Yesterday our great chief’s son was nearly killed by a crocodile.
Moses and two friends were crossing a river (about 30 min walk from us), when a crocodile attacked him. A chunk of his right leg was ripped out, but he managed to get away to the other side. As he and his friends tried to scramble up the steep river bank, the crocodile caught his leg and dragged him back into the water.
However, just by God’s grace, one of our close neighbours was working in his field close to the river and came running with a short spear when he heard the cries. He stabbed the crocodile several times in his mouth before it let the boy go. By now, the boy’s left leg was completely broken off and the foot was only attached by the heal tendon, bleeding profusely. 
Three hours after the attack, the chief and about 20 men arrived at our house with the boy on a makeshift stretcher. Francois is still away at meetings, and since the trip to the closest hospital takes over an hour I usually do not make trips while he is gone. Should anything happen to me or the vehicle on the road, there would be no-one to help. But I knew that we had to get Moses help as fast as possible. I tried to stop the bleeding as best as I could… Waldo our 10 year old son, inflated our vehicles tires (for some reason they got flat during the week it wasn’t used), while Franco (our eldest) let the seats down so that Moses could lie in the back of the vehicle. (I did not let them see the wounds however, as it was really very bad.)
We managed to get Moses in the car and we were on our way. A uncle and two other family members accompanied him. They had to hold his legs as the road is in a bad state of repair and very bumpy. It rained some more in the last week and we sometimes could move only at a crawling pace. 
Have you ever been in a hospital in a third world country? I will spare you the detail, but sufficient to say that Moses’ suffering did not stop when he arrived there. There was no doctor present, but one of the “technicos” (something between a nurse and a doctor) cleaned the wounds. All of this was done without any aesthetic, as they had none available. They gave the boy 3 paracitamol tablets (Tylenol) on my insistence that he should have at least something. I stayed with Moses, holding his hand while they cleaned the wounds and cut the dangling foot from the leg. He was in much pain as the adrenaline as draining out of his system and he was able to see everything they did. The staff was not unkind, their resources just very poor. The light was also very bad and it made it difficult to see what they are doing, but they did the best they could with what they had available. He was given saline via a drip, but there is nothing stronger than the paracitamol tablets for his pain, no blankets, no pillows (I brought one from home), no food or drink. All of these things have to be provided by the family of the patient and many times they simply go without. Since we left in a hurry, his family had nothing but what I brought along and gave them.
The big challenge was for the ambulance to come from the closest big town, 160 km always on a even worse road (it takes 3-4 hours the do the drive one way). First they said they had no fuel for the ambulance, then they had no money to by fuel… The kept stalling for nearly two hours until finally the seriousness of the situation prompt them to promise that they will come. (I have not been able to get through to the hospital to hear if did ambulance arrived). I stayed until Moses finally was given something to help him sleep. He was by now delirious with pain and I think he relived some of the horror of the attack. However, he calmed down and I left.
I returned on my own, praying all the way for Moses and his family. I felt a very real presence of God through all that happened and despite the dreadfulness of what happened, I felt calm and at peace. I had difficulty to contact anyone during the week-end, even my computer was dead for more than 24 hours before it mysteriously switched on again last night. I will have to drive some distance, trying to find network coverage to send this email. Things often break down and go wrong when Francois is away and I am reminded that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. However, the victory belongs to the Lord!
Please pray with us that Moses will survive. It will be many hours or even days before he reaches the province capital where they would have to properly amputate his leg just under the knee.