Chapter 1 #2
“This is Nafisa, and her older sister, Fiza,” Abu introduced the two women, clearly upset that they were not as on board about talking to Helena as he was.
They were of average height, but willowy thin in a way that showed they needed food more regularly.
Their hair was wrapped in colorful scarves that matched the colorful lightweight dresses they wore.
Their eyes showed suspicion, but hope lingered in occasional flashes of longing.
“There are several reasons to do so,” Helena told them.
“Aid being one of them. The UN is doing its best, but if we highlight your story, private aid should follow. Your country is starved. Its people need to be fed. Then there’s the value of external pressure and the offers of help from allies.
South Sudan is trying—yearning to be free.
You need all the help you can get to make that dream a reality.
Lastly, Kazim Garang is a criminal and he needs to pay for the things he’s done to the citizens of the country he supposedly loves enough to want to govern. ”
Kuol grunted in pissed-off amusement at that before spitting in the dirt. “He doesn’t love the people. He loves the power.”
Helena’s heart broke. “You are all so young. You deserve a life where you’re not constantly terrified. I can’t guarantee I can make that happen, but I can guarantee that I will fight to give your country the best chance at making that dream a reality.”
Lamya was nodding, but then Fiza and Nafisa switched to Arabic, or possibly a local dialect, to talk. Kuol spoke, then Lamya and Abu. It was a heated discussion as Helena waited. She knew she’d have Abu’s and Lamya’s story, but three more eyewitness accounts would be even better.
Finally, they were quiet and Fiza turned to Helena. “We will tell you what we know, but you have to know it will be our death warrant.”
“I won’t use your names. I will blur your faces in any photos and use voice alteration when I tape the interview. And if you’re in danger, I can work to get you refugee status,” Helena swore. That seemed to put them at ease.
Food was served and then it was time to talk over the meal. “Can you tell me what happened to your family?” Helena asked after they settled in.
Lamya’s lips pursed, and it was Abu who answered for his sister, even though he was younger by three years.
“We lived in the first city Garang laid siege to.
The food ran out and we were starving. We lived with our aunt and uncle.
I found some items to barter with and went out into the city to try to find food.
Instead of food, we found soldiers. Garang attacked and his loyal supporters went wild with power as they stormed the city.
They pillaged, they raped, they killed. Not only soldiers or police, but anyone they came across.
They kicked in the doors and all I heard were screams coming from inside.
“My uncle and I tried to race back to our house to protect our aunt and Lamya, but we were stopped at gunpoint. They beat my uncle, asking him who he was. But he didn’t answer, even as they were holding a gun to me.
They said they would stop if we both told our names, swore our loyalty to Garang, and picked up arms against our government and any supporters of the government.
My uncle refused and launched himself at the man holding the gun at me.
His final words were to run. They shot him.
I will never forget the way his body jerked as they emptied their guns into him.
They had to reload, so I did what my uncle told me to.
I ran.” Abu reached over and took Lamya’s hand in his.
Lamya picked up the story from where she and her aunt were alone in their house.
“We hid as soon as we heard the gunfire. My aunt armed herself with a knife and we crawled into the cabinet under the sink. She placed her hand over my mouth to prevent me from screaming as the door was kicked in. I could hear the boots of men as they filled the house. I was shaking, and my aunt was holding me as we waited. Time seemed to go on forever. Then, suddenly, the cabinet door was yanked open and my aunt was dragged out a second before I was. There were five men. They held a gun on my aunt and me. They demanded to know our names and where the men were. She didn’t tell them our names, but told them that she was a widow.
The man smiled and said, ‘Then no one will try to stop me.’ He grabbed me and began to drag me across the kitchen to the bedroom.
I remember screaming for help. My aunt’s yell was unnatural.
I saw her attack the man holding a gun on her as he laughed at us.
She slit his throat and ran toward me, only to be shot dead.
I was screaming uncontrollably, but they had a way to silence me.
The four remaining men shoved me to the ground right there.
I stared at my aunt’s body as they each punished me in a way men think makes them powerful. ”
Abu squeezed his sister’s hand. “I found her naked and bleeding. We buried our aunt in the backyard, packed what we could, and waited for nightfall. Then we stuck to the shadows and we ran. We haven’t stopped running since.”
Fiza and Nafisa weren’t crying. Instead, their unfocused eyes were staring at the table.
“We didn’t know each other well,” Fiza said into the silence.
“Abu and Lamya lived two streets over. We saw them at the market and we went to the same school, but they are a couple of years older than we are, so we never were around each other much. While I knew who they were, we weren’t friends.
Until that day. I have, I mean I had, two older brothers.
The family was in the market, like Abu, and we were looking for food.
Then Garang and his supporters came. We hid in a stall, but were quickly found.
The men grabbed my father and brothers. My father .
. . he had a bad leg. It made walking difficult for him.
They told my brothers they had the honor to fight for Garang.
My brothers were fifteen and seventeen.” Fiza took a deep breath before continuing.
“My father grabbed them and tried to pull them away from where the soldiers were dragging them, crying and screaming. They shot my father in his stomach. My mother screamed and ran to protect my father. That was funny to the men. My brothers were taken away. And then to punish my father, the men dragged my mother, me, and my little sister back into the stall. My father had to listen to what they did to us. My mother—like Lamya’s aunt—was fierce.
She tried to fight. She tried to protect us as they ripped off our clothes and hurt us.
It only made them laugh more. Then, when it was done, they dragged my mother outside and shot her right in front of my father and then left.
Moving on to hurt more people, steal more things. ”
Nafisa didn’t look up from the table as her soft voice spoke next.
“I’ll never forget the laughter. Or the breath on my neck of the man who hurt me.
The smell of his breath, the pain, the humiliation.
Then they took our mother from us. We dressed the best we could and crawled out in time to find my father had crawled over to my mother to hold her.
His eyes were closed. There was so much blood.
They were both dead and our brothers were gone.
We didn’t know what to do. We just sat with our parents’ bodies as it turned to dusk.
That’s when Kuol found us. He lived next door to us. He saved us.”
Kuol shook his head. “I didn’t save you.
I was running scared. I’m not scared anymore.
I know I will die, just like my parents and my younger brother.
They were shot as they tried to fight back with several others.
I was hiding. I was weak, but no more. I won’t hide anymore.
We might run, but I’ll never hide if they find us again.
The more I kill before they kill me, the better.
Death will be welcomed after the hunger and the constant fear of being attacked again.
However, I have to protect my family. The only family I have left.
“I found my cousins. They were broken. Just shells of who they were. But I got them home, and we all packed what we could, or what was left after our houses had been looted. We were going to sneak out of town. We heard soldiers coming and moved to hide behind some trash cans. That is where we found Abu and Lamya. Abu was friends with my brother. I knew I could trust him. So we snuck out of the city together. We found the truck along the way. The driver was dead inside, but it still ran. We took it and have been looking over our shoulders ever since.”
Kuol couldn’t help himself. He looked over his shoulder and out the door. His face hardened and he flipped the safety on his gun off a second before Helena heard the first gunshot.