Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Abnormal Life

I was just talking with my friend Grace. Her only daughter, Christine, was in an accident yesterday on her way to high school. The combi she was in had no brakes, and therefore went right through a red light and got smashed on the side by a car. There were a lot of schoolchildren in the combi. Grace went to the school and then brought her daughter to the only public hospital in Harare (which is actually just down the street from where we work). They were waiting in the queue for 5 hours. There are only 2 doctors in the hospital. She said that generally people can't afford the hospital fees, and so only go to the hospital for emergencies. Grace saw several people die while they were waiting in the line. When she finally got to see a doctor, he took a look at Christine, said she looked fine, and suggested she take some painkillers for any aches and pains. Grace is debating on whether going back and spending the $5 million on an x-ray just to make sure. When she was reporting the incident to the police, they said that the day before, a gentleman had been in a combi accident. He went to the same hospital. They looked at him, said he looked fine and sent him home. He died the next day. So, Grace is a bit freaked out. Sometimes life here feels normal, and then sometimes it just feels really abnormal. Is it ethnocentric to say that public transit vehicles should have brakes, and there should be more than 2 doctors at the one public hospital in a capital city?

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