It's been a long, hard, tragic week. My friend Margaret's husband, Khairi was killed in a car accident four days ago (Margaret was featured in my post about Halloween). Since there are always conflicting stories being told here in Libya about everything that happens, I still don't know all the details, and probably never will. It seems he was driving on one of these big traffic circles that they have in various spots around town (God, how I hate those things!) and either was run off the road by someone else, or hit by someone else. At any rate, God chose that day to be his last and he was killed instantly when he crashed. No one else was hurt.
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun -This is something which a muslim expresses when he is afflicted by a misfortune, the meaning of which is 'We are from Allah and to Him are we returning.' It is taken from an ayat (verse) from the Quran (ch 2 vs 156). [this is usually said upon hearing of the death of an individual]
The traffic in Libya is awful. Drivers follow no rules. What are rules? Aren't rules meant to be broken? The speed limit is fast, faster and lightning speed. Drivers never stay in the proper lane. I don't even know why they bother painting the lanes on the roads. Bad roads with potholes are the norm. Top that off by adding constant mobile phone use by drivers. Even if you are a good driver and follow the rules, you must deal with the rest of the population who apparently think that the rules don't apply to them. Oh, what can I say? The situation is dreadful to say the least.
It's truly a tragedy. Margaret has six children now to raise on her own. Such a thing is hard to fathom, especially because being a foriegner, she is really alone here. This is the scenerio that all of my foriegn friends here that are married to Libyans dread. It's something so hard to think about.
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ReplyDeleteSorry for her loss and may she have the strength and friends to take her through it.
ReplyDeleteThat is so awful, six children. Inshallah they will all make it through the very tough times to come.
ReplyDeleteThe driving is insane here as well and whoever thought to install circles should be hung. In my area it isn't as bad as other cities in Saudi.. but my goodness. However, in accidents where death occurs the driver of the other car (especially foriegners) are jailed, its equal to murder. You have to pay blood money are sit in jail for years on end or recieve the death penalty. Do they have anything like that there?
So sorry to hear about this may God bless his soul and help Margaret raise her kids.
ReplyDeleteAs a foriegner, will she return to her home country.
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