By Awwad Al-Tuwalah
Okaz/Saudi Gazette
HAIL — Ashwaq Al-Shammari, a young university student in Hail, did not know that her learning of driving in her father's farm in Al-Ish town, 40 km to the south of Hail, long time ago would help save the life of a man.
The man was the minibus driver who was transporting Ashwaq and four of her women colleagues from their university to their homes when he fainted suffering a brain stroke 19 km before reaching his destination.
The driver told his girl passengers that he was feeling dizzy so he pulled over and stopped the car. Immediately he went into a coma.
Ashwaq said she took the wheel to transport the driver to his home while her other colleagues tried to wake him up in vain. "I stopped the car at a shop on the way to buy water to pour on the driver with the hope that he would regain consciousness but he did not," she said.
Ashwaq, who is studying at the college of education in Al-Ghazalah district, said she drove the mini-bus to the driver's home where she sought the help of his wife and sons to take him to a government hospital which is about 50 km away.
"In the hospital, the driver was diagnosed to be suffering from a brain stroke but was saved due to the quick intervention of doctors," she said.
Ashwaq's father, Zahir Al-Shammari, an educationalist, appreciated the courage of his daughter and her four colleagues and said had it not been for them the man would have died. "I am extremely proud of my daughter whom I taught driving at my farm when she was young. Her voluntary work was part of her social responsibility," he said.
The father said the behavior of his daughter and her other girl friends was humane and they were able to save the precious life of a human being.
