A Sad Story..Part 2

Read part 1 first

Saving a life….not so easy in Tanzania!

The saga of the beach incident continues. After Jan took the injured man to the hospital, and Bilali and I got our dogs home, he and I went to the hospital to check on him. His name is Bakari. We could hear his cries of pain from the lobby. I kept thinking how scared he must have been and how miserable he must feel. After about a half an hour, he was wheeled out, and put into a taxi for transfer. His head, ear and eye was heavily bandaged, along with his arm and one of his legs. He was dripping blood and I wondered why he looked to be in worse shape than when I last saw him. His shouts of pain and misery still reverberate in my head. Evidently there was no doctor at the first hospital and was headed for another hospital, a government hospital for intensive care. This was not good news!

The next few days Bakari was constantly on my mind. I needed to know how he was doing. Tuesday was my day off so Keith drove Bilali and I down to the other hospital to see what we could discover. I recall talking with Keith on the way there about purchasing Medi-vac insurance for our family, which is a requirement with Keith’s upcoming job change. I was awed by the idea of being able to fly anywhere in the world for the best health care. It was only a matter of minutes that the absurd disparities that exist in this world slammed me between the eyes, once again. As we entered the hospital, sick, injured, dying people crammed into every crevice. We were directed to the proper ward, talked with the Matron, all hopes were shattered. Bakari died on Friday evening. I wanted to just dissolve, disappear. Me, someone who can be flown anywhere in the world with much lesser injuries. Bakari….his wounds were bad, but not fatal in my layman’s perspective. He probably had to lay in the taxi for an hour and who knows how long he had to wait at the government hospital. He probably bled to death, lying, waiting for proper care which never came.

The rest of the day was a blur….Keith and I went to the downtown market, and spent the rest of the day together. I was filled with a heaviness that I couldn’t articulate….senseless deaths, paralyzing fears, hopelessness, corruption and greed. Keith and I often joke that Eden must have been somewhere in Africa, that the original place of “the fall” must be doubly cursed! But, I know in my heart that God is good, it’s just people with the issues!

As the week has worn on, I have found more information about Bakari and his accident. He had worked as a gardener at this house by the beach for 6 years. Part of his duties were to take care of 12 dogs of which he was very afraid of. The guy Jan, who took him to the hospital, knew Bakari fairly well, but didn’t recognize him when he was injured. Evidently Bakari had taken several dogs to the ocean to wash them and something went terribly wrong. Bakari’s second wife left him days before with their 2 year old daughter. His first wife died and he has a 12 year old daughter with her. All the surrounding families and workers are quite shaken by this incident.


Some of you had questions and concerns….
-no, my 3 dogs were not a part of the attack. Actually Abby (the female) broke off her chain and helped “herd” some of the smaller dogs away.
-no, I am not worried about HIV, I had no open cuts or sores on me and did stop to think a split second before I got his blood on me.
-no, I did not get hurt in any way. No dog bites or anything. I am quite surprised. I am also vaccinated for rabies, anyway, and would just need some boosters if I got bit.
-no, I wasn’t a bit scared, I was MAD!!! Mad that this was even happening, mad that there were a number of people watching without aiding, even mad at the dogs!!! Mad at the injustice of it all.

I think the most powerful emotion I felt was love for this man. I told Keith that I felt like Jesus. When I held his head and was praying for him, I just felt total love for him and sorrow for his suffering. At least I got to tell him that God loves him very much!!!