War Stories

I wish I could tell you that all the stories, books and movies about genocide, rebel armies, and civil unrest where just stories, but thatsimply isn't true. As much as I don't want to hear stories of the war, I know that I must, because these people did not see the war on TV or in a movie, they saw it with their own eyes, heard it with their own ears, and felt the pain of losing their loved ones. And for this reason I listen because in order for me to know and understand the people, I must see where they've come from.
This week Sarah and I had the opportunity to hear Aunty Chris's story of the war. Aunty Chris is a Registered Nurse who works for COTN training health animators who provide healthcare in the villages, teaching health classes in the school, and working with the mothers in the malnourished baby clinic. She also serves as a mentor, mother, grandmother, friend…
Aunty Chris is also blind. During the war she and her children had to hide in the bush for 2 months. There she contracted an infection in her eyes and by the time the war was over the infection had progressed too much and the doctor's said there was nothing to be done. Ahh, what this woman has experienced: going from village to village, only to be rejected; escaping the rebels, only to be found by them again; finding family members only to lose them.
And yet in the midst of this there is hope, for "where there is life there is hope." Aunty Chris
And so she praises Jesus everyday because she is alive. Aunty Chris has been such an encouragement to Sarah and I. It is so common for us to see people who have been physically effected by the war and given up. But despite her blindness, she is making a lasting difference in the lives of the people in Banta Mokellah. She is an inspiration and we spend many hours discussing issues that plague this area, brainstorming solutions and struggling to learn Mende while doing so.