Have you ever met a stranger who said or did something which signficantly impacted your life, and you never saw them ever again?

When a door begins to open and looking through it you see death waiting to embrace you, the fear of the unknown blots out the sunlight in your life. Yet it is in moments like this, that somehow a miracle can happen and the eternal hope which is in all of us seizes help from wherever, or whoever it may come from. This is what happened to me...

First, let me give you some background.

Location: Namib Desert, Namibia, 500 kilometres north of Cape Town, South Africa.

Date and time: Late afternoon, March 1995.

I was running away from a broken relationship, and yes, it was my fault.

I had hopped on a small seaplane in the small town of Swakopmund, Namibia, along with the bunch of tourists seeking to view and experience the wonders of the Namib desert, one of the oldest deserts on earth. So after a small flight, we landed on a quiet beach bordering the desert. I was in no mood to talk with anybody. I just wanted to sit down somewhere and think. I remember leaving the other tourists and walking up over the sand dunes, I could see an old hut in the distance. Surprisingly, it was quite cold because a fog had rolled in from the sea however, I could still see the tourists down by the beach. We were scheduled to spend about an hour on the edge of the desert, so I headed inland to check out this hut. When I got there, I looked inside and it was obvious that no one had used it for a long time. I remember laying down inside the hut and looking out through the door way into the endless desert. For a moment, the fog cleared. It was stunningly beautiful. The sand dunes simply rolled away into the distance, countless waves flowing over a yellow sea of sand. Then came the moment which changed my life. I fell asleep.

When I awoke, it was dark and I suddenly panicked. Fortunately, the moon was up so I rushed outside and ran down to the beach. It seemed to take forever. There were no tourists, no seaplane, nothing. I was absolutely deserted in a desert. I wandered around for hours, shouting, crying and freaking out. My rucksack was in the seaplane.

I had no water, no food, nothing.

I can’t remember what happened next, but I must’ve gone to sleep on the beach. I do remember waking up early the next morning fully expecting the seaplane to return.

It didn’t.

I had a cracking headache and was desperately thirsty but there was nothing I could do. There was just the sand and the sea, and overhead the sun blazed down mercilessly so I was forced into the sea just to cool down. This went on all day. Night time came, and I became delirious with thirst. I lay down on the sand, desperate. As I was falling asleep, I wondered whether I would wake up again...

The next morning, I could hardly open my eyes. It was just so painful. My whole body was burning up. For one moment, I considered falling back into black oblivion. But then I heard a small scratching sound, then a shadow passed over me. I cried out and tried to sit up, but I was just too weak. Somehow, while I knew I was dying, I felt at peace... I wasn’t afraid. Then I heard the scratching sound again, and I saw a small black child in front of me sitting down on the sand about 3 metres away. Then I realised it wasn’t a child, it was a tiny black woman. And the scratching sound was her voice. Even today, after all of these years I still remember her as if it was yesterday.

I’ve heard of these people, they’re native to this desert and commonly known and as ‘Bushman’ or ‘San’. She looked like a tiny gnome with wrinkled up skin and she had small black teeth and tiny sunken eyes. I kept fading in and out of consciousness, but she kept talking to me in a clicking language. I can remember that she started hopping towards me like a kangaroo. I’ve never seen someone who looks so old. She was ancient and almost naked except for a small piece of cloth tied around her waist. She held an ostrich egg in her hands. That was when I smelled the water. I called out to her, but it was just a weak croak. The inside of my mouth was like a raging furnace.

Then I passed out. When I came to, she was covering me with sand. She was obviously trying to protect me from the sun. It was like she was spraying a blanket on me; the relief was immediate. My lips were cracked and bleeding, and I saw her pull a small plug from the top of the ostrich egg and dip her finger in. She bent over me and touched my lips with her wet finger. I cried out for more. She’s shrieked and hissed at me. She was so angry, her veins stood out on her head and for a moment I thought she was going to hit me. That single drop of water revived me and now I could see her clearly. She looked like a dried-up raisin, and her skin was like a roadmap full of lines criss-crossing each other. She then wet her finger and put another drop of water on my lips. This continued for eternity. I was desperate for water. I would’ve sold my soul for a drink. Then she put her arm under my head and held the ostrich egg up to my lips. I look down inside the egg. The water was brown and muddy, and smelled awful... but the first taste was bliss.

Little by little, she began to walk me back from the doors of death. I finally managed to say thank you to her. I now began to think clearly. I began to figure out how the hell I was going to get out of this situation. Then she suddenly stood up and pointed into the distance. I panicked and managed to cry out and begged her not to leave me.

Then she pointed out into the distance and pointed back at me. I realised that she was going to get help. Then she was gone. I grabbed the ostrich egg, but it was empty. I then had the presence of mind to cover my face with sand and cover my mouth with my hand. The next thing I remember were voices. I looked up and there were three of them standing there, her and two others. They just stood there and talked to each other. Suddenly, they turned around and ran, they were gone. Then I heard loud shouts coming from the sea, and suddenly there were people all around me. My rescuers erected a cover over me and began to give me first aid. Then I was loaded onto a stretcher and after that I passed out again.

I woke up in a hospital in Swakopmund. It turned out that hours after the seaplane had arrived back at base without me, someone noticed my unclaimed rucksack; hence my rescue. It was when I was thanking my rescuers that I realised that I had never thanked the stranger who had saved my life, and that I would never see her again. Despite the pain, I felt an incredible sense of peace. I have never felt so at peace in my life.

This nameless stranger who I never thanked and never saw again significantly changed my life.

I have been reluctant to tell this to anyone... it’s intensely personal.

For the first time in my life, I began to help others to stop running away from a broken relationship. Sometimes, people reach out to me because of relationship problems, but honestly, I have been afraid to talk about those days in the desert... that is until now.

I believe there’s a reason why this happened to me.

I believe there’s a reason why extreme situations happen.

I believe that the greater the suffering, the greater the peace.

When you want to give up, help is closer than you think.

When you want to give up, stop looking for miracles. Start looking for lessons.

I was running away from a broken heart... I had a lesson to learn.

When you feel that your problems are too much... look where you least want to look.

When you feel that your problems are too much... quit thinking like a victim.

Change the conversation inside your head... stop running away.

If you are running away from a broken heart, where are you going to run to?

You cannot run away from such problems... it’s a race with no finishing line.

It’s a race into a psychological desert... there’s no wrinkled old woman to save you.

I just got lucky... trust me, alone in the desert is no place to solve a problem.

If you can’t stop running, email me.

[email protected]