"Let her die, man."
Today as we were driving home we saw a man and woman lying on the side of the road. This isn't unusual here in South Africa...people sleep here and there all over the place but this was different. There was definitely something wrong as we passed them. They were kind of in a squabble and I could see some blood on her face. When we turned the corner she rolled on her back almost unconscious-like and he started kicking her even though he was still laying down. So we parked and walked up to where they were with our gloves and first aid kit in hand to see if we could help her. They were only about 3 feet from the road and cars were flying past us. The man was still half-dazed kicking her and Dan rolled him over and yelled at him to stop and the woman was in and out of conscienceness the whole time. They were both totally drunk (and who knows what else) but there were 2 empty liquor bottles that were next to them. She had a big contusion on her forehead that had fresh and dried blood and then her mouth was totally swollen. It had looked like she either fell on the ground face first or that she was hit several times (punched) or beaten with something. She almost couldn't open her mouth...but when we finally got her to; it was filled with blood and her gums and teeth were all mashed with cuts all on the inside. I had to go back to the truck to get water and when I did a guy drove passed and yelled to Daniel "Let her die, man!". When I got back I kept trying to get her to swish water and spit but she didn't understand and so we concentrated on her forehead. She kept fighting us on that as well. Daniel finally got it (as best he could) clean and dressed it with a bandage. The man wouldn't leave her alone though...so we knew we couldn't leave her so we called the police. When they got there we told what had happened and the cop said with them being drunk (he didn't even bend down to try to talk with either of them or roll her over to look at her face (she rolled face down when Dan stood up to talk to the cop) so there was "nothing he could do" he said. I was clearly unhappy with that situation so then the cop asked if we thought he should call the ambulance. Duh...yeah. So he did but we sat/stood there for another half hour before I called again. When I called 10111 (their equivalent to 911) she politely said I had to call another number because 10111 is for police only. I hung up and called the "ambulance only" line...and told them the situation. They told me that they would get somebody there as soon as possible. As we waited, the man and woman rolled around several more times and Dan had to intervene with the man because he was very aggressive with her...and then at that point we noticed something. We had been there that whole time for close to an hour at that point and cars were blowing past us (turning into the grocery store) and not one person had stopped....Not one. People were rubber-necking and walking past us on the side of the road making comments...but nobody asked us if we needed help. Nobody stopped to see if we needed a ride. Nobody said anything. It was like we were invisible. Right when I said that to Daniel, a guy from an alarm company pulled over and asked if we needed anything. It was like God was giving us some encouragement. Daniel then told me what the other guy said about letting her die... and I don't know what kind of person says that kind of thing...but at that point I knew in my heart that God led us to this lady. She was/is somebodies mom, daughter, sister, auntie. She is somebodies somebody and God brought us here to help her. I have no idea who she is or what her name is...but honestly does it really matter? It didn't to us. A few minutes later the ambulance pulled up and they weren't much better then the cops. They didn't look at her face or try to assess the situation. They didn't take her vitals or check for broken bones. They just asked if we thought she should go to the hospital. We said "yes" and told them she probably needed stitches. So they picked her up by the feet and belt and put her on a gurney and then in the van. They left the man on the side of the road and then that was that. They pulled away. We took our gloves off and walked back to our truck...wondering if we were there at that time at that intersection only to love her for a specific reason. I hope we did the correct thing and that somehow with all the people involved...the people driving/walking by, the man, the woman, the cops, the ambulance people, us...all the people who are at the hospital who help her are somehow touched by God and have an experience with the Holy One. That is what we prayed for as we got back into our truck.
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