Page 15 - English Class 08

The woman refused. Krimali told her to look for a bucket and rope to lower the two-
months old infant. Nothing was at hand. Krimali yelled for the woman to wrap the baby in

bed sheets and then toss her down.
Still crying uncontrollably, the mother wrapped the little girl and sat down on the edge

of the ledge with the baby in her arms. Below, Krimali stood barefoot in the rubble, her feet
firmly positioned between twisted steel rods. Gently she asked the woman to throw the
baby. ‘I prayed to God,’ please see that I catch her,’ Krimali says. The mother tossed the
baby. Krimali made a clean catch and saw a radiant smile break across the mother’s faces.

‘I’ll be back!’ Krimali called out, hugging the child to her as she hurriedly picked her way
across the rubble to the open space where survivors had gathered.

She gave up the baby, ledge : a narrow shelf that sticks out from a vertical surface
then asked if any of the men survivors : people who escape death
would come back with her to rubble : bits of broken stone or bricks from a damaged building
help others trapped in various apartments.

‘No one did’, she says, ‘They were all afraid of that hanging slab.’ As for Krimali five feet,
one inch in height and weighing about 50 kilos, her fears had been lifted by what she had

already accomplished.

On her way back into the remains of the building, she spotted a portion of a large door.
It was extremely heavy, but she managed to drag it to the spot just below the hanging slab.
By placing it on the rubble , tilted upwards, she created a sliding board of sorts. With

Krimali coaching her, the baby’s mother partly jumped and partly rolled down the board to
the ground level. Krimali led her through the debris to her baby.

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