The Road to Goroka
I opened my eyes to a clear sunny sky, I could hear people behind me talking softly in a foreign language and can feel that I am being held, slightly propped up with someone gently stroking my head. I then sense the confusion and hear other voices, some almost shouting instructions. I look in front of me and I see Kim lying on the ground. Her face is bloody and swollen. She is also being cared for by the natives. Everything then goes black and the next thing I remember is being woken up and told I need to get in the ambulance with Laura and Chris. I begin to realize the extent of my injuries, my left shoulder and wrist were seriously damaged and my lower right leg was extremely painful. Reality was setting in, I was beaten …show more content…
Ukarumpa was a 500 acre compound in the highlands of PNG that provided a base of operations for SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics). It was a community whose focus was on helping the inhabited tribal groups get their languages into writing so that they can better their lives. Saturday was a beautiful sunny morning, I remember the fog laying in the lower valleys and everything was peaceful. Our hosts, Tim and Kim, had planned on taking us on a trip to Goroka to experience more of PNG’s beauty and culture. We had driven about seven miles and everyone was chatting and looking out the windows at the tranquil green countryside. As we went around a sharp hairpin corner, there was a truck in our lane, and I remember seeing the flash of a truck grill in the front …show more content…
People were with us around the clock to meet any of our needs. I don’t remember anything else until the next day. I did my best to be independent and care for myself, but I could hardly walk, my right calf was almost twice the normal size and with a broken wrist and shoulder, crutches were out of the question. All the shirts I had brought along for the trip were T-shirts, so a resident of Ukarumpa gave me two button up shirts so I could cover myself. Our team would get together daily to debrief about what had happened and I had a positive attitude about the whole thing and even Laura seemed to be doing better. We continued our planned activities with the students on Monday and Tuesday the best we could. Wednesday was the day we were to leave for home and there were concerns about Laura and myself having injuries that needed to be treated before being cleared to fly home. The problem was that the required tests were not available in PNG. We went to the airstrip as a group for the last time and Laura and I watched as the group of six got on the plane for home, we were to be medevacked to Australia the next day.
Early Thursday morning Laura and I were in the back of a twelve seat plane for the journey over the Great Barrier Reef on a four-hour flight to Cairns, Australia. While in Cairns, I was able to have a Sonogram to verify that there were blood clots in my calf. Laura and I were able to visit those
I opened my eyes to a clear sunny sky, I could hear people behind me talking softly in a foreign language and can feel that I am being held, slightly propped up with someone gently stroking my head. I then sense the confusion and hear other voices, some almost shouting instructions. I look in front of me and I see Kim lying on the ground. Her face is bloody and swollen. She is also being cared for by the natives. Everything then goes black and the next thing I remember is being woken up and told I need to get in the ambulance with Laura and Chris. I begin to realize the extent of my injuries, my left shoulder and wrist were seriously damaged and my lower right leg was extremely painful. Reality was setting in, I was beaten …show more content…
Ukarumpa was a 500 acre compound in the highlands of PNG that provided a base of operations for SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics). It was a community whose focus was on helping the inhabited tribal groups get their languages into writing so that they can better their lives. Saturday was a beautiful sunny morning, I remember the fog laying in the lower valleys and everything was peaceful. Our hosts, Tim and Kim, had planned on taking us on a trip to Goroka to experience more of PNG’s beauty and culture. We had driven about seven miles and everyone was chatting and looking out the windows at the tranquil green countryside. As we went around a sharp hairpin corner, there was a truck in our lane, and I remember seeing the flash of a truck grill in the front …show more content…
People were with us around the clock to meet any of our needs. I don’t remember anything else until the next day. I did my best to be independent and care for myself, but I could hardly walk, my right calf was almost twice the normal size and with a broken wrist and shoulder, crutches were out of the question. All the shirts I had brought along for the trip were T-shirts, so a resident of Ukarumpa gave me two button up shirts so I could cover myself. Our team would get together daily to debrief about what had happened and I had a positive attitude about the whole thing and even Laura seemed to be doing better. We continued our planned activities with the students on Monday and Tuesday the best we could. Wednesday was the day we were to leave for home and there were concerns about Laura and myself having injuries that needed to be treated before being cleared to fly home. The problem was that the required tests were not available in PNG. We went to the airstrip as a group for the last time and Laura and I watched as the group of six got on the plane for home, we were to be medevacked to Australia the next day.
Early Thursday morning Laura and I were in the back of a twelve seat plane for the journey over the Great Barrier Reef on a four-hour flight to Cairns, Australia. While in Cairns, I was able to have a Sonogram to verify that there were blood clots in my calf. Laura and I were able to visit those