I forgot to mention that I showed some of my Batswana friends the photos my Aunt sent. They think my Uncle looks like a Chinaman. ( :

The past 3 weeks have been incredibly busy. Thanksgiving Week I taught 3 yoga classes; 1 at DHT, 1 in Phikwe, and power yoga in my friend’s tiny village of Semolale. While they all went well, I’m pretty sure the Semolale group didn’t really feel yoga was “their thing.” They were an aerobics class, and I think they wanted to try something different, but still didn’t know what to expect. School let out last Friday for the month’s holiday, so that was probably my last Phikwe class for a while as well. It was a small group, so instead of having class in our usual room, we held it on the lawn of one of the students, which was lovely.

I stayed that Thursday night in Semolale, following the class, then took the early morning bus home. It was half an hour late, and hadn’t been running at all the day before (possibly due to repairs …?). As I was reading my book, noticing how bad the woman sitting next to me’s breath was, feeling smooshed by the crowd (people stand in the aisles when it’s too full to sit; there were at least 40 on that small bus), it suddenly got very bumpy, and people began shouting. I looked up to see we were driving into the bush and though “Well, this isn’t good.”

We leaned to the left, so extremely that we had to hold on to the seats, and began sliding out of them and towards the left. I’d been sitting in the right aisle seat, about halfway back in the bus. Then the bus went onto its left side. I remember letting go of the seat, but do not remember letting go of the bag on my lap or my book. I also don’t remember how I came to be on the bottom of the pile of people in a totally f*#%ed up shoulderstand, on the opposite side from where I’d been sitting. I didn’t hit my head or lose consciousness. I felt eerily calm. I landed on my neck and shoulders. My head was against the ceiling of the bus, which was now to the left. My shoulders were on the left side of the bus, which was now lying on the ground. My left arm was pinned between people to my left. My legs were splayed with people under, above, and between them. The large woman with memorable breath was directly on top of me.

It was eerily quiet for about a minute after the bus stopped moving. A long minute. No one moved or spoke/cried/shouted. I wiggled my hands and feet and didn’t feel any pain, and knew they were not broken. I spit something out of my mouth and hoped it wasn’t a tooth. I ran my tongue over my teeth to see if they were all still there, or if I could taste blood. Yes they were and no I didn’t. I managed to get my right arm free and tried to reach a bar above my head but could not move the rest of my body because of the massive weight on top of me. I wasn’t afraid before or during the accident, but felt rather calm; but I became terrified that once people started moving, in an effort to propel themselves to standing, my neck or spine would be snapped. Once the mass did start to move, I managed to shove my torso upward enough that I could grab the bar. I pulled myself to a sitting position before I could get my left arm free. Then with both hands I pulled the bar until I was standing. People were getting up all around me and shuffling forward and out the front of the bus through the windshield, gathering belongings as they went. I picked up my backpack, which was at my feet, and slowly went along.

Once outside the bus, I dropped my bag near the road, thinking I needed to do something to help. I turned back to the bus and started pulling out luggage and plastic containers so that people still exiting wouldn’t have to climb over them. With that done, I turned back to the crowd, at a loss for what to do. I saw pieces of bus with big blood smears on them. I saw many people were in decent shape. I saw a lot of people with forehead abrasions, I’m guessing from the broken windows. A few people were very gashed up and bloody. Some, like me, showed no cuts, but when asked expressed that they had pain in their necks or backs. One thing I noticed over and over again was that many of the women were walking around wearing just one shoe. I called my counterpart, told her what happened, and told her to send the hospital’s ambulance. 5 minutes later she called me back to ask if she should send the ambulance. (YES!!!!) I also called Peace Corps to let them know what happened. Then I turned back to the people milling about, feeling useless. I encouraged several of the women to sit; some did, some didn’t. A few kids were walking around crying and no one was caring for them. I got 1 of them to sit, but she wouldn’t speak. I really wished there was a first aid kit so I could at least try to clean or cover some of those wounds. People were just wandering around the area, probably in shock. I was probably in shock too; though I know if one is cognizant enough to realize they’re in shock, then they probably aren’t in shock. I realized that everyone had walked off of the bus, and that we were all very, very, very lucky. The accident could have been much much worse.

I noticed a lot of people trying to flip the bus over, and went to them; one pointed out a set of keys under the bus – mine! I took them back to my bag and clipped them securely so I wouldn’t lose them again. At the time, I’d thought it wasn’t worth the effort of righting the bus. I certainly would not have gotten back on it to complete the ride back to Bobonong. Only later did I learn from the police that there had been a woman under the bus; people were trying to lift it to get her out. I also learned from a woman who’d been sitting near the front that the right front tire had punctured, which was what caused the accident.

About 15 minutes after the accident, 2 police trucks arrived. Then private cars and finally another small bus came and stopped. The worst injured were loaded up first into the police trucks and a private truck, and taken to Bobonong Primary Hospital. I and another woman were driven back to BPH in a private car driven by 2 kind Wildlife Officials. I don’t usually use names in this blog, but John and Michael, the Wildlife Officials, were very kind to help that day. As we neared BPH, we finally saw the ambulance rush past, presumably on the way to the scene.

At the hospital, I waited along with everyone else who was not priority. A woman recognized me; she was a teacher at the primary school in Semolale and had met me the day before. The school head knew I and 2 teachers were on the bus and sent her to check on us. (We were all fine, though the male teacher had injured ribs.) Eventually, a nurse gave me a pink Outpatient Card and another took my vital signs. A 3rd nurse wrote a prescription for painkillers and told me to go to the hospital pharmacy. That was the extent of my exam! While the 3 nurses I interacted with did not seem concerned, when I told the Peace Corps Med Officer what the vitals signs were, he immediately sent me to the private doctor in town. I had a temp of 38 (100.4 F), a pulse of 112, and blood pressure of 100/60. By this time the other PCV in town had come to check on me, and we went together to the doctor (“ngaka”). By this time I was feeling pain in my left hip, left shoulder, above/below the left elbow, & left neck, and was starting to bruise. The doctor checked those areas, then gave me an anti-inflammatory and a painkiller. In & out in no time. When I reported the visit to the PCMO, I learned that I should have shown the ngaka the pink hospital card. Being used to American doctors, I’d thought I wasn’t supposed to influence the second opinion, so I hadn’t. oops. I was told by both the ngaka and PCMO to follow up with the doctor the next day, and to go home and rest.

On the way home, one of the police trucks pulled up alongside us. I was on the phone with the PCMO and having a hard time hearing him, so my friend talked with them before indicating I should get in. We drove to the station (with blood still in the back of the truck) where they had me fill out a statement as to what happened. I knew at the time that my grammar was so poor as to be inexcusable, but I really couldn’t concentrate. I think I was just overwhelmed or fatigued. Then they gave me a sexual assault form and asked that I have a doctor fill it out, in case they needed a record for insurance claim purposes. I told them I hadn’t been sexually assaulted! They stamped the form (remember, everything in Botswana needs an official stamp) and said to use that form anyway. Then they kindly gave us a ride back to my house. I spent the day resting yet restless.

Saturday morning I walked the mile to the doctor, with more pain and stiffness than the day before, as expected. My shoulder, hip, and both sides of my neck were not happy. That painkiller was worthless! I was really worried that the bruise on my left hip, which was spreading, was really above the hipbone and on my abdomen. I was also worried about my neck. The ngaka wrote a consent form for me to go to the hospital for xray of my hip & shoulder. I live right by the hospital, so I walked the mile back. The hospital said they wouldn’t do it because it was a weekend & it was not an emergency. I tried to reason with them, knowing the PCMO would insist, and offering to call so they could speak to him. They said no. I called the PCMO after I left, he told me to go back to the doc so he could write “urgent” on the form. I did so, then back to the hospital. I waited & talked with some friendly staff until the on-call xray technician came in. With xrays in hand, back to the ngaka. A diagnosis of all clear, and I walked back to the bus stop near my house. I walked 6 miles the day after the accident! I didn’t limp till after the 4^th mile. I knew that nothing was broken; and I knew an x-ray wouldn’t show anything wrong internally.

I spent the rest of Thanksgiving weekend in Phikwe. I was very very happy to be surrounded by friends and food. ( : And I was happy that no one wanted to dwell on what happened; I told the story, then we went on with the rest of the getting-together-ness. I got a ride in a private car there, but had to take the bus back. I was a little skittish, especially when we hit a pothole. But we all made it back to Bobonong safely.

I brought my x-rays to Gabs about 10 days after the accident. The PCMOs wanted me to come in at some point to check in, so I tied it on to another trip south. (And I was still skittish on the long bus rides there & back, 2 weeks after the incident. I am such a dork.) By the time I got there, bruises were gone, most aches & pains were gone (except my durn hip and neck); there was no way to tell that anything had happened. With all my complaints about various aspects of PC, I have to say that they were all very on-top-of-it and very much there for me during this whole scena. It really could have been so much worse.

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BTW, Akanya now has a flea collar. She doesn’t mind it, which I find shocking.