Saturday, May 14, 2011

Death ...always takes us by surprise

Last night, I received a strange message from a friend

"Hey reem, this is sara, Q asked me to check up on u he is really worried plz reply asap"

I replied telling her "I'm fine and tell Q , I'm gonna call him on skype later". Two minutes later, a guy called Amro calls me asking me the same thing. Q gave him my number to check up on me. I said I was fine and asked him to send me Q's number.

Q is a friend not living in Sudan. I texted Q telling him I was fine and why is he worried? was a common friend hurt?"

My sister and I assumed that he heard about the accident on the bridge next to my house. We basically had to reverse the car halfway through the bridge and take the other lane. But the accident on the bridge wasn't even fatal.

Half an hour ago, I get a phone call from the finance officer at work. I pick up and he tells me the bad news. My boss has passed away in a car crash on the way back to Khartoum. Another colleague is in the hospital.

I tell him, I get it now, my friend thought I was with them in the car.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. I just started this job a week ago and my boss gave me the secretary's office (she is on leave) so I'm right next to him if I need any help with work. I basically spend the whole day emailing him, calling him or in his office asking questions. He has been very helpful, introducing me to people and telling me to meet writers on my own to get used to work.

On Thursday, I asked my other colleague ( the one currently in the hospital) for a favor. So he drove me to the science building and helped me sign up for the bus so I don't have to drive or ask my sister to drive me to work everyday.

When I went back to my office. I was basically done with work, but spent a few minutes skyping a friend and sending my boss one final email. My boss came out of his office and asked me to close the door when I decide to leave. He said he is going out for a bit. I was probably the last person from work to see him.

It is true what they say, all events before a person's death are very normal. Thursday was a normal day. He told me to send all my emails to his gmail account because I'm bombarding his work email. It was normal. He told me to have a nice weekend and we will meet on Sunday.....

البقاء لله
May he rest in peace

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dear Reem,
my condolences.
I have often thought that one efficient way to save lifes in Sudan would be a campaign to buckle up. Obviously I don't know whether your late boss was wearing his seat-belt, but I am always shocked how reluctant Sudanese are to do so.
May he rest in peace.
Best
Roman