Nathan is a Tuk-Tuk driver(Tuk-Tuks are 3 wheeled motorised vehicles that are effectively modern rickshaws). He is 57 years of age and wants to retire within the next 3 years. He has five daughters all married and used to work for Kenya Railways for 26 years. His brother had invested in the Tuk Tuk and Nathan became the driver so they shared the profits which in a good month meant he earned about 150 euros. He works a 14 hour day 6 days a week - 7.30am - 9.30pm. We met yesterday by chance and he gave me his phone number...
At midnight last night it was necessary to take one of the volunteers to hospital. He had developed a significant fever, he was extremely weak and his body was shaking. In circumstances like this you have to suspect Malaria. The problem of course is that we have a rule in Camara that we do not travel at night. Thats not because it is so dangerous from a crime perspective, its mainly because more things go wrong at night than during the day. Many of the vehicles here do not have lights for example and many of the roads are unlit. Combine that with pot holes that a 4 wheel drive would struggle with and you get the picture!
Anyway, we decided to go to the hospital. I needed transport and was very uneasy just waving somebody down on the street. Nathan had told me he only worked till 9.30pm each night but I was desperate and took a chance convincing myself that I would pay him more than a normal fare to make it worth his while. So I rang him and got a very weary reply - clearly I had just woken him up. I explained the situation and he said he would be over to the hotel within 15 minutes...
....And he was. He picked up my friend and I and took us to the hospital and said he would wait till we had finished there. My colleague needed to be admitted and so it took about 2 hours before everything was sorted out.
Finally, with all the paperwork done I left the hospital and Nathan took me back to the hotel.
When we arrived I asked him for the bill with the full intention of giving him more than he asked for.
He just looked at me and smiled.
'No bill' he said.
'This was not business - this was just helping a friend'
I just stared at him in amazement. I was just witness to an extraordinary gesture of kindness that left me humbled to the core. As I was clutching my wallet I truly felt like that camel struggling through the eye of the needle.
What else can I say except to once again emphasise that despite bringing computers and IT training to schools here I am the one really being taught about life....
At midnight last night it was necessary to take one of the volunteers to hospital. He had developed a significant fever, he was extremely weak and his body was shaking. In circumstances like this you have to suspect Malaria. The problem of course is that we have a rule in Camara that we do not travel at night. Thats not because it is so dangerous from a crime perspective, its mainly because more things go wrong at night than during the day. Many of the vehicles here do not have lights for example and many of the roads are unlit. Combine that with pot holes that a 4 wheel drive would struggle with and you get the picture!
Anyway, we decided to go to the hospital. I needed transport and was very uneasy just waving somebody down on the street. Nathan had told me he only worked till 9.30pm each night but I was desperate and took a chance convincing myself that I would pay him more than a normal fare to make it worth his while. So I rang him and got a very weary reply - clearly I had just woken him up. I explained the situation and he said he would be over to the hotel within 15 minutes...
....And he was. He picked up my friend and I and took us to the hospital and said he would wait till we had finished there. My colleague needed to be admitted and so it took about 2 hours before everything was sorted out.
Finally, with all the paperwork done I left the hospital and Nathan took me back to the hotel.
When we arrived I asked him for the bill with the full intention of giving him more than he asked for.
He just looked at me and smiled.
'No bill' he said.
'This was not business - this was just helping a friend'
I just stared at him in amazement. I was just witness to an extraordinary gesture of kindness that left me humbled to the core. As I was clutching my wallet I truly felt like that camel struggling through the eye of the needle.
What else can I say except to once again emphasise that despite bringing computers and IT training to schools here I am the one really being taught about life....
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