Arrived Africa…..

January 24, 2007

Indeed I am Africa but I am not yet sun burnt - I think I have finally learned from the many, many, many, times that the great god of fire in the sky has punished me for being too lackadaisical about the extent of his powers.

There have been a number of events so far though - notably earlier this morning when the gardener/pool guy Richard mixed the cleaning chemicals the wrong way causing what ever he was mixing (later revealed to be chlorine and acid) to explode in his face - one minute I’m eating mango’s by the pool - next a sound like a shotgun blast rings out and Richard is screaming for help with his eyes seeming like they had been burned beyond redemption - the two women who work here didn’t know what to do - chaos reigned for a minute before I got my bearings and decided that trying to wash his face is a bad idea as too much water and chemicals mixing may make it even worse - I bundled him into the Pajero and made a mad dash to the local hospital.

A combination of pot holes - not knowing how to drive my hoofing great car properly (I’d had it about 5 days) - not knowing the general direction of where the hospital was - and Richards screaming all conspired to make the journey a frantic rabbit in the headlights kind of experience - knowing that the faster you get this sort of thing seen to, the better chance of Richard being able to see again means you just kind of put your foot down and hope the obvious urgency of my erratic driving alerted people to get the feck out of the way.

We got to the hospital within 10 mins of the explosion and after being directed to drive round to the right section (they had a specific eye hospital), I was faced with a small reception room full of about 60-70 Africans all in various states of eye related agony - for a second I thought about waiting our turn - then I remembered Richard may never be able to see for the rest of his life and pushed in and politley as possible made a lot of noise - I decided that if people thought I was being a typical white colonial queue jumper while throwing my considerable weight around then so be it, Richard gets to see again.

Doctors got to him quick smart and said that they were still able to treat the burns in time and that he should be ok in 24-48 hours - I’m not optimistic though - it looked fairly fecked up to me - but apparently this was the best eye hospital/doctor in the city - the only better option being the private hospital further away and they use these eye doctors as well - their own coming every so often from SA so no guarantee that they would be there.

The reason I was at home this morning is that the tax people were visiting the tea office today and I am not supposed to be actually working here (I’m studying if anyone asks) - if I hadn’t been at home I think he would of been well and truly fecked.

After being bandaged up and led to a ward they made up a mattress on the floor - I waited with Richard while one of the guys from the office took one of the staff girls from my house to find Richards wife and get him some food / drink / change of clothes.

I’m sure nobody needs telling that local African hospitals are very, very fucked up places - there’s all kinds of wrongness going on in there - No ones got any proper beds and there weren’t many nurses about - everyone seemed to be looking after each other - so we sorted a private room were his wife can stay with him and he could get a bit of piece and quiet and perhaps a bit more attention.

The guy has a wife and three kids and is the sole earner - I have only just met him but he’s a kind friendly hard working fellow and shouldn’t lose his eye sight over cleaning a swimming pool of all things - being blind and poor in Africa is a nasty combination - fingers indeed very much crossed that the doctors words come true and he gets his sight back.

So that was today so far.

Tuesday I was in the auction and accidentally made a massive error that could of altered the price of low-grade teas on the international markets - luckily I was allowed to change my bid - the audible gasp from the room and the look of incredulity on the auction brokers face alerted me to the fact that I may have made a bit of a mistake.

Monday there was no electricity and I burned my foot on dripping candle wax that burned through the bottom of the candle holder cube thingy I was carrying about - that really really fecking hurts by the way, as a good globule of it burns it’s way into your skin before you get it off.

Weekend = whisky + football on TV + meeting old friends + finding bars again (no reunion with crazy ex-missus who told me she was dead “but not really” yet)

Friday last week we had torrential rain and storms and I rather foolishly tried driving to the next town across to see a friend of mine (the one that owns the bar by the lake) - again not being able to see very well due to weather, first time driving since Indonesia more or less and dodgy roads full of holes conspired against me and my front right tyre blew out - managed to struggle along to a petrol garage and organise some guys to get it fixed up - tyre was proper fecked though and has to buy a new one in town over the wknd.

Robin and his family (who were here before me) left on Thursday so I’ve only really had connections (crappy ones) since then due to the handover.

Off driving round the tea estates the next two days before going up to Paul’s bar by the lake over the wknd - judging from the last week it should be fairly eventful.....

Good to be back - no day is ever the same here - but that’s a good thing if nothing like what happened today ever happens again.

Spo | January 24, 2007