At 10am we were at the marché waiting to see which would be the first bus to roll up. We Had corn on the cob and chatted with a few villagers. Normally we might have a calabash of dolo while waiting, but we were both recovering from giardia so decided against it. Just about 11am, the green EMAF bus arrived. It was pretty full, but we were eager to get on the way to Ouagadougou so we decided not to wait for one of the other three buses due to pass within the next hour or so. There was an open bench up front, but we were directed to two seats in the back. We climbed over the other passengers and found our place in the back. We sat down and we were off. The road was bumpy as the heavy rains this month have carved potholes everywhere. These drivers steer these buses back and forth, left and right dodging these craters in the (dirt) road. We reached Koukouldi village and didn't stop. The road seemed to be getting bumpier and Sonia even commented on how it felt like the bus had a flat tire or something. Shortly thereafter, the bus it a big bump, veered left running off the road and smacked square into a large tree. (see pictures, all taken the NEXT day). The tree didn't budge stopping the bus in it's tracks. In a split second we both remember asking ourselves the same question, "is this it for us?"
Upon impact we flew forward out of the flimsy bus seats. Everyone did. I think it took a second to realize we were still alive. There was a mad dash of people scrambling to get up and out of the bus. I remember asking Sonia immediately if she was okay. She said, "yeah, I think so". Phew! We caught our breath and started looking for our bags in the debris of benches, luggage and blood. All our bags were amazingly right there. Everyone was out sitting along the road, while we were still in the bus. Except the driver, who was yelling but not getting out from his seat (we think he broke his legs/feet). And his right-hand man was still lying horizontally where a dash board might be. He wasn't moving. We stayed in the bus and I called the Peace Corps office immediately. Help was on the way.
We caught our breath by staying in the bus. People kept climbing back in looking for a missing cell phone or hat. Sonia also called one of her coworkers to send the ambulance, as our village was only 10km away. About 10min went by when a bus traveling in the opposite direction stopped. It's was the same company. They maneuvered around as if to try and pull the disabled bus out of the ditch/tree. We started yelling "no, we're still inside". At this point we wanted to get out of the bus but Sonia couldn't put weight on her right leg, and I couldn't lift her out the window as my shoulder hurt. A couple guys helped lift us out the side window and we joined the rest of the passengers on the side of the road. There were a handful of people lying on the ground with very obvious fractures, and most the rest of everyone else had some sort of cut.
The antiquated ambulance from our village was the first to arrive, aside from a couple private cars. We knew the driver. We pointed out the worst injured and he got them in the ambulance. And then it started to rain really hard. Some nice lady gave Sonia an umbrella, but that wasn't doing much. A few locals convinced us to go seek shelter in one of the stopped buses. They carried Sonia into the bus and we waited. Eventually the gendarme (police) showed up. All the heavily injured had already been sent off to the hospital 20km away in Koudougou. They convinced us to give up our shelter and climb into the back of their pickup truck, along with about 10 other people, to take us to the same hospital in Koudougou. Sonia had two policemen tending to her leg. It was still raining, and every time the truck hit a pothole we cringed from the pain from our respective injuries. We arrived in Koudougou soaking wet, but were happy to see the white Peace Corps Landcruiser and a few familiar faces. We climbed into the back and were off for Ouaga.
(Sonia in the back of the Peace Corps' Landcruiser, nibbling on cookies just hours after the accident. See, she's fine)
We got x-rays and it was confirmed Sonia had a fractured leg/hip and I had a broken collar bone. The jokes started flying about Sonia being 30 and already breaking a hip. The irony was that on her 30th birthday just a month before, I had made the smart ass comment, "Happy 30th birthday Sonia, now don't go breaking a hip on me". Talk about a prophecy. We went on to the Peace Corps office and checked into their in-house infirmary. And that was when the real bad news came... we needed to leave Burkina Faso to seek proper medical attention. We were devastated. We talked it through and at some point accepted the reality. But where would we be going, and when?
The next day, while Sonia was stuck bed-ridden, I headed back to our village to get more clothes and speak with our community about the accident and that we'd be gone for a while. This also gave me a chance to snap a couple shots of the bus if it were still there. It was!
Peace Corps rolled out the proverbial red carpet for us sending a charter jet to shuttle us to South Africa (the standard commercial options would have taken too long to coordinate as there are not a lot of options leaving Ouaga). The Netcare Air Ambulance was fantastic and had Sonia's leg completely immobilized on a stretcher. The crew was great even letting us watch an in flight movie on the private flight. It was about an 8hr trip, touching down once in Angola to refuel. We all stepped outside the plane (well, except Sonia) to witness a lunar eclipse. We finally landed in Johannesburg, South Africa around 3am local time. An ambulance took us to a very nice, modern, developed world hospital in neighboring Pretoria (the capitol of South Africa). We weren't both admitted (for me I think they were just being nice by giving me a bed). Sonia was off for her little operation just a few hours later. They put three titanium screws in her leg to prevent further fracturing. A few hours later she was out and we were watching the Olympics on TV together. Amazingly enough, she is already up and walking around (slowly, and crutch-assisted of course)! She'll be running/dancing/skipping before we know it.
And that were the story currently stands. Sonia is wrapping up her stay at the hospital hoping to get out in a couple days and I'm already starting the recovery at a local Peace Corps B&B called The Rose Guest House in Pretoria, South Africa.
The Rose Guest House
32 Murray Street
BROOKLYN Pretoria,
South Africa
What now? We're not completely sure. We're hoping to just heal well and eventually head back to Burkina to finish all that we have started.
We're super thankful to have walked away from this one with some relatively minor injuries. "Dieu est grand!" We'll be in touch and now should have regular Internet access for the coming weeks (but for the moment our US and Burkina cell phones are not working). Thank you all for the warm wishes. Stay tuned... and always sit in the BACK of the bus!
