In Danger From Rivers

River in Flood Stage

It was one of the dumbest things she had ever done. It certainly was one of the scariest things that ever happened to her.��"Is my life going to end like this, tossing and turning down a murky, swollen river, caught in vines, and dragged underwater until I drown? I can't believe this is happening to me." Thoughts churned in her head as the river churned around her.��"Why didn't I go back and get someone to watch out for me while I crossed the river? Lord, I never imagined my life ending so soon. I'm not ready." She grabbed for a bunch of branches overhead, but they alluded her grasp. She was swept further downstream.��She gripped a vine, but couldn't hold it. Her body hurled��down-river��as the vine slipped between her hands, scraping her arms.��Much of the undergrowth along the river bank was rotten, partly decomposed already.��She clutched at another branch, and it broke in her hands��as the current pushed her along.��Oh no! Here was a whole clump of bamboo branches bent over the river. She would get caught in them. So she ducked underwater and swept under them. Thoughts continued to assail her, "Why was I so stupid? This isn't a good time for me to be seriously injured, and to be flown out to the hospital. Our translation check starts in a few days, and my husband needs me to be well." Finally she cried, out loud, "Lord, help me!" And right then she saw a sturdy branch of bamboo jutting out from the bank. She seized it, and it held her weight. She pulled herself along it, hand over hand, until her feet reached the bank. She was touching land at last!

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I had an adventure last week. I washed��down-river and was afraid I would drown. The story is, last Wednesday was our partner's birthday. I had a present for her, and even though the river had risen and it was raining a lot, I wanted to get the gift over to her while it was still her birthday. Bill caught some kind of horrible flu while we were out and that day he was really one sick puppy -- in bed all day, fever alternating with sweating, cough, sore throat, sore chest, achy body. The worst he's felt in a long time. So I went across by myself to our partner's house. The river already was up to my hips, and when I stepped in a hole, it was up to my waist. I visited with them for awhile, drinking coffee and talking. Then I stopped by Nili's house to talk to her about something. Maddie, our dog, went with me, waiting for me on the bench of our partner's porch while I was inside. When I talked to Nili, she visited Brownie, Nili's dog. Then I was ready cross the river again to return home, but the river had risen a LOT. I could cross the smaller stream, but when I headed across the big river, it was up to my chest at the edge. It would be deeper in the middle. The water kept pushing me back, and my feet couldn't dig in on the pebbly bottom. I would step forward, but I wasn't getting anywhere. The current was stronger than I was. Maddie followed me, and must have continued on across once we hit the water. When she gets in the river, and it is high, she's committed. She has to keep going. I'm sure she washed downstream quite a way, but she's used to swimming across the river, and scrambling up the bank downstream.��

So, I decided to try swimming across. I've seen the Palawanos do it lots of times. I went back to our partner's house and dropped off the stuff I was carrying -- my umbrella��and a plastic bag of stuff. They offered for me to use the new dugout canoe they had made, but I said I'd try it alone first. The canoe didn't have paddles yet, or a rope to pull it across, and I guess I didn't want to hassle with trying to get together the guys that would be needed to help get the canoe across the river and back. Plus, I don't have a lot of confidence in tippy little Palawano-size canoes being able to float my American-size body. I thought I could handle it by myself. Mistake Number One: I should have, at the very LEAST, had someone with me watching me go across.

So I got across the smaller stream again okay. I climbed the short bank and walked upstream along the edge of the rice paddies there for a little way. It is good to get well upstream of where you want to end up before you swim across, since the current is going to be pulling you downstream. As I walked, one of my feet slipped deep into the mud at the edge of the rice paddy, and I couldn't get it out. I pulled and pulled, and finally pulled it out, but in the process the straps at the heel of my sandal broke loose from the sole. I was wearing heavy, strap-on Teva-type sandals, not just flip-flops. Mistake Number Two: I should have taken the broken sandal off. Mistake Number Three: I didn't go upriver as far as I should have before I launched out.

As I prepared to jump into the rising river, I thought, "This is probably really foolish. Someone should be out here watching me, at least." But I launched in anyway. I started swimming like mad, but the current was so swift, and with the heavy, broken sandal working against my kicking, I wasn't making good progress. I swam hard toward the steps on the bank going up to our house, but before I made it all the way across the river the current carried me past, missing them. I could see poor Maddie on the bank, watching me wash by. She had made it home and was sitting on the steps coming up from the river, waiting for me to get across.

As I washed farther��down-river from our house, I was swimming like crazy, trying to get a little closer to the bank. I finally could start grabbing at branches and vines that were overhanging the river, but the current was so strong, and I was heavy, so I couldn't keep my hold. They would either slip out of my hands or break. I was trying desperately to reach the bank, but couldn't. At one point I had to duck under a whole bunch of low-hanging bamboo, and got a mouthful of water. I kept trying to grab onto something that would hold and couldn't. Nothing would hold me. One after another, all the branches I grabbed at kept slipping out of my hands or breaking off. I was starting to get really scared. I was so afraid that I would get tangled up in some vines and not be able to get out, or be pulled underwater. I had no idea how far I was washing downstream, but the river was getting to a narrower and swifter part, and I was starting to be afraid I might drown. I was thinking, "I can't do it. I can't get to the bank. I could die like this. I could drown, or could really get hurt. I can't believe this is happening to me. This isn't a good time for this. Bill needs me well right now because he has this translation check coming up. He doesn't need a dead or seriously injured wife right now. What a hassle that would be! And besides that, I don't want to die!" I finally cried, out loud, "Lord, help me!" And as soon as I prayed that, I saw that bamboo branch projecting over the river that I was able to grab. It was sturdy enough to hold me, and I pulled myself along it to where it came out of the bank.��

At this point, the bank is really steep, straight up and down vertically, and covered with undergrowth. I just clung to the bamboo and bushes there for quite a little while, trying to catch my breath, half in and half out of the water. I had used up all my strength getting across the river, and I didn't have any strength left to climb up the bank.��My chest was heaving from the exertion of swimming against the current.�� But I was safely attached to land at last! I thought about screaming to Bill to come help me, but I didn't know if he would hear me. Also,��he was so very sick that he might not be able to do anything, anyway. Pretty soon, here came Maddie! She found me at the edge of the bank, and she waited up there on the flat ground for me to climb up. Good ol' Maddie-Pup.

Slowly, as I was able to breathe a little better, I could move one foot at a time up the bank from one clump of roots to the next. I had to climb straight up. My sandals were all entangled with the vines, and I had to work them loose for each step. I was so afraid I would slip back into the water. I finally got all the way out of the water, and up on the bank. But the bank was covered with thick bushes there. I had to fight my way through the tangle of vines and branches step by step. Finally I got to a place were it was a little clearer, and I started walking along what looked like a trail. I knew I was behind our house somewhere, but wasn't sure how far. Maddie went ahead of me on the trail, and then took another trail going up the bank a little higher, to show me the way home. If she hadn't been there, it probably would have taken me a lot longer to find my own way home.

So I survived. I walked into the house and straight into the shower to get all the river water and bits of leaves and broken bits of branches off of me and out of my hair. It took a really long time for my breathing to return to normal from the exertion. After I had a chance to sit down and think about it, I realized that apart from some scratches on my arms and my leg from the vines I was trying to grab, I had NO injuries. Not a broken bone, no bad gashes. Just one BIG cardiovascular workout. I was fine. And so very, very thankful! As the Palawanos say, "Nerga ko," I learned my lesson. I'll never do that again. But I also have to say that God was there for me when I cried out to Him. That really means a lot to me. I've thought about it over and over these last days.

Not only have I learned more about my Lord, and myself (proud? self-sufficient? stupid?), but this has turned out to be a great language and culture learning experience, as well.��Lots of my Palawano friends want to hear me tell the story of what happened. The first question they all ask is, "Who was watching you cross?" I knew I was being foolish, crossing a flooded river with no one there. Apparently I was being culturally clueless, as well. And the Palawanos have been quick to point out several OTHER bad things that COULD have happened to me. . . I could have been stabbed by a sharp piece of bamboo hiding under the water. I could have been bit by a snake or scorpion or centipede in the underbrush.��The next day I told Rini my story in my rough Palawano, and taped her repeating it in her good Palawano. Guess what? Palawano has a word for 'making your way upriver a little bit.' It is pegpekedaya-kedaya.��I've learned words for grabbing with one hand as well as grabbing with two hands. Also a word that seems to mean 'unfortunately.' Used when, unfortunately my sandal straps broke, or, unfortunately I couldn't climb up the bank well. One of our missionary friends quipped in an email when she learned what was going on, "This just goes to show that all things work together for good culture and language experiences."��

It is now one week later. The translation check is underway. Bill is recovering from his flu. My scrapes are healing up, and a shoulder that I must have wrenched in the process is getting less sore. It didn't start hurting until two days after my ordeal. I look back and say God is good. When I was in distress, He showed me His faithful love.��Thank you, Lord.��