Crashing into Christmas
*POUND POUND POUND* On the morning of December 18 I woke up
to a rather unusual sound. At exactly 6:00am there was a person banging at my house’s
front door as hard and as urgently as they could. Having stayed up till 1:30am
the previous night watching "The Company Men" from my downloads on
Netflix...I flew out of bed very tired and confused as ever. I threw on a
shirt, unzipped my mosquito net and felt the heat of the day rush onto my skin.
I had no idea what I was about to open my door to.
I unlocked my door and saw a woman quickly running to
another house on campus. Once she saw me she started speaking VERY fast and I
could not understand anything she said. With the Spanish I know, I can
generally understand what is happening in an adult conversation, however I
couldn’t understand a single word she said. Thankfully, one of
my boys Leonel heard the urgency of what was happening downstairs and came to
help me. Once she started speaking, I saw his eyes fly wide open and fear
strike him. He immediately turned around and started running to the back of the
house…but there was a problem…I still had no idea what was going on.
I said “Chico, que paso?” and in very animated hand movements he
put up two hands, said “carro uno y carro dos (putting his hands together)
BOOM! Y es muy cerca Familia Feliz. Necessita ayuda y agua por la personas.”
After his animated expression, I knew exactly what had
happened. I told him to start filling up water buckets and went to get Sean
(our campus nurse). I ran into his room and told him that “Two cars had a head
on collision very close to Familia Feliz.” (exactly what Leonel had told me). In
Sean's description of the events, he says it best, “Adrenaline shot
down his spine.” There is no better way to describe what he did. He was asleep
one second and out the door running with his stethoscope and some other medical
equipment toward the crash a second later.
It was now time to take action. I went and joined Leonel at our sinks to fill up buckets of water. Once full, we began the journey to the location. Carrying 40lbs (estimated), I hopped our campus fence, and saw where the crash was. Situated about half a mile from where we were was 2 cars on opposite sides of the street that looked like they had been crushed in half. The journey felt like forever as the water weighed Leonel and I down. My arms were hurting, my brain was tired, and my pajamas were still on…
*Be advised, I will
be describing some harsh wounds that the men, women and children in the cars
suffered*
We could see cars, busses and motorcycles stopped at the
location of the accident. But something was weird, nobody was helping. Everyone
was just…standing and watching. Getting closer gave us a visual of the extent of
what happened. 2 cars (green and tan) were flying down the road at extremely
fast rates of speed, in opposite directions, then they crashed directly into each other. Both engines had been completely
pressed into the cabin of the cars and had impaired both driver's legs. Sean
was working on getting the man out of the tan car with a few other people so I
decided to see how I could help the woman in the green car.
As I walked through the 40+ people that had gathered to
watch others work, I eventually arrived at the woman who was screaming in pain.
I walked up to her and tried to see how we could get her out of the car. Once I
looked down, I knew it would be extremely difficult. The dashboard and gas
pedals were practically on top of her and below her. Her legs were completely
opened up with a severe slice that went about 2 inches in her
leg and from above the knee down to her shin. I had never seen anything like it.
On top of that, both of her femurs were clearly not intact. Someone had tried
to lift her up, but her legs just stayed down…it was almost like the largest
bone in her body had completely turned into jelly.
As a non-medical person, it was difficult to see this and not react. However, what surprised me even more was the words that came out of her mouth. She said, “Please can you call my mother.” in clear English. I looked straight at her and took out my phone, however she did not know the phone number. I felt completely useless, and yet nobody else around us seemed to want to help. Even with someone that could *somewhat* speak my language, I couldn’t do anything. Come to find out, there were 2 other children in the car who someone had already been driven to the hospital by a volunteer. Both kids suffered pretty serious head trauma and possible broken bones. It was frustrating to see that by now there were 6 or 7 buses and many cars stopped on the side of the road, with many people walking around…doing nothing to help.
Eventually our director Melissa and Hermano Juan arrived
with a doctor who happened to be visiting Familia Feliz to pick up one of her
kids. They parked the car right next to the woman and began working on getting
her out. After moving her in many different ways, several people got her out of
the car. She was placed in our Familia Feliz black Toyoda and driven to the
hospital. It turned out that she had lived at Familia Feliz many years
ago and had many connections to our community.
Still…there was another person that Sean was still working on. The man in the tan car was clearly drunk and had no control of himself. He was eventually pulled from the car and laid on the ground. He had blood all over his body and gashes across many parts of his legs. His engine had also entered the cabin of the car and crushed his legs. His left femur was snapped in half and he could clearly not stand or walk. Sean tried to keep him calm, but it can be difficult to work with a drunk man who thinks you are trying to hurt him. Sean and I sat on the floor and held him down as he cursed us out and continued to try and get away.
After 50 minutes of waiting, the ambulance arrived and
began to work on the man. They had one of the orange boards that you would see at
any public swimming pool and plopped him on the piece of plastic. All Sean and
I could think is “what kind of process are they following.” It felt like so
many things were backwards. Nobody secured his back, neck, head, arms or legs.
He was just thrown on this board. Once they lifted him into the ambulance, Sean
notices something strange…there was nobody in the back of the ambulance with
him, nothing restraining him, and only one person in the vehicle. The man
apparently went on to break 2 windows of the ambulance and gave the driver a
very difficult time. Medically…things are done a little differently down here
in Bolivia.
Finally everyone left. The cars had been pushed off the
road and it was time to clean up, but the excitement was not done! For the next
45 minutes, nearly every car or motorcycle that passed stopped at the cars and
started examining what they could take. The first group of people arrived in a
taxi. They entered the green car and found plates of chicken, rice and even a
full cake! They actually stared laughing, eating and having a good time…all
around these totaled cars. They were definitely drunk.
The boys and I brought some brooms back from campus and started to clean up the road. Everything was now peaceful. The cars were flying by like normal, some people would stop and look at the crash and some didn’t even seem to notice it.
What are the odds of this? Cars crashing right outside our property? Such a weird coincidence. These are the same kinds of cars we take everywhere in town. These are the cars we trust to get us back to campus at night. This helped me realize that the same thing could happen to me. Down here, nobody wears seat belts, checks for other cars or cares about other drivers. Its every man for himself. It reminded me that I need to be careful down here. Just because I’m here as a missionary doesn’t make me invincible. I am still prone to all the incidents of everyday life.
It also helped me see…life. I have never been so close to people in so much pain. I wanted to help them but there was nothing I could do. While all of this was happening, I prayed more then a few times. I prayed for peace, comfort for those affected, and to see Jesus in this somehow. While I’ve been down here in Bolivia, God has certainly kept me busy. He has challenged me at every step of this journey and pushed me to have faith like I have never had before.
Understanding why God does things in the ways he does is an impossible task. Life here was just getting easy. The day that all of this happened…was also the first day I only had 4 boys instead of a full house of 8-13. It was supposed to be a fun day of swimming and shopping with my 4 boys in town, but God threw a loop in the rope. Sometimes I have to be reminded that I did not sign up for an easy time in my mission year. Whether it is car crashes or kids crying late at night, I must be on guard at all times.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
“Be on guard,
stand firm in faith,
be courageous,
be strong.
And do everything
with love.”
Jesus calls us to serve with a willing heart no matter how intensive the task at hand must be. All of this reminds me that even though everything seems like its going in a way you don’t expect…faith will allow you to enjoy life through the love you provide to those around you.
I am not sure how everyone is doing now. However, I do know that later that day, everyone that was involved in the crash had to be transferred to hospitals in La Paz. The woman was severely injured all across her body and her children are now with her. The man has a broken back, arm, femur and cuts all over his body.
Here we are walking back to Familia Feliz once everything had been
cleaned up.
Promises must be kept:
The day before the crash my last four boys who were not
staying all summer (our Christmas break) had gone back to where they came from! This meant that I now
only had 4 boys left…and wow can I feel the difference. Life is so much more…quiet.
I don’t have to control everyone all at the same time anymore or try to keep
track of and cook for 13 boys ages 5-15. Now I just need to know where my 4
are!
On this day Sean and I promised our boys that we would take them to town for some special treats! Going to town is like going to heaven for them…they LOVE it. We eat good food (that I don’t prepare), swim, and walk around the big city of Rurrenabaque. Sean and I were REALLY looking forward to this as well. When we go to town, not only do we get to have some freedom to eat what we want and do what we want, but we also get internet!
However, after the events of the morning, Sean and I just wanted to take a nap…we sat in the house completely dead. Eventually all of the boys woke up and immediately prepared to go to town. Most excited of all was Leonel. After helping us in the morning, he must have felt invincible. Sean and I sucked it up and powered through the hour before we left.
Eventually Melissa pulled up to out house with the car to
take everyone to town. In that moment, one of the cutest things I’ve seen all
year happened. I have two sets of brothers now. Both older brothers were
helping their younger siblings prepare for the day and make sure they were
ready. The older brothers packed snacks from the previous day, extra clothing
for their brothers, and even a toy for them to play with if they got bored.
Something about that just made me smile! (It also made me wonder if my older
brother would do the same…Hi Ethan!!)
Our first stop was the French Bakery! I wanted to show them what I did on my typical day off. We got them pizza croissants, chocolate croissants and a drink of their choice. The boys were STUFFED after this but wanted to eat more…I had to tell them we’ll eat more later.
You can see just how full they were in this picture.
Leonardo taking in every last bite!
After letting our food settle, our next stop was the swimming pool! The boys talk about swimming all the time and it was awesome to let them be fish for a few hours…and hours…and more hours. I had no idea how much these kids loved swimming till now.
Pictures from the pool:
It was then time to eat again. The boys always talk about chicken, so we wanted to find them some good chicken to eat.
Found it!
The boys were so excited to have fresh mango juice,
chicken, and other things that we don’t have easy access to.
Leonardo enjoying his meal.
After this, it was movie time for the kids and nap time for
Sean and I at the hotel where we had enjoyed the pool (for a fee). Leonardo felt tired as well so he decided to join me.
Our final stop of the day, Empanadas!
My 4 boys in town.
Gas keeps us Goin':
The day I posted my last blog also happened to be a very stressful day for Sean and I. During that time there was a severe gas shortage. People would wait in lines for days to get gas, and of course like any other citizen of Rurrenabaque, we had to wait as well. On Tuesday December 5 one of our volunteers placed 8 of our gas cans in the line of over 500 cans. There is an official rope that goes through the handles of all the gas cans, which keeps people from cutting in line...quite ingenious if you ask me. Wednesday passed by, Thursday past and finally Friday was here. At all times there must be someone monitoring your cans, so there was always a worker or volunteer sitting in the line. Since all of us volunteers are now citizens of Bolivia, we have official Bolivian IDs. These IDs determine how much gas you can get per month and prohibit you form exceeding 50bs.
That Friday 8 of us were supposed to head into town at 5:00am in case our cans got called up early. Every time a gas truck would pass the road in front of us, it would be a mad dash to hope we would get gas. We ended up leaving at 7:15am and after a few pitstops we ended up at the gas station.
On the way to the gas station.
Upon arrival, we had about 100 cans in front of us. The
lines were definitely moving quicker so we knew that it was our day. Outside,
it must have felt like 115 degrees. For the first 2 hours we had cloud cover,
but the last hour was pure sunlight beating down on us. Every person there was
Bolivian except Sean, our director Melissa and myself. It was rather entertaining for all of the locals to see us try to hide from the sun.
You can see the line of about 400 cans behind us as well.
In this area, we are clearly foreigners. If you are white and at a gas station with tanks you own, people know that you are most likely from Familia Feliz. Our director Melissa has lived with this notion for a long time now. The woman in front of us in the line had a child that was about 11 years old. She walked up to our director with her child next to her and asked if we could take him. She said things like, “He is incompetent, stupid, and impossible to deal with.” All of this was said to our director with the child by her side.
Melissa stayed calm of course and listened to the woman. However Familia Feliz is full. We can’t take anyone else. Knowing that there are children with families like that really makes our hearts hurt. However, we can’t always take every child that has a difficult life. The kids we have already need to be here, and to take on more children would not make us able to provide for the kids we currently have.
Fresh orange juice from the stands around the station. So
smart of them to do!
One of the best thing about being from Familia Feliz is the reputation we have. It is true that some people are frustrated with us…for reasons I can’t fully understand. However, most locals truly love what we do. All of the time in town, I am offered discounts and thanked for the work we do. However…if the people don’t know me, I am often charged about 2x what the locals pay. It’s the good and bad part of being a foreigner at Familia Feliz.
In this instance, we had waited just like all the other people. However, when we got to the actual pump the people recognized Melissa. It was supposed to be only 50bs of gas per person. However, they told us to wait and “be quiet” for a few minutes to work something out. They typed a few things into the computer and allowed us to get double what we could have per person! We felt so blessed to have more gas then we were used to. We thanked the gas attendant and headed back to Familia Feliz.
This whole experience was so unique for me. Gas shortages, being singled out, interactions with locals that I'm not used to, waiting in lines for hours for a necessary item. All of it was very eye opening.
The road back to Familia Feliz.
Some Hard Goodbyes...
I now only have 4 boys in the house. Which means that 9 have left. While I am happy life has settled down quite a bit, the goodbyes were not always fun. I have gained a connection with 13 boys and hoped to have made an impact on their lives. Now I am not sure if I will ever see them again.
I tried my best to get a picture with each boy that left, but some of them slipped away without a photo.
Zachariah before leaving. He helped me cut veggies and was
our dedicated bathroom cleaner.
Ivan was my bread buddy and always wanted to learn
something new in the kitchen. He definitely though I was better at cooking then
I really am. He wanted to learn how to make all sorts of things that I was
still learning. He challenged me in many ways.
Lewis was the clown of our house. He loved to joke around
all the time…even when we were trying to be serious. It was always hard to keep
a straight face with him. He also found a passion in his chore…cleaning the
kitchen. He would always go the extra mile.
Yhostine loved to play around. He actually would regularly
attempt to play fight with all of the boys. I never understood it because it
was not how my brother and I grew up playing. I would tell them that fighting
was not for our house, but he was always quick to remind me that this was not America
and they play differently here.
Here is Rojer, Daniel, Otto and Jose-Elias. All of them combined
brought trouble and smiles to the house. In this picture the mother was
clearly excited to be with her boys, so she was in the picture with us.
We will see who returns in February.
Summer!:
13 boys to 4. As you can imagine…it is quite a difference. I used to have 4 kids under 6 years old and 9 above 11. The biggest difference has been cooking. I basically learned to make everything I know how to cook while here. The problem is, I am no longer cooking for tons of teenage boys. I am cooking for 2 teens, a 5 year old and a 6 year old. I have been constantly cooking FAR too much food.
The days are simply incredible. Here is a general routine:
-
7:30 wake up
-
Wait for boys to wake up
-
8:30 start breakfast
-
9:00 Eat
-
9:30 Chores
-
10:00 Play
-
10:30 Activity 1 (group game or more cleaning)
-
11:30 Play or watch a downloaded show.
-
12:30 Lunch
-
1:00 Chores
-
2:00 Soccer or outside game
-
3:00 play with other houses
-
4:00 Movie!
-
6:00 dinner
-
7:00 more soccer
-
7:30 showers
-
8:30 worship
-
9:00 bed time!
- 9:00-12:30 Collin time!
I no longer have to wake up extremely early. I no longer have to dinner prep for 3 hours. And I no longer have to worry about not being able to communicate with the kids. Everything has gotten extremely easy and I am here for it. I continually think about how the days would go earlier this year. To be honest, I am not sure where my energy came from the last few months, but I am more then grateful for every ounce that I received.
I am taking quite a bit of time to rest and prepare for our next adventure!
Photos from the weeks:
Hummus and flat bread!
Playing around with the kids.
Fried rice
The play we put on for the kids.
Granola!
Sean swamped by kids.
Sabbath baked ziti. This is an example of over cooking…
Leonardo in his tree!
Pizza night. Surprisingly the kids ate a LOT of this.
Hike with the boys!
Ended up finding a bullet ant nest…
Soccer in the rain
Bread and pasta.
Ashoka the cat had 8 kittens! I love them all.
My fruit plate from the coffee shop. Sadly they are closed
till January 3. The owner got in a motorcycle crash.
The Rurre Christmas Tree. Very festive.
A new place to eat!
Got a new blender that works very well with some donation
money!
Got a strainer, gloves and a thing for frying potatoes (not
sure what its called haha).
Work has started on our projects for the summer.
The boys just learned that Darth Vader is Luke's Father. They
could not stop talking about it all afternoon!
Food!
More food.
Jose-Elias and I before he left.
Talking after church.
The sky during worship.
SO many flys…
A cat decided to pay me a visit!
An awesome tree in town!
The cat comes to me all the time now!
Panettone! The kids love these Christmas Fruitcakes.
I put some vitamin C in my water and the boys all thought it was gasoline… Leonardo was sacred for me for a bit!
Decided to make some garlic bread.
Turned out SO good and the boys want me to make it again next week. I want me to make it as well...
On our day off I went in an bought a bunch of gifts for my boys. I got toy airplanes, rubix cubes, toy cars, games and more. They're going to be so surprised because we technically already celebrated Christmas.
Tree in Rurre! Its awesome to see the locals being festive.
On the way back from our day off yesterday...our taxi was a 7 seat car, yet the driver piled 16 people in the car. Up top I talked about how I need to be careful, but sometimes there is no other option. This was the last taxi to leave the station, so we had no other choice. We sat in the back because it is the safest place...furthest from any possible damage to our legs.
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