For a complete month now, thirty-three men have been roasting inside the bowls of the earth.
For a complete month now, thirty-three men have been roasting inside the bowls of the earth.
And they are not about to leave their confinement any time soon, either. From 5th August when they were trapped in a mine, the 33 Chilean miners have been waiting to be rescued. And they may continue to wait for another four months.
"And the world is watching impotently as these men suffer?” I can imagine you asking. And I say: Oh, yes! The world is watching impotently, as it is always wont to. The whole world is incapable of digging a hole into the ground through which the men can be lifted. Luckily, at least, the men are able to get the basics now.
Luckily, because for 17 days they had no connection at all with the outside world. Almost a kilometre into the earth, they went about the business of survival on their own, sharing the few rations of food that was supposed to be their lunch the day they reported for duty. One lunch spread over thirty-something meal times!
Now, bless their souls, they are receiving food, medicine and even some clothing, sent to them through three holes that were bored into the earth for the purpose. What I am unable to wrap my mind around is the fact that those boreholes could not have been made into one big one, where each man could fit.
In fact, I am told that a fourth hole will be drilled before the big one! It is around this fourth "pilot hole” that much larger machine cutters will work to grind the rock, sending it crushing into the mine shaft area near the trapped men. And what will that mean? Sealing the men off from their escape route!
So, the burden will again fall on them to clear the way. Which would all be fine, if it didn’t mean hauling 4,000 tons of rock out of the way! From their "apartment” in the mine’s shelter, the men will have to get room to manoeuvre and store the rocks, before they can say goodbye to their home of five months. Let’s pray that the end of those five months finds them still in good health.
Miracles have happened before and may God help these miners of Chile realise this one! Indeed, it will be a miracle when all the men celebrate Christmas, re-united with their families.
A similar miracle, maybe even bigger, that I can immediately think of, which took place in Africa, concerns Sophia Pedro. You remember Sophia, the Mozambican woman who took refuge in a tree when floods devastated her region in 2000.
For four days, Sophia had been clinging to a branch in a treetop when suddenly she felt labour pains. Intriguingly, South African military helicopters on the rescue were hovering above searching for flood victims at that very moment.
Pilot Chris Berlyn and crew member Stewart Back descended over Mondiane village, the helicopter choppers parting the branches of a mafouerera tree, to reveal a woman perching on the branches. When Back was lowered into the tree, he discovered Sophia was about to give birth.
The men raced back to base camp to pick up a medic, Godfrey Nongovela. When Nongovela was lowered into the tree, Sophia had already given birth. Nongovela cut the umbilical cord and then he and Back winched mother and bouncing baby girl to the safety of the helicopter and, from there, to hospital.
Pictures of Sophia giving birth in a tree were beamed around the world and cheque books flew open. It was reported that the British public alone immediately gave about $40m to charities for Mozambique and international donors coughed up about $70m – more than Mozambique had asked for!
A few months later, Sophia and daughter Rosita Mabuiango travelled by jet to USA and Great Britain. Just by turning up at two churches in Atlanta, USA, they reportedly raised about $16m for Mozambique.
Reports have it that Sophia and her daughter have two photo albums with happy scenes from a tour of the White House and many shopping malls where they were invited to choose designer outfits. Today, Rosita Mabuiango, 11, the miracle baby, has an account of her own and her education has been paid for.
The social services are keeping Rosita’s money in a trust and are unwilling to divulge the amount. The two women have no idea how much they raised for flood relief fund during their visits to the UK and USA. Of course, there was an interesting (or sad?) twist to it.
Sophia confirms that they were given cheques "but we left them in the hotel because they were just pieces of paper.” Which was as well! Whoever offered the cheques, could they not see that Sophia Pedro was illiterate? How was she supposed to tell the difference between cheque leaves and tissue paper?
Anyway, the Sophia-Rosita case is a glaring example of what the world community is capable of when they put their mind to it. In the Chile miners’ case, where is that mind?