Inkatazo Detour

Dear friends and family

November 5 was a normal one until I was involved in a car accident. It all happened so fast and I still do not have a pure recollection of all the events pre and post the accident. I have seen a lot of accidents in my life but have never imagined myself being a victim of one. I was hit from the side and what I remember is my car being airborne and the airbags deploying and a very rough knock around within the car. I also remember screaming Jesus’ name and I believe that has to do with me being able to write this email today. Anyway the car landed on a small hill inches away from a porch to a house that was vacant. I was later told that, while airborne I hit a pole with a street sign on it and it made a hole on my gas tank which started leaking immediately. When the car landed, I managed to get out using my right hand to unfasten my seatbelt and open the door. My whole left side had been numbed by the impact of the collision. When I opened the door, I remember falling out of the car next to a big tree which I had narrowly missed. I dread to think about the outcome of the accident if that tree had been in the path of the car. I fell unconscious at that point. I recall bits and pieces of what happened there after. I recall hearing a small crowd gathering, a woman praying very spiritedly for me, another woman asking me my name and holding my hand tight. I held her hand tightly as a sign to her that I could hear her, I remember her telling the bystanders that my hand was going cold and I thought to myself semi-coherently that this cant be it, I never imagined myself clocking out like that. I remember someone covering me with a blanket and at the back of my mind I was thinking to myself this is what happens to people when they actually die. As far as I was concerned I was still breathing and as loud as my thoughts were, it didn’t convince the onlookers that I was still around. I heard many voices pleading with me to stay with them. I heard a few wails and cries. The car was still running (probably still in gear) and the gas was leaking profusely and the situation was getting more worrying and dangerous for everyone at the scene. The last I heard were some irate 911 callers complaining about how slow the paramedics were. I vaguely heard some complaints when the police sirens grew louder and louder, I guess they expected the ambulance first. At that point I blacked out. I have no recollection of what happened next. I remember waking up in an ambulance with 4 guys in uniform asking me questions and all sorts of medical equipment attached to me. I was rushed to ER and only started coming around when I got there. The hospital staff kept talking to me non stop, asking me questions whose answers they probably knew. I was asked a thousand times what my name was and one nurse even challenged me to spell it. They asked me numerously what happened to me and what I was doing in the hospital when the weather was so nice on a weekend like this. I guess it was all means to try and keep me attentive and awake. At this point I was semi-conscious and able to answer some of the questions. After some x-rays I was put on a wheel chair and I at that moment felt some sense of relief and knew I was going to see kusasa/tomorrow. The good doctor told me that bulls like me would normally walk away from that kind of wreck and I had done just fine in walking away. Gee that was reviving. I was laid to sleep and told I was going to be just fine.
>>fast forward>>
When I was discharged the next day my good roommates/friends/brothers, Jermaine “Gupta” Sadambura and Keith “Lobengula” Manungo were waiting for me and they took me home. I have been resting ever since and dealing with the pain in my back and shoulder. My foot is fine, I can at least walk unaided and I am off the wheel chair. I will be back at work soon and also preparing for the Black Nativity play for 2006 like nothing happened. I gained more than lose a car, it may be hard to get around now but I am thankful that I am alive. Many signs from the accident make it hard to believe I am still here. By the way, the other car that hit me was fairly damaged but not nearly as mine. They walked away unscathed, save for the young man who bit his lip. It was a mother and 4 of her children, btwn ages 10 and 17.

This is a testimony I felt compelled to share with you. Count your blessings everyday and do not take anything for granted. It is easy to die and we are not promised kusasa/tomorrow. Live right by all means and give thanks to the one gives life.

Sarai mushe vadiwa
Salani kuhle bazalwane
Sala sentle bathu baModimo
Be well brethren

Evertone Bhekubukhosi “S'khosana” Siwela
PS Attached above is my car, (whats left of it) on his death bed.