Monday, Monday

There's nothing better to cement a slight Monday morning depression into a really serious one than seeing two traffic accidents in a row on your way to work.

Obviously, if you consider the Tanzanian absolutely crazy driving style, bad roads and worse cars, accidents are to be expected. If you further consider that ambulences are so rare as to be able to count them on the fingers of one hand (and only available to expensive private health insurance schemes) and that perpetual traffic jam makes it impossible for them to pass through and reach the injured in time anyway, it will not surprise you that people don't even bother calling them. Ambulence, somehow, is not a realistic option.

Still, with all this considering, I find it really difficult to understand the behaviour of Tanzanians when an accident occurs. The guilty person, if uninjured, will usually run away for the fear of being beaten. If injured, or if guilt is not so obvious, endless discussions will start on all the specifics of the accident, what was done wrongly and by whom, and these discussions often end up in a real fight. Involved are all the people who stop to look on and they all find it absolutely necessary that they contribute their own opinions even if they did not see the accident in the first place.

A huge crowd usually gathers, people get loud and expressive, and (unlike on the photo above) there is only one person whom everyone forgets - the injured one! He usually lies on the groud somewhere close by and is attended to by noone. Nobody holds her hand, tries to console her - and honestly to good I have never seen a passing by person lift the injured one into his own car/bajaj/bus and drive him to the nearest hospital! Usually, many means of transport have gathered around the accident, yet noone has courage enough to bring the injured person to the doctor.

Why, I don't know. I just pray to God I will never have a road accident in Tanzania.