Help
me, help me, please help me… The voice was very faint and hardly audible…but
those of us nearest to her heard it…my first thought was perhaps she was dreaming
especially since her head has been bowed down like one in sleep since we began the
journey...but when the plea continued, I took a closer look to understand the
situation and at that instant our eyes locked and I recognized it.
A
desperate cry for help! Middle aged, neatly dressed with eyes that spoke
volume…another cry out and she passed out and the atmosphere changed…people
were panicked….the driver was delirious screaming abeg oo…abeg ooo..Make nobody
die for my motor ooo…make una carry am down ooo…He swerved to the nearest left
turn, parked the car and started screaming on the expressway that someone wants
to die in his vehicle. Calming him down as was later narrated to me is story
for another day. Meanwhile inside the vehicle we were trying to wake up the
woman that had fainted, the HSE trainings conducted at different times in my office
came in very handy at that time.
Tapping
her cheek, massaging her palms, loosening tight clothing, adjusting her head
and leg positioning, asking the people around to give space for air and calling
out to her (Madam was the only available name at that point) for what seemed to
me like ages…about five minutes actually (and oh I was really scared for her!)
until she finally woke up all bleary eyed and obviously still very weak (I
feared she was going to pass out again).
The
questioning began…what is happening to her….she was feeling very weak and had
no strength…any medical condition that we should know?…she shook her head in
the negative (A big relief for me as I have imagined all manner of critical
health conditions that could be the case) …any family we can contact to help
right now….my phone, my phone…where is your phone?...my bag, my bag…where is
your bag?...she pointed under her seat…three bags emerged (women and bags!)…we
searched all three bags and finally got her phone…but it was locked.
Meanwhile
the screaming driver had managed to gather a sizeable crowd…we were surrounded
by an army of people with very interesting opinions I must say, ice blocked
water was thrown at us to use on her (till now I’m still wondering what we were
to do with blocked bottle water), some shouted that we should pour water on her
head, others wanted us to totally strip her naked and our driver and his
colleagues just kept shouting that we should drag her out before she dies on us
( I don’t blame him. Who knows what experience he must have had in the past,
plus the Nigeria police I know will never spare him if the woman died there.
They could even go as far as indicting him for murder and pining the whole
thing on his head just to be seen as efficient). My good friend and colleague
Rachael who was with me in this encounter (and whose unshaken stance and
support throughout the episode gave me the needed courage to do what had to be
done) later narrated how the people that had gathered around us had “diagnosed”
the woman with all manner of ailments, from Ebola, to Asthma, Cancer, to even heartbreak (as per valentine period) and of
course stress from the Buhari administration (In Naija any and every thing wrong definitely has to be
the fault of the ruling administration and his political party).
The
struggle to unlock the phone or get her to give us a phone number we could
contact with our phones was still on…she tried calling out a number but
couldn’t pull through to the end of any phone number despite our
080…070…prodding. We managed to get her to say her phone password (At that point
my hands were already shaking, trying to do fastest fingers with the numbers
she was calling that we could barely hear plus seeing that she was almost
passing out again...oh how my heart cried out to heaven for mercy and grace in
those minutes) the sweet lady by my side saw my trembling hands then and
collected the phone, I was able to read out the unlock code the sick woman was
whispering while she (sweet lady) pressed and finally unlocked the phone (That
day I learnt the disadvantage of phone security despite its numerous
advantages).
We
managed to reach her husband but he was far off…we couldn’t wait for him to get
there because she urgently needed medical attention…after that phone
conversation I made up my mind to take her to the hospital somehow…The driver
kept yelling that we take her out of his vehicle…I stubbornly insisted that we
would only move her if he got me a keke (tricycle) to take us to the hospital…he
saw my determined look and we struck the deal…get me a keke and I get her off
your vehicle. He did…we managed to move her to the keke and I and Rachael
headed to the hospital with her. As we moved we prayed for the absence of
traffic, we prayed she doesn’t die on us before we got her to the hospital
(that one will mean serious police, family and even public wahala), we prayed
for the hospital to have a doctor to attend to us and for the availability of
needed hospital resources. I kept reassuring her she will be fine (and
earnestly prayed she will be).
Yes
we were able to get her to the hospital, waited for her husband to arrive, saw
that she was being attended to by the doctor before we left. I want to
specially salute you Mrs. Mary for your courage throughout the whole episode,
your strength and courage made it easy for us to help you...your directing us
to your HMO card when the hospital wanted to start making a fuss about your
identity, family and payment was quite commendable. I pray that the good Lord
will perfect your health and grant you healing, health and wholeness all your
life
The
major reason I am sharing this is because all these happened in a Lagos danfo
bus. All of us were commuters coming from our various jobs…we didn’t know
ourselves from anywhere but when it became a matter of saving a life we united
and rendered help…Yes the same Lagos with all manner of atrocities trending.
From one chance robberies to abductions/kidnaps, to ritual killings to yahoo
boys and all sorts…In the midst of all the hustle and bustle due to busy
lifestyles, the bad experiences people have had with law enforcement agencies,
police injustice, jungle justice which has resulted in massive self
centeredness across Lagos its quite refreshing to know people still care.
A
very big shout out to the sweet lady who was with me in the bus as we tried to
resuscitate Mrs Mary and contact her family, the gentle man who manned the door
and warded off the driver from forcefully ejecting us from the bus and also
assisted in moving the woman, the other woman who saw that my tiny frame could
not support the sick woman alone to the keke and joined hands in moving her and
all the other commuters who were there to support (plus the ones that
disappeared immediately they sensed trouble…we totally understand….getting
involved in things like this is very risky) and of course to you my girl of
life Rachael A. the lady with best soul ever who guarded our bags while we were
busy with Mrs. Mary to ensure Lagos sharp guys don’t rob us in the midst of the
whole chaos and also went with me to hospital to get medical help. Thank you
all for reassuring us that there are still people with human feelings and
kindness in Lagos…that in the midst of all the trending atrocities, Lagos still
got love.
Have
you ever found yourself in similar situation where you needed public help or were
required to help? Please share your experience in the comment section.
Yours in the hustle,
Twitter:@HustlewellaBlog
Instagram:@Hustlewella
Facebook:hustlewella
Wow! Bravo for saving the woman's life
ReplyDeleteThank you dear
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