The recent story

It all started when I decided to go to Drakensberg Mountains with a bunch of friends for the weekend to Kerry's parents' time-share cabin. I did not initially think that I will be able to go, until I got my Stats mark back and saw I had passed and therefore wouldn't have to write the re-exam. So I decided I would drive down with Matt and Jess who were leaving Friday afternoon rather than with the rest who were leaving with my friend and flatmate Danielle later that evening. It was a last minute decision to go as I had missed the last time everyone went, because I was in Dubai. Everybody who came back from the last trip raved about it soo much that I was really keen to go.

Naturally I fell asleep on the way as I do in anything that lasts a long time, like movies and car-rides. I vaguely remember the car ride. Sune had dropped me off in front of Jasmyn ladies res just after 2pm where i met up with Matt and Jess. I decided to get in the back as I knew that I'd probably want to fall asleep. I remember saying bye to one of my best friends and other flat-mate Sny thinking I'll really miss her even if its just a weekend. The last few months had been quite a heavy time for us three flat mates as our house had been broken into while Sune was inside and this had shaken both Sune and I quite a bit even to the point where Danielle, Sune, and myself moved in with friends before our lease was up as we were too scared to live as 3 girls alone in a complex! Even 3 months after moving out of our town-house, we were still paying rent as we were bound by contract.

So off we went to the Drakensberg for the weekend. The trip was about +- 5 hours so we would've gotten to the Gow's Cabin by about 7:30 or so where Kerry and her family were waiting. All I remember from the road trip is that at somepoint I lay down.

A few days before we left for the Berg I had also taken my phone in to Vodacom as there was something wrong with it and they had deleted ALL my numbers from my phone and my sim. So when we got in the car I remember Matt telling me his phone's battery was gonna die soon so I should make sure to put everyone, who will be on the trip, numbers' onto my phone. Apparently we had stopped somewhere on the way for some food and to charge matt's phone for a few minutes but I have no recollection of this. Jess also took photo's of us on the road trip but this too I can't remember.

Around 7:15pm close to Ladysmith area and almost at our destination, we had a head-on collision with another car. As SA is a third-world country most roads don't have street lights. The other car had driven on our side of the road and was driving very slowly on the highway where we were travelling at 120km/hr. We assume the driver of the other car was probably drunk. He was never found as he ran off after the crash. He must have been quite injured tho as his steering wheel was completely bent. Matt's car was completely written off from the accident. The accident occurred right by a very poor area, but none of our belongings were taken or stolen, in a country like South-Africa that is a miracle!

The following was told to me by Matt and Jess weeks later after the accident. I was still asleep when our car collided with the other car. I was at the back on the right side of the car behind the driver, Matt, leaning against the window. Jess saw the other car a second before the accident and screamed out “Jesus Help us”, or something of the sort. Moments after the accident it was pitch black as there were no street lights. Matt heard Jess groan and asked her if she was ok, and then they called me but I did not answer. Matt wanted to use my phone to phone the Gow's but as it was pitch black he had no idea where it was, however; all of a sudden for no apparent reason his phone, which should've been dead, lit up(miracle 1) and he was able to phone our friends who was waiting for us not too far away. The driver from a car that was behind us or approaching the scene saw some of it occur and stopped to help us. He had just had dinner with his son who stayed close by and was a paramedic(miracle 2). He called his son immediately and his son came and helped us. The paramedic got me out of the car, where I had fallen to the car floor, unconscious. Shortly after an ambulance came and also took Jess on a stretcher who screamed “Wooohooo Matt lets party” as she was taken into the ambulance. Jess had fractured her colar bone and even though she was in pain initially refused any type of injection as she was very afraid of needles and thought it should go to others who needed it more. When she got to the hospital both her and Matt had to have injections , however. Matt had fractured his leg. The ambulance took us to Ladysmith hospital which was the only one in the small town and we arrived just before all the doctors would have left(miracle 3). I had broken my pelvis and my right arm which was shifted in place by the doctors at Ladysmith.

The Gow's came to the hospital and spent the night with us there. They phoned my grandfather from my phone. My phone couldn't phone internationally to my parents so the closest recognisable relative by name was “oupa”. My grandfather immediately phoned my uncle Rueon, my mom's brother, who in turn phoned my mom in Bahrain. At the time my dad was in Pakistan for a “Grace Conference” where he was ministering along with friends from our church in Dubai to pastors of churches in Pakistan. My mom phoned my dad in Pakistan and in the mean time my uncle Rueon, cousin Jacques and my cousin's friend, Roelf, drove from Johannesburg to Ladysmith that same evening.

In Pakistan, one of guys who had travelled from Dubai with my dad to Pakistan had received a phone call in the middle of the night from his pastor in Brazil. The pastor in Brazil told this guy that God had given him a word for one “his friends travelling with him” . The pastor said that this friend's daughter “is in danger but it is not life threatening”(miracle 4). My dad was told about this only the next morning which was the first day of the conference. Neither this guy nor his pastor had any idea of what had happened to me prior to this.

Back In Ladysmith, Danielle and our friends travelling with her had arrived at the hospital. The next morning I was to travel by ambulance back to Joburg to Sandton Clinic. Danielle was the one who held my hand for those 10 hours of travel which should have been only 5 but as I was in a lot of pain they had to travel very slowly and also had to transfer me from one ambulance to another half way. I had apparently prayed most of the ride even getting the paramedics to nod along and also “danced” to my most recent favourite song “Down” by Jay Sean. Another song that was quite popular with me at the time was “Ice, ice Baby” as I was very hot and thirsty most of the time. This song also came on the radio during the ambulance ride. However all I remember from the ride is that Danielle was there and the song “Ice, ice baby”.

More to follow...