had been removed from the truck due to the force of the collision. The only person that I could see was a woman sitting against the wall directly in front of the truck and her forehead had been injured and she was bleeding a great amount of blood. I then told Zeria that I would go home and get my first aid supplies and come to aid the woman. As I was going to our house, 15 meters away, a man came up and told me that they were taking the woman to the hospital and that she would be tended to there, but he told me to still try to clean her wound. I ran home and when I returned I met her at the vehicle that was to carry her to the hospital and cleaned her face where the blood had run down from the injury to her forehead. I then asked a man named James if there were any other people in the truck and he told me that there were 4 including the woman who was taken to the hospital. He informed me that the driver had run away. I was unsure as to why that was until Zeria explained to me that in Zambia if the driver of the vehicle that was in the accident stays as the scene he will be beaten and possibly killed because of what he has done. While I was talking to people I found out that the drive shaft had broken on the truck and the man turned off the road in order not to get to the city center and hurt anyone there. He had turned down our street and decided the best thing to do was to run into the brick wall because it would stop the truck and prevent any other accidents. After several minutes I saw that there was yet another man who had an injured hand and found out that he was the owner of the groundnuts and I was able to clean his wounds, his name was Kambandu. God was so good in this situation because the road to our home is a narrow road, only one car can pass at a time. It was by His mighty hand that no one was coming up the hill or in front of him going down. Also, there are many children that live across the street from our home and if they had been in the street they would have been killed. If he had not hit the wall that he did he would have ended up crashing into houses and eventually ending up in the market at the bottom of the hill. The owners of the home were so peaceful and understanding of the situation and they were so thankful that they were all inside the home and that no one was in the yard on the other side of the wall that was hit by the truck. God is good and it was a great opportunity for me to help others and to meet our neighbors in very misfortunate circumstances.
Later in the afternoon, I decided that I would like to visit the woman who was injured at the hospital. At 1315, Zeria and I went to the hospital to visit the woman and she had already been sent home. While we were there we learned that she had been thrown through the windscreen and out of the truck. So when I saw her sitting in front of the truck she had been thrown there. It was amazing that she was able to walk. As we arrived home we saw a lady sitting by the truck near the gate of the home in which the truck had hit the wall. We called her to the truck and found out that her name was Jane and that she was the person that was waiting for the groundnuts to be delivered to her at the Chipata city limit. Her friend, Joyen had called her to inform her of the accident. I offered to cook them a meal and they gladly accepted the offer. Zeria and I then came home and cooked a good Zambian meal of relish (cabbage and onions) and nshima (cornmeal and water cooked together in a dough form. They were so appreciative of the meal and were blessed immensely. Jane also told us that the driver was drunk and that the lady that had been injured returned to her home because she had no part of the transport of the groundnuts, she was just getting a ride to Lusaka. At 1630 a truck with a crane came and pulled the truck out of our neighbor’s yard. The truck drivers pulled the truck out and left it sitting right in front of our home for the owner of the truck to come and retrieve it. As the truck sat before us, Kendall, Zeria, Matthew, and I could not believe that the driver had even escaped from the car. The steering wheel had been pushed so far toward the driver that it left only about 6 inches between the wheel and the driver and about 3 inches from the wheel to his legs. It is going to be a miracle if he was not injured, but from the looks of the damage, he could possibly have 2 broken legs and not really have known it due to the amount of alcohol in his body. Please pray for the driver and the people involved in this accident. I pray that they would get the medical attention that they need and that they would have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It was a rough day but a good day because it was the first day that I was able to minister to the people in my neighborhood and people from our neighboring country of Malawi.

The hill that they came down and this is right at our gate.

The groundnuts that were in the back of the truck