Contributed by: Emiliene Alemkeng
Why is the world in turmoil because of political crises? Have the people in Central Africa Republic, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and more not suffered enough? A friend once told me the only solution to stop Crises in the world is to make sure whenever two opponents are engaged, the leaders be taken to an Island where they can exercises their powers and fight each other without hurting innocent citizens. The people propagating this chaos are usually not affected in any way. One old woman publicly recounts a gruesome tale of how she was molested by military men in her home during a time of crises.
This woman of about 56 years old living in an isolated village was in her farm near her house trying to get some sweet potatoes to feed some displaced kids under her roof. Suddenly, one of the kids of about 4 ran to her in despair saying “grandma those people are coming again, they will kill us just like they did to Sister Rose the other day”. Tears burst from her eyes and she was taken by fear and ran in to her sitting room where the kids had gathered.
The uniform men surrounded her compound with loaded guns in the twinkle of an eye. The old woman attempted pleading to be left alive but one of the uniform men pulled her from the parlour and dump outside in the mud. The kids cried out “please don’t kill grandma”, but no attention was paid on to them. Some military men stood at point watching the whole place while the others molested her speaking in a strange language she could not understand. They said to her they know that their opponents are hiding in her hometown and if she does not tell where they are hiding or call their names, they will waste her. As another military man translated to this woman, she said, she rubbed herself in the mud swearing not to know the hide out of their opponents not to talk of knowing their names besides, they come and collect their goats, hunting guns, cows, and food stuff everyday so they are confused on who to trust.
The military men shot in the air turning red and blue with anger given the fact that she was not giving them any useful information about their enemies. This woman in tears said, as some screamed in rage, some kicked her, others went in to her house and dispersed her things breaking some of them. Some of the men were rather busy probing her clothes, getting her money and stealing food and drinks from her house.
After harassing her for hours, the military men told her to say her last prayer. The children started weeping but she could not pay any attention as a gun was pointed on her head, she closed her eyes and was ready to die. After about 45seconds, they told her to stand and comfort the children that were crying which she did.
They later released her and though traumatised, she managed to run in to the bush with the 14 kids and hid themselves after which her husband came to her rescue. She searched for the mothers of the displaced kids and handed up their children. She and her husband then ran to a safety place that was not affected with the crises which happens to be a city extremely far from them. They had no choice other than to trek since vehicles were not available as her village drivers had ran for their lives. Their journey was less stressful the first day because they had food. But the second day of their voyage was a living hell (she exclaimed in tears) they were exhausted from the 16 hours walk without rest and that on various slopes and mountains of their Region. The little food stuff they had was already finished even though they had money with them, they could certainly not find anything to buy in the thick forest they were walking in.
Though sobbing, she continued, Days went and they continued their expedition escaping the dangers of the forest and the fear of meeting the uniformed men. Things became worse as she became sick in the thick forest. Her husband did all he could to save her but could not really achieve any results because there were no medications. He built a shelter with sticks and made her have bed rest. She became more pale and skinny like an AIDS patient who refuses to take drugs. They spent about five days under this skeleton shelter and on the 6th day, her temperature dropped. Unfortunately for her, her husband also fell sick.
She became more frightened and ask herself what she will do if a wild animal appears to attack as usual. Caught in this nightmare, she prayed that God take their lives so that they can finally rest in peace and leave the cruel world on its own. She went in to the bush and searched for leaves and made her husband chew. The following day, they continued their journey and after hours of trekking, they arrived an unknown village and luckily for them, cars were available and carried them to the city.
The fact is, though this woman survived, let’s not forget those who were not able to because lots of them were killed by wild animals. What about the young girls who were raped, some died instantly and the ones who survived might end up as living corpses, and their entire lives embodied with trauma. Political crises have really rendered a lot of lives useless.
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