This is Louisiana Sandusky. I am a nurse, as you know from my past writes; and I have taken care of many, many people during my tenure as a registered nurse at the hospital of which I work at (Nashville Memorial Hospital).
I am going to write about a new patient I just met a few days ago; I had to get her medical history (which wasn't easy, as the woman in question was unable to communicate, thanks to having a trache tube inserted into her neck), and she had been in a coma; but had just emerged from it about a week ago. (She had been in the Medical ICU ward for a month; she had been shot in the back, which rendered her paralyzed from the waist on down. She had been shot by an unknown assailant; the person who shot Pulalay probably thought she was stealing, so he decided to take matters into his own hands, when all she was doing was searching for a bite to eat.) As a result of being shot, Pulalay was now permanently paralyzed from the waist on down; she would probably need a wheelchair for the rest of her life; or, if she was lucky enough, to be able to walk with the assistance of forearm crutches and leg braces.
Upon taking her history, I found out that the young woman's name was Pulalay Khelefi (pronounced POO LAY LAY KHU LEH FEE), and she was here in this country by way of a "green card", which is where an illegal alien is permitted to stay in another country for a certain amount of time. She was originally from the country of Sudan, which is near the countries of Egypt and Ethiopia. She was, basically, homeless; she had nowhere to go, and she spent her time living on the streets, foraging for food or searching for a place to sleep or spend the night. She had been in America for about a year, and her English was pretty well limited; and she was completely illiterate. She was also incredibly shy.
Pulalay was quite a striking young woman, as far as appearances go. She was well over 6' tall; she was AT LEAST 6'8" tall! And she was incredibly skinny; and her tall height only seemed to emphasize that fact. She had short-cropped black hair worn in an Afro, and her eyes were big and brown, like a deer's. Her skin was the color of ebony; and her nose was straight and fine. Her teeth were as white as white can be, and she had a pretty mouth. She was of the Dinka tribe, who are known for being cultivators and raisers of cattle; and also well known for being extremely tall and thin. (Dinka people, even the women, are usually quite tall, being well over 6' in height; and the men can easily reach heights of 7'..or greater!)
Pulalay, as you can very well imagine, was scared; and she was unsure of what the future would hold for her. She seemed frightened; and she kept telling me (by writing down on paper, since she was unable to talk at the presesnt time, thanks to the trache tube) that she didn't want to go back to Sudan; as there was much civil unrest there between the African peoples like herself and the Arabs. There was also much famine, and starvation and death were frequent visitors to the region. AIDS is also a problem in her country, as it is in ALL of Africa.
This was why she had come to America, to escape the hardships facing her country and her people..only to be met with tragedy. She was now a patient at the hospital I worked at, without friends or family to support her. She was incredibly and hopelessly alone. She also had no place to live and managed to survive living on the streets until a bullet slammed into her back, dramatically altering her life forever.
She had come to America to escape the violence tearing her country apart..only to be met with violence that dramatically changed her life. She would now have to not only cope living in a new place or getting used to the fast-paced American way of life or their strange customs: she would also have to get used to an culture entirely different from her own, and she would have to cope with living her life being permanently disabled and in a wheelchair.
Pulalay's future was sealed, as a result of that bullet; and she was now a scared, vulnerable young woman with nobody but me to help her.
~*~*TO BE CONTINUED*~*~
Author's Note: I got the idea for this story after watching a program about different African tribes on the Discovery Channel; included in the program series were features about the Dinka, Watusi, Afar, and some other tribes I can't remember off hand. No, the Maasai weren't featured; but as you know, several of my characters are of the Maasai tribe (M'buti and her brothers, Keserian and Naiser). I know a bit about the Maasai tribe: they are raisers of cattle and are "pastoralists" (that is, they move from place to place, searching for food for their cattle, which is their livlihood); and they are known for their jewelry making, pierced ears (to them, stretched earlobes are a sign of beauty in their culture), tallness (although they aren't as tall as the Dinka or Watusi tribes), and bravery. The Maasai live in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania.
very good write, karen...i look forward to seeing how you develop pulalay's story. i think it is terrific how you have interaction with all of your characters...i couldn't do that, i'd be *so* confused! (((HUGS))) and love, karla. :)
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