On fighting fires…
Kirehe Hospital held a talent show last Friday, a team from Rwinkwavu drove out to participate. We left late, of course, and arrived at the hospital with only ten minutes left in the show. We did the Rwink electric slide to demonstrate our talent and headed to the after party to demonstrate our other talent — drinking Mutzig and Amstel.
It was late, so after an hour of drinking and dancing, I rounded up the team and we started the drive back. About five minutes from the hospital, we saw a raging fire on the side of the road. Patrick (EMR), Francis (IT) and I got out the car to take a closer look, and soon realized the flames were rising from a mud house. The house looked lived in and given that no one was outside fighting it, we knew there had to be people inside. We had no choice but to act.
We ran towards the house screaming fire and when no one came out, Patrick found a large branch and started knocking down the door from one side of the house. Francis and I ran around to the other side and were greeted by the house owner and his wife who were very naked and quickly realizing what was going on. Patrick came around to the other side and insisted the family go get clothes because the other PIH folks were now running towards us and who wants to be naked when fighting a fire.
At this point, the blaze had engulfed the kitchen, and we were looking at ten foot high flames which were starting to spread to the attached house. We began furiously looking for water around the house and found a few gerry cans which where heaved on the fire. The flames calmed, but the fire was still not out so we split into two teams to better tackle the fire. Those who had cameras also started documenting the newly minted Rwinkwavu Fire Fighters.
One team (mostly the girls) started digging up dirt with plates and putting that on the fire while the other team (mostly the guys) started pushing the kitchen from the rest of the house with some large branches. We knew if the kitchen didn’t come down, the house would eventually catch fire again and this time, we would not be around to help. It was all happening very quickly, but the things that stick out in my mind is Meera comforting the wife who was crying and the neighbors who had also gathered around, but strangely were not helping.
In a few minutes, the kitchen had been pulled down and all the embers covered with dirt. The fire was officially out and everyone was smiling.
I know I’ve said it before, but life in Rwinkwavu is hard. I’ve seen patients at the verge of death come back to life, and patients who look healthy die in minutes. It all seems arbitrary and yet frighteningly specific. Had we left Kirehe five minutes early, we would not have noticed the fire. Had we left five minutes later and the flames would have engulfed the house. The only way the man and his wife would have escaped a brutal death was for us to arrive exactly when we did.
As always, http://yanokwa.smugmug.com has more pictures.
