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Published: January 24th 2009
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Our Hardtop
This is what our vehicle looked like before the accident The events of yesterday, the 23rd, are not likely to be erased from my mind anytime soon, and today our whole family is offering up prayer after prayer of thanks that we are all back together again, safe and with good health overall.
Yesterday began with Dad, Lindsey and I traveling to Arusha early in the morning. We girls were dropped off at the Gee’s house for a visit, while Dad went to ACSOP and taught there for the day. Sometime around 4pm, Dad, Jacob and Todd Gee started driving the short distance from the school to the Gee’s house. As they neared the place where they were to turn off the main road, Dad noticed a large, greyhound-sized bus coming up very quickly behind them, so he pulled over towards the edge of the road to give the bus room to pass. However, the bus was going much too fast, and plowed right into the back of the Land Cruiser, crumpling the entire back section and sending it flying off the road, where it spun around, flipped and rolled one and a half times, coming to rest on its side. Thankfully, all three of those inside had been wearing
First View for the Girls
This picture was taken after the vehicle was tipped back up, after finally stopping on its side. their seatbelts… I shudder to think of what injuries we would have seen had they not been wearing the shoulder belts. After the vehicle stopped, the engine was still revving dangerously, and smoke started to fill the vehicle, so Dad removed the key, but the engine continued to scream. All of the doors were unable to be opened, but most of the windows were shattered, and all three were able to climb out of the back window opening. At Jacob’s suggestion, they immediately had a prayer of thanks for their safety and being able to walk out alive. Eventually the engine stopped, thankfully without bursting into flames, and some men were able to push the vehicle back onto its tires as everyone collected themselves.
Throughout all this, Linz and I were just waiting for Dad to come pick us up at the Gee’s house, but about the time I was expecting them to drive up, I got a call from Dad saying that they were ok, but they had been in an accident, etc. Linz, Mrs. Trina and I brought some towels and bandaids and drove out to the road, not really knowing what to expect. I can’t fully
describe the terrible feeling I had as we walked over to the road and saw the bus stopped there, with a big crowd of people looking around at the opposite ditch. We crossed the road and looked all around for our vehicle, and when I first saw it, my brain didn’t even register that it was ours. Then I looked closer, and to my horror that flat white something in the bushes at the bottom of the embankment was our Land Cruiser. Pictures simply cannot begin to show how bad it looked. Something of the depth is lost when you try to capture it with a camera. The crushed back end… glass everywhere… the entire driver’s side of the vehicle smashed down… seats tweaked and twisted. But worse than any of that, was wondering about the guys, and if they really were all right. That cold, sick feeling in my stomach as we scrambled down into the ditch through the crowd of people, searching for Dad, Jake and Todd… seeing them, with blood running down the sides of my Dad’s and brother’s heads, not knowing how bad they might be hurt, but hugging them and thanking God that they were
alive.
Mr. Jimmy Gee picked Dad, Jacob, Todd, Lindsey and me up, and the next 5 hours or so were spent giving reports to the police at the scene, going to the police station, going to the hospital, back to the police station, then home with the Gees, who were so very gracious to us and put us up quite comfortably for the night.
At the hospital, Dad got the gash above his eye taped up and had a chest x-ray taken to check out his ribs, which showed everything to be fine. Jacob got the cut on his eye taped up as well, and has quite a bad black eye, but should heal up nicely. Todd got a bump on his head and Mr. Jimmy had it x-rayed, which showed he was just fine as well. Everyone is sore from the impact of the accident, but should be fine in not too long. We are awestruck and thankful that they all escaped with so few injuries.
The Gees are kindly letting us borrow one of their vehicles for now, so after more business with the police and such this morning, we were able to make our
Front View
...after being tipped back up way home this afternoon to be reunited with Mom and Luke, who were anxious to see us, as you can imagine. These kinds of incidents really cause you to think about how fragile life is… especially on the roads here in Africa. It makes me so very thankful to God that everything turned out this well… there is nothing quite so frightening as being faced with the possibility of someone you love being harmed like that. We ask for your prayers as Dad and Jacob heal and as we try to get things sorted out with the insurance and begin the long process of trying to replace our vehicle. We are all a bit shaken, but mostly just glad to be back together… thanking God for His goodness and holding each other a little tighter than usual.
Love, Julia
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molly
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so thankful
I am so thankful everyone was ok. That bus must have been flying...