“School had just let out. As always, the sides of the road were crowded.  I drove cautiously past the crowds, knowing that people – especially children – can be unpredictable. But everything happened so fast. A young boy darted out from the crowd and, despite my evasive maneuvers, his head hit the fender of our car. The boy lies motionless on the ground.” Alex Biskup notes that, in cases such as this, the driver is always at fault. Many drivers just keep going. For Alex and his wife Tabea, this is not an option.

Alex prays as he takes the boy to a nearby hospital. He is awake and crying as the emergency room nurse cleans his wounds – but there is no doctor to examine him or take x-rays. The minutes seem like hours as they wait. They try another hospital – still no doctor. Alex phones one of his coworkers who knows of a doctor on duty at a third hospital. Once they arrive, the bill must be settled before the doctor will see the patient. “At such moments, you think, ‘What is more important? To pay the money or to save a human life?’” Alex pays the bill and the boy is examined and treated. There is more waiting room prayer. After a night in the hospital the boy is released.

Alex reports that the boy has fully recovered. More often than not, however, stories like this in Burundi do not have happy endings. “The accident has triggered many questions for us: How important is life and health in Burundian society? And, most importantly, how can the gospel change this culture so that people value life as much as God does?”