World Cup Fever

One of the best parts of being in Africa this summer has been the World Cup. There has been something electric about it being here in Africa. With games in the middle of the day in the states and no TV at home, I would have been unlikely to catch more than a couple of matches.

Here in Africa, I’ve managed to catch more matches than I can put a number on. Of course my favored team was Ghana, taking a piece of me with that cheating move on Uruguay’s finale of the match. I found a great place to watch it in Victoria Falls, a cute pub called Blue Zulu – just behind the post office on the main street.

Others were not so fortunate. You may or may not have heard of the tragedy that struck DRC during the match. There had been an oil tanker that crashed and spilled oil all afternoon. People came with their jerry cans to collect the oil for personal use.

But to make matters worse, it was in the area of pubs where people were gathered to watch the match. Even when cautioned of the risk, people wouldn’t leave the game. Tragically when a spark hit the fuel, 230 plus people burned instantly and another 100 plus were badly burned. My team was one of the first to respond in treating the survivors and helping to manage the disaster. The pictures were nothing short of horrific.

We are working on identifying a burn trauma specialist to volunteer with my organization in the response, so if you know of anyone, please drop me a comment and I will provide further details.

Best,

Miel