Hello?...Hi, well first off everyone is ok…..

Hello?...Hi, well first off everyone is ok…..

These are Kayla’s first words to me on the phone when she called, on her way to the hospital, after a Matatu (minibus taxi) hit her.

The day before I had pinched a nerve in my back I was fine for most of the day but the next morning I actually couldn’t get out of bed. It was Saturday morning and the field station was hosting an event for the primary school just across the entrance from the station. I told Kayla that she should just go with the kids without me and as soon as I could get my body moving again I would meet them out there.

When Kayla and the kids arrived at the turn into the school they were there with two other cars following. Now normally at that interaction you’d make a left turn into the station but this time they were all making a right turn into the school. All three cars were stopped and signaling right on this very busy fast moving highway. This Matatu, coming from behind, assuming they were going to turn left, decided to pass all three cars on the right at full speed just as Kayla was beginning her turn.

There were a lot of witnesses since everyone was assembled at the school waiting for Kayla to start the function. They tell me it looked pretty bad and judging from the look of the cars I can see why they were all scared. To top it off the minibus, it turns out, is owned by a senior police officer which is totally against the law, conflict of interest, but who cares about that really, it’s only THE LAW and you are a POLICE OFFICER! I can see now why the police who came to the scene tried to spin it that somehow it was Kayla’s fault. And I have learned subsequently that roughly 30 percent of the Matatus are owned by police and there are several hundred in the area. It’s also no wonder then that these minibus taxis are allowed to get away with the most incredible reckless driving habits you could ever imagine.

The car had to be inspected by the police on Monday but somehow the CDC staff persuaded the police to let them store the car at the field station instead of the police station; I think they were all worried the car would be vandalized or something. Can you believe!?

I met them all at the hospital and found the kids disoriented and traumatized and worried about their mom who was in another room getting six stitches in her arm but basicly ok. Everyone was exceptionally fortunate with no other injuries. Esther is seemingly fine as well but Max seems a little more emotional and insecure the last couple days. Max complained the next day of a sore neck which we are watching too. Aside from the cut on her arm and the feeling that she has just been beaten up Kayla is ok too, although she cannot remember the impact at all and we are wondering if she might have hit her head. The very next day she left for a conference in the US so she’ll see a doctor in the states when she arrives. We were all very very lucky, another meter into her turn and the story might have turned out different. It is all a bit surreal to me right now.

I kick myself a little for not having been there. And I am angry. Of course I’m angry at that Matatu driver but it’s really this country that almost took my family away from me that Saturday. Folks who have never been in a place like this I think can’t even begin to imagine this corrupted fucked up system here, I have been the victim or witness to a lot of sleaze lately so I’m a bit bitter anyway but it seems more and more crap like this take place to whittle away my desire to stay.