Kenyans adventures: same, and yet different
Erik is up in northern Kenya spending a week with his old friend Erik Ness. They are visiting some water projects Erik N is in charge of, as well as doing other things (and yes, it’s very confusing when your husband’s good friend has the same name as your husband.) Erik’s wife, my friend Rachel, and I refer to them as “your Erik” and “my Erik.”
Anyway, I got a call from Rachel this morning saying that “her” Erik had to hike 10 kilometers to find a signal so he could text her to have a car sent to rescue them, that they were badly stuck. And that Erik (mine) had cut his hand and might have to come back to Nairobi to get it stitched up. And that was it – no other info.
And so we waited and prayed. Rachel and I called each other periodically to see if there was any news. Finally about 2:30 my Erik called me to say that he was on the way to get his hand stitched up in a nearby town, and then the rescue vehicle would try to pull other Erik out. Then he was out of cell phone range again, so waited and prayed some more.
Finally this evening, I was able to talk to Erik (and see these pictures I shamelessly stole from his Twitter account). He was trying to dig the car out with a machete last night (they gave up around midnight and camped out) and his hand slipped onto the blade. So now he has stitches in two fingers and his palm. They were able to pull out the vehicle this evening, right before a flash flood would have probably washed it away.
I haven’t decided if the text from Erik N this morning was a blessing or not – it made me pray more (and worry more), but I think maybe ignorance would have been bliss. 
Pam and I were skyping today, and her comment was “you think Kenya has changed so much with cell phones and all, and yet you still get stuck in the mud!” So much has changed, and yet so much is still the same. And yet I’m still so happy to be living here, and glad Erik can be having these type of adventures (maybe minus the stitches!)
Note: you can see Erik’s narration of the story at: http://whiteafrican.com/2010/04/28/3399/
4 comments
Bummer for Erik. Glad he’s alright, though! It seems so weird to me still, to think that they can call for help! By the way, after enlarging this picture of his hand, I was once again reminded why you are the nurse, and not me. =)
I’ve been wondering all afternoon what happened to his hand. How many total stitches does he have? I can see a lot of blood but not much more detail. The stuck car looks awesome!! I didn’t realize they were stuck there over night. Yikes! Sooo relieved that the flash flood didn’t come the night before. Wow! I’m glad he has a tetnus shot…I think. Was the needle clean?
Sorry, Amy, was wondering if anyone would pass out seeing the picture! Pam, not sure how many stitches. He actually had a tetanus shot last year when he had stitches on his head (in Kenya, too), but he forgot, so got it again.
This is to reminiscent of Dad’s adventure with Uncle Jack and you and Wil in the back seat…too bad that flash flood did come. So happy this one didn’t come til after the car was pulled out.
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