The time was 7:18hrs. (Zambian Time)
The morning of February 16, 2024, began like any other for Enock, a businessman on a route that had become routine. It was the usual.
But at 07:18 hours, Zambian time, in the Mafinga District of Tanzania’s Iringa Region, a fatal act of impatience changed everything.
A massive truck, hungry for speed, swung out onto a closed line, charging straight toward Enock’s vehicle in trying to overtake.
Enock swerved violently to avoid the head-on collision, but the truck still ripped into his driver’s side of the vehicle, crushing the metal and instantly pushing his car into a stationary trailer.
The world shattered.
The windscreen exploded inward, hitting his face, but the seat belt held him. It saved him from being thrown onto the road.
He tried to move, to lift his legs but guess what?
They were gone. Crushed.
They were crushed so bad that they were facing opposite directions.
Enock was trapped.
Squeezed and contorted within the wreckage, rescue was a grueling ordeal. It took the might of two trucks, one pulling from the front and one from the rear, to separate the cabin and claw him free.
Finally pulled from the debris, Enock was placed by the roadside. Women of the community gathered, wailing in tears and lamentations.
They brought bundles of chitenges, making it clear they expected to witness his final moments.
But amidst the despair, Enock found a fierce resolve. He wasn’t ready to die, especially “in a foreign state.”
While they wept, he was praying for favor and, with stunning presence of mind, he used those very wrappers to administer first aid on himself, desperately staunching the flow of blood in trying not to bleed to death.
The accident stole both of Enock’s lower limbs, but it could not touch his spirit.
The long journey began. From 13 days of being in ICU and having 9 surgeries to his first challenging physiotherapy session at Maina Soko Hospital in Lusaka.
Today, Enock’s experience, marked by the powerful reminder of a life fully lived just years before, has forged a new, indelible purpose.
He now stands as a powerful advocate, using his story to champion road safety and to inspire others to never surrender, proving that adversity is not an end, but a platform for strength and transformation.
-RTSA