28 April 2011, Cairo, Egypt [tedNEWS] A tragic accident happened on Wednesday, 27 April 2011 when a mini bus carrying fifteen students from Nile Union Academy in Egypt crashes, resulting in the death of one student and serious injuries to the others.
The group of students were returning back from their Easter holiday break travelling from Zewek, a village in Upper Egypt, when the driver of the mini bus fell asleep and lost the control over the vehicle. The bus rolled over several times on the road until it finally stopped. One young man, a senior student, died as a result of injuries caused by the accident and yet, another is in a critical condition needing an expensive operation. The rest of the group, including the driver of the bus, has suffered serious injuries and broken bones.
Unfortunately, the Nile Union Academy has been experiencing serious problems in the past few months. Due to the revolution that broke out in Egypt about three months ago, the school had to close for three weeks. The expatriate staff had to leave the country and there was fear for the welfare of the local staff that remained on the school compound. ‘By God’s grace, everything settled down peacefully, the staff returned to Egypt, and things started up again as normally as possible,’ says Gladys Decker, a teacher at the Nile Union Academy.
But couple of months later, one of their senior students, went home for the weekend and never woke up from her afternoon nap. A well-loved Sudanese girl, who easily broke down the radical boundaries between Egyptians and Sudanese, died so unexpectedly.
The seriousness of these tragic events has naturally shaken the staff as well as the students at the Academy that are now trying to cope with the consequences. However, Mrs. Deceker finds encouragement in the words of Apostle Paul: ‘We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed,’ 2 Corinthians 4:8,9 (NIV) and she continues: ‘we do not lose heart… though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.’ 2 Corinthians 4:16
The Nile Union Academy is the premiere Seventh-day Adventist boarding academy in the Middle East and North Africa that has been operating for the last 56 years boarding Egyptian and Sudanese students. For more information on the Academy, please visit their website Nile Union Academy. [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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