A Smile a day keeps trauma at bay

Accident survivor Macharia Maina bubbles with enthusiasm that belies the trauma he has been through in life. He tells AUTOZINE about the road safety lessons learnt and challenges of running his Real Estate business.

The stretch between St Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Parklands and Pangani round-about is every speeding driver’s playground. It’s smooth, with only one slight corner and no vision-obscuring forest to justify its name. As the Land Rover Defender 110 reached a speed of 140kph, Macharia Maina tapped the driver; he was going too fast and his 11 passengers were in no particular mood of attending another burial. They were headed for one in Kirinyaga.

But the driver of this parastatal car had plans of his own. Over-speeding along Forest Road was just a warm up for Thika Road.   

“We were in a convoy of several vehicles, driving from Chiromo Mortuary to Kirinyaga for a friend’s burial. Our car was moving so fast that the rest had a problem catching up,” recalls Macharia. By the time they hit Thika Road, he had a gut feeling that their car was a potential death trap and moved a seat back. “The other passengers also complained about the speed but the driver ignored us.”

The accident occurred just after Makuyu Teacher’s Training College, Kabati. It was 9.30am, January, 2001. The vehicle’s rear tyre burst, sending it on a maddening spin across the tarmac. “None of us was wearing a seat belt and we were thrust from our seats, through the windows and onto the hard tar. Three people, including the driver, died on the spot.”

Macharia, at first, thought he was OK, save for a slight pain on his right arm and blood gushing from a cut on his head. He was taken to a Thika clinic for first aid. “I didn’t realise that I was seriously injured until the pain began.”

He was later transferred to MP Shah Hospital, where he the neurosurgeon had very unpleasant news for him. On the evening of the accident, he received the dreaded message; “Mr Macharia, you will never walk again!”

“I was devastated,” he recalls. “I was not prepared at all. Of course, you’d expect that before receiving such information, there would be some form of counselling. It reduces the trauma. The way the neurosurgeon delivered the news to me was devastatingly blunt. I felt like that was the end for me. I would be a 37 year old infant, relying on help for everything I needed to do.”

When it rains, it pours. Macharia had an AAR cover that would cater for his medical bills and evacuate him in case of an emergency. But the cover had expired the previous October and due to the hectic Christmas holiday activities, he had not renewed it by the fateful month of the accident.

“Luckily, I was compensated by the insurance company of the parastatal car but this was just a token. I realised that even if I was to receive whatever amount of money, nothing would compensate for what I had gone through. The real help I got was from friends and relatives.” They raised over Ksh2 million to cater for his medical bills.

Macharia was admitted at Nairobi’s MP Shah Hospital for three weeks before being flown to Sunnyhill Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa. He underwent intense tests for three days, before he was transferred to Netcare Rehabilitation Hospital in the same city. “With time, I came to realise the coincidence in the letter three. I saw it as a healer and was optimistic that after three years, I would walk again,” says the jovial Macharia from his sixth floor offices at City Hall Annex.  

Seven years later, Macharia cannot walk and is now wheel chair. But as he narrates his experiences, not a tinge of bitterness or self loathing in his voice, there are philosophical lessons about life to pick from him. “There’s a starting point for everything. I realised that I had a longer life to live, whether in or out of a wheelchair. Faith in God and outstanding support from family and friends have been my strongest pillars of support.” 

He says that there is a lot of stigma against people who are physically challenged (he prefers using the word ‘limited’) and most people look down upon them. “All of us are disabled in one way or another. The only difference is that while you can see my disability, I cannot see yours. What makes the difference between us is perception and self esteem.”

Macharia is the proprietor of Emenel Properties, estate management and debt collection agents. Even in his state, he still loves cars and driving. His Toyota G-Touring has been modified (with foot pedals controlled using a hand-held tool next to the steering wheel), to enable him run his errands. His love for cars can be traced back to his teen years when he used to wash and wax his father’s Peugeot 404, for a chance to drive it around the neighbourhood.

Macharia is a director of the Kenya Paraplegic Organisation and every Monday and Friday afternoons, he conducts exercises at the Spinal Injury Hospital.

The father of two girls concludes, “real life is not neat. Life is the way you take it. Bottom line, never be content with average but always strive to attain higher.”