Drama on the Road to Kisumu

Drama on the road to Kisumu on Sunday 25 September
The next series of posts will describe several harrowing days involving our very serious road accident and the aftermath. I am recalling a series of mainly horrifying experiences. The characters in this series of narratives are four, Laban, the Farmers Own Agricultural Officer, Guyo, a farmer from Marsabit in northern Kenya, who was accompanying us to see the work of Farmers Own, Asha his sister, a business women who wanted to see if she could develop some trade links for her business, and myself wanting to arrange the details of a programme for the visit of a Dutch NGO interested in collaboration .
There are 3 major killers in Kenya, Malaria, AIDS and road accidents, in fact Kenya is the second worst country in the world for accidents, a combination of terrible roads, poor maintenance and appalling driving.
We had just reached Awasi about 45 km from Kisumu and stopped to greet Patrick and the team of fundis (Swahili for tradesmen) who repaired our pickup which had suddenly and potentially violently broke down here in July when the steering link to the front offside wheel broke, fortunately there was no traffic around and we were not injured. I will describe this incident in another post.
We had just set off from Awasi at around 3 in the afternoon, bouncing along the straight but terribly bumpy road at about 80 kph trying to even out the bumps when suddenly Laban who was driving could no longer control the vehicle, we veered off to the right, there were a series of terrible jolts, then we just caught another car in the rear before plunging down the embankment. We rolled twice and ended up in the sugar cane plantation. I was last out of the vehicle as my arm was jammed through a broken window and it took me a while to free it. There seemed to be pieces of land-rover everywhere but amazingly we were all alive. Suddenly a passing matatu (ubiquitous Nissan minibus) stopped and we were surrounded by people, the matatu driver and conductor, quickly and helpfully organised our injured team into their vehicle and drove us back to the Catholic Church in Awasi where there is a first aid centre staffed by Priscilla the nurse. The team were in bad shape, Laban was clutching his bleeding and squashed fingers on his right hand, Guyo was lying on a bed complaining loudly about his back and Asha was quietly complaining about her neck. I seemed to be OK, there was blood but then I realised it was Laban’s not mine, I could feel some bruises legs and back but nothing more. Priscilla quickly organised pain relief injections and I did my best to reassure the team particularly Guyo who talked as though he has seriously injured his back. Later Father Peter, the Catholic Pastor drove us to Nyanza District Hospital, Kisumu, in their ambulance with Priscilla attending. We stopped at the scene of the crash to pick up the bags, fortunately someone had looked after them for us, but were shocked to see the wreckage, the rear wheels completely torn off and one front wheel missing, how we survived I don’t know.