Good Friday, 199X. Our
church service started at 10 AM. As we settled down to the reading of God's
Word, our ears were greeted by loud cries for help. "Help! Help!" News
was reaching us that a boy was drowning in the dam. In the moments while we
reacted to these words, half a mile away in the dam, a soul was rising out of
the body into the unknown.
We
rushed out of Chifwankala, the church building situated at the bottom of
Chikankata Mission. People were pouring in from all directions towards the dam.
News travels fast. Church services from around the Mission were breaking up to
come and see what was going on.
Within
half an hour, dozens of people were standing in small groups near the edge of
the water, and at the top of the dam. We still did not know what happened information was still scanty as to what actually transpired or who was involved.
We soon learned that two or three
boys were involved, two of them were local high school guys. These both survived.
The third among them was a University student on holiday at her sister's place. He was a visitor in Chikankata. Apparently he went under the water because he was unable to swim. This is the account of that fateful day and the days that followed.
Earlier
that morning, the sister spoke with the University student, finding him awake,
and greeted him.
"Good
morning my brother, Happy Good Friday." She called outside his bedroom.
Hers was a two bedroom house. He was occupying one of those rooms which would
normally be vacant when schools were open. The brother would stay at Chikankata
for a few more days while schools remained closed for the Easter break.
"Halo,
I am fine, I slept well," He said, "Thanks, I will come out when I am
ready."
"We
will be getting ready for church in a short while, please get ready too. You can join us."
She invited.
"I
am not sure I want to go to church," He replied, "I have not made up
my mind."
"It
is customary at this time of year that we share in activities signifying the
first Passover. All who are in the Mission are invited
and it is very interesting." She persuaded him.
He did not respond.
An
hour later she got ready and invited him to church one more time. He turned
down the invitation to go to church.
His friends came to his place and
invited him to the dam instead. He agreed.
There
was a dug-out canoe at the dam. It was far from perfect. Although it could hold weights only the experienced and able to swim were safe to go on
the boat. It was very risky for anyone to attempt sitting on the boat for a
long time because of the danger of losing one's balance on the wavy water of
the dam.
Although it appears calm at many times, the dam can develop waves when the winds are strong.
The
young man did not know that or chose to ignore those dangers. Two of the three
boys jumped on the boat and rowed a hundred yards towards the middle of the
dam. While church services were going on, the boys rowed on the dangerous water
of the dam without much thought as to what would happen if the boat capsized or
if one of them fell into the water.
The
dam is said to have three sections. The first is the shallow edges running
about 20 yards wide or so from the sides of the dam. Most of the sides of the
dam would have the shallow edge except the section near the water pump which is
said to be very deep indeed. If you stand on the top of the dam you can see the
signs of depth on that section of the dam, it appears very deep blue and almost
always calm.
The
third section is said to consist of parts of the central parts of the dam where
the original stream runs. The river that created the dam is said to divide into
two branches. Each of those is a fast moving current from which an object or
person falling there cannot help themselves. It is very deep and dangerous in
those sections.
It
is quite likely that on that fateful Good Friday morning, the boys were playing
where the water was deep and the currents strong and swift. What happened was
narrated by the third boy who stood at the top of the hill overlooking the dam,
from the dam wall.
"I
saw the boat dancing from side to side and the student trying to balance on the
boat where he was standing up. In a moment, he seemed to make it, to balance.
The next moment he was tipped over as the entire boat went upside down. The
other boy started to swim to the side of the dam. The student was not able to
swim. He went under, came up once, throwing his hands in the air and water in
total desperation. He went under a second time before finally appearing to
surface but disappearing for the very last time I saw him."
"All
this happened so quickly; all shouts for help were too late or too weak to help
him."
The
capsized boat bobbed up and sat on the water again, without its occupants.
By
this time an hour had expired. The groups of men in a new boat went further to
the point said to be where the student drowned. There were no signs of life
there apart from the waves that moved about the water as usual.
The
sister was standing at the edge of the water, surrounded by a group of close
friends who held their hands in disbelief. "Only an hour ago he was with
us, and now he is gone. Forever." Someone said.
For
two long hours the groups moved about hoping for a miracle. They went in and
came out, and still no sign of the student.
Finally
someone advised the sister to go home and wait there. Sooner or later, perhaps
days later, the body would shore up. That is when it dawned that the young man
was prematurely gone, on Good Friday. The commemoration of Easter
turned into a tragedy that would live with us forever. The sister loved the
LORD very much. She was heart broken, at losing a young brother in such a way.
Her hopes for his salvation were dashed when instead she chose on this special
day, to look away and instead row a dug-out canoe over dangerous waters of the
dam at Chikankata.
The
sister happened to be my daughter, a very special spiritual daughter to me.
This incident was not going to be forgotten, ever. Although it is hard to take lessons
from your own loved ones, we all had lessons to learn about the frailty of this
life and the word that says, we do not know when we shall face the LORD. At any
moment, something can create a situation where we lose our lives. The Bible
says, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the
judgment:it" Hebrews 9:27
Sunday
morning came and went, there was no sign of the body of the student who drowned
in the dam. On the morning of the seventh day a woman walking near the
edge of the dam spotted the body. Thinking it was perhaps an object of interest
he drew near before realizing it was the body of a dead person. Seven days.
I
saw my daughter many times during that period of seven days from the hour of
the young student's drowning in the dam. She was pieces of flesh and bones,
broken. I had no words with which to comfort her. I dared not open my mouth,
whether in comforting or in advising; I simply spoke to her with my eyes, that
I loved her very much and cared for her and for the loss she felt. But since I
knew not her experience and since I could not enter into her inner sorrows, I
waited until her LORD would call her out and speak first.
Those
are moments when all we want to say is, Hold me while I cry.
The
body that lay on the mortuary floor was twisted and swollen beyond belief. The
grief of my daughter settled in her heart that day. I know that because it
settled in mine. How can we change so much? Seven days! Life, oh life, how
fickle; how fragile and oh, how tender. While believers celebrate the life in
the free gift given through the blood of the lamb, death celebrates the victory
over those who reject the gift, in those mangled lives and twisted forms. And
still greater the woes in eternal separation in hell where neither day nor
night separates the victim from the suffering and anguish.
