By now, I am sure many of you have heard that I was involved in a very serious car accident just a few days ago. Before giving more of an update, I would like to thank those of you who have been keeping us all in your prayers through these difficult days. It seems to a large extent that we are through with the most difficult parts of this ordeal but there will certainly be recovery time for several involved and the repercussions will need to be dealt for the coming weeks and months.
For those of you who have not heard, I will briefly explain. The first week of our Easter break was a very enjoyable time as Ben’s fiancé came for a visit and we spent most of our time doing various outings with Eivind, Nadia, and Neli. For the first time since I arrived here in Tanzania I even had the opportunity to go flying with Eivind and see some of this beautiful country from the air. What an experience!
As I mentioned in my previous update, the second week of our break was planned to be slightly different. Ben and Adela went to Uganda to visit Ben’s brother, Nate, and his family and I accompanied three of my Tanzanian colleagues and a missionary friend from Norway to a workshop for East African Bible schools held in northwestern Kenya. Ben and Adela had a good and uneventful trip to Uganda and even my trip (through Nairobi) to the workshop with these four others was a very enjoyable experience. Even the days of interactions and various discussions we had at the workshop were very profitable for all of us.
It was during our return trip to Tanzania that the accident took place. We left Kapenguria Bible Center (where the conference was held) at 7am that Sunday morning (April 11th). The Norwegian (whose mission also owned the Land Cruiser we were in) started out driving. We stopped for lunch around 1pm after which Per asked me to take over driving since he was feeling quite tired. At about 3pm we were driving through a wide-open, rural area on a paved 2-lane road and came up on a tractor pulling a trailer and another car waiting to pass him. For a yet unknown reason, prior to either of us passing him, the tractor driver was making frequent and sudden swerving motions. However, when the car in front of me indicated his desire to pass by honking his horn, the tractor calmed down and remained in his own lane. That being the case, the car in front of us proceeded to pass. Since the road was still wide open and the tractor was still continuing in his own lane of travel, I also honked my horn (just to let him know that there was a second car) and pulled out to pass. When we were almost completely past him, and again for no apparent reason, the tractor driver made a sudden swerve and smashed into the back side-panel of our car, pushing us sideways and instantly sending us out of control and rolling. We rolled at least twice and finally came to a stop on our side. Fortunately, as evidenced by the fact that they all fled the scene, none of the three on the tractor were hurt. It appears that, after hitting us, the driver simply over-corrected and drove down a steep embankment and came to a stop in a field.
Our condition was slightly more serious. I as the driver, sustained only a sprained shoulder and a scraped elbow. The Norwegian, who was in the front seat with me, had two very deep cuts on his head that required about 15 stitches but was otherwise ok. Israel, who is our treasurer at Waama and a teacher as well, was understandably sore but otherwise completely unhurt. Pastor Gabriel, who is also a teacher at Waama, sustained a broken collar bone but thankfully nothing else. By far, Pastor Zakaria Dallei, who is the Dean at Waama, was the most seriously injured. Due to the fact that he was the only one in the car not wearing a seatbelt, he was thrown around quite a bit. He sustained several broken ribs, a broken shoulder, and fairly severe trauma to his head. We spent that first night at a hospital in the town of Kisii, Kenya before being flown the next morning to Nairobi where the level of available care is much higher. It was there determined that in addition to some fairly serious cuts to the side of his head, Zakaria had 3 different fractures in his skull, and some resulting bleeding in his brain which was putting pressure on his right eye and causing double vision.
The following day, with the other three having been satisfactorily patched up, they headed back to their respective homes in Tanzania while I stayed in Nairobi to help keep track of the care Zakaria was receiving and help coordinate his transfer back to Tanzania as soon as possible. Fortunately, by yesterday morning, in addition to having received several different scans and x-rays, he had been seen by a facial surgeon, an eye specialist, and a neuro-surgeon all of whom agreed that his condition was stable enough to be transported to his home town of Haydom where he could finish his recovery. As a result, yesterday afternoon a flight was arranged that took him to Haydom (where he was met by a medical team and his wife who is a nurse at the mission hospital there) and I was brought to Arusha.
I have to say that the prayers and encouragement we have received from so many people around the world have been absolutely overwhelming. The people of the Norwegian Lutheran Mission (having been involved with Waama for the past several decades and even being familiar with several of us in the car including the Tanzanian dean who was most severely injured) have showed especially generous concern. They actually started a fund to help cover the many expenses that have resulted (flights, hospital stays, x-rays, etc) and the response of the first day alone was simply phenomenal.
So, my plan is to spend the remainder of this week resting up and debriefing with people here in Arusha. Ben and Adela plan to return here from Waama on Saturday. Adela will fly out that night and Ben and I will head back to Waama on Monday. It has been unfortunate to miss this first week of classes but I am simply grateful that it will not be more than that. In all this, please especially pray for the following needs:
· The 2 weekends of Jesus Film showings we have scheduled for this short semester.
· The classes that we will be teaching – that we would teach well and the students would grasp what is taught.
· The solar-powered Jesus Film equipment sets that we plan to entrust to various local teams in the remaining months. The first set will be picked up from us this coming Tuesday.
· The complete and speedy recovery of all involved with this accident.
· God’s clear direction for my life beyond Tanzania.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I trust you had a blessed Easter celebrating the ultimate victory that we have through Jesus. God bless you all.
In His service,
Jesse Long
Mbulu, Tanzania
