Stories of Survival

Lori and I have been in Angola nearly 10 months now. People have started opening up to us and sharing some of the painful stories about the brutal civil war. How humbling it is to hear their experiences. I'll share just a few of them.

Justinho lives in a city within the Benguela province called Ganda. During the war opposition forces accused him of being a spy. To ensure that he could not hurt there cause in any way and to send a message to others, the soldiers cut off his hands. Now, 20 years later, he was blind in both eyes from cataracts until we restored his vision. I was so happy for him that we were able to help in this small way.

One of my surgical nurses was living in his home in Caluquembe when opposition forces began advancing on the city. Word spread that this man was a ranking official in the ruling party. The opposition forces began looking to kill him. So he fled for the woods, where he lived for two years. Two years away from his family, moving about as a fugitive, never spending more than a few days in any location. During this time he had  help from his brother-in-law. Somehow they successfully reported his death, so that he could be free under a new identity. With a new name and a new beard, he was able to live in the house with this brother in law safely.

Another nurse at Boa Vista was working at the Caluquembe Mission hospital during the height of the war. This church based mission hospital had an unfortunate location and was held by opposition forces. When the government forces moved in to seize the province the hospital was viewed as sympathizers to the opposition and was bombed on a regular basis. During the bombings this nurse would always go to this one particular hole in the ground for shelter. He did this for several weeks as the bombings continued. One day as a raid started, he decided to help a patient who was struggleing to get to the shelter. By the time they both finally got to the shelter they found that it had been hit directly and everybody in the shelter had died. 

These kinds of personal stories of heroism and tradgedy are common. I feel humbled that as we get to know people, they open up and share their painful memories. War is terrible, the more direct contact I have with survivors the more I know of it's cost. 

Thanks for reading,

John