More than a feeling
In our recent magazine, we told the story of an incredible day of medevacs in Timor-Leste.
One of the many calls that day was a truck accident, where 6 people urgently needed to be taken to hospital.
(If you missed it, you can read the story here.)
Angela Harding was able to visit 2 of the ladies from the accident. This is her report back:
I visited two of the medevaced passengers that had been in the vehicle accident on 6 October. They were still in Dili hospital eleven days later.
Apparently about 12 people were travelling in the back of an open truck together with a pile of concrete 
blocks. As the truck went up a hill it began to roll back and then flip causing concrete blocks and people to go flying. One of the women, Terezinha da Costa, had a foot amputated in Suai and later needed more of her leg amputated (pictured right). The other, Martinha Cardosa, had an open fracture which later required amputation of her foot.
Both of their husbands had travelled 13 hours by bus to join their wives the following day, leaving children in the care of relatives. Terezinha has two children and Martinha has seven.
When I talked to the women about the medevac flight they received from MAF, they explained that they had never flown before. However because both had lost a lot of blood, they were unconscious during most of the flight, so they were not really aware of what was going on. However, they were aware of the implications if MAF had not been there. Martinha Cardosa commented quietly,
“If MAF hadn’t come I don’t know what would have happened. Maybe I would have died.”
Neither lady said a lot. There wasn’t a lot to say. They are alive, but they still have a long road ahead of them – crutches, artificial limbs, adjusting to a new way of life, and the long bus trip back home when they are well enough to go.