Middle of Everywhere - Mary Bray Pipher [113]
She said softly, "I had to cook. I had to do whatever they told me to do."
Finally the rebels went into Freetown. When they entered the city they used children as human shields. This tactic worked for them, as the other soldiers had a hard time shooting innocent kids. There was a great battle between the rebels and the West African Intervention Force. During the chaos Bintu escaped. She said, "I was totally naked. I ran and ran until I came to the houses of my friends." These friends were afraid to open their doors, but eventually someone did help her. She was able to escape to the camp in Ghana.
Bintu lifted the shirt from her back and her arms and showed me the deep scars she had from being beaten by the rebels. She said her faith helped her survive. She had been Muslim but was now a born-again Christian. She was deeply grateful that "God kept me safe" and that Mohamed remained her husband after she had been kidnapped by rebels. She said, "Many men in my culture wouldn't have stayed."
Meanwhile Mohamed was in a terrible situation. In the chaos of the war, he had been separated from their children. There was an attack on Freetown, one of the bloodiest attacks in the history of the world. Hundreds of houses were burned. Six thousand people, including children, had their limbs chopped off. Mohamed said, "We are a nation of amputees."
During the war, Mohamed heard that someone had seen his brother with the children. But almost immediately afterward the area where his brother and children were seen was bombed. He hasn't been able to find out what happened to them. Mohamed also heard that Bintu had been killed. Later he heard she was alive. He had no real idea, just rumors.
Eventually Mohamed escaped to a refugee camp in Ghana. As the war raged on, refugees with terrible stories flooded into Ghana. Sierra Leone was out of control. The rebels abducted five hundred United Nations peacekeepers. For almost a year there was no government at all. The illiterate rebels closed all the schools. If people went to work, they risked being shot by one group; but if they didn't go to work, another group would kill them. There was no way to be safe or stay out of trouble. If people were on certain lists they could be killed by some groups, but if they were not on those lists, others would kill them. No one knew how to stay alive.
Many of the survivors of the disasters in Sierra Leone arrived at the camp in Ghana. Mohamed escaped Freetown and made it to the camp where he was elected to the executive council. He showed me pictures of a communal cleanup to prevent cholera, of women cooking, and of a party at the camp with feasting and dancing. But it was a hard life; the huts were filled with snakes and scorpions; many girls became pregnant because they gave themselves to men for food.
Mohamed helped people who were traumatized. He said that people avoided anyone who had seen them tortured or raped in Sierra Leone. They felt humiliated around people who knew what had happened to them. When people first arrived they trusted no one, but gradually they would trust again. Mohamed talked people into eating, joining a work group, and registering to look for family members. He felt the cures for all the pain were love, work, and communal events. Food and laughter were important to healing.
After he and Bintu were reunited in the camp, they tried unsuccessfully to find their own children through the Red Cross. They helped the orphaned children in camp and informally adopted eight of the kids, some of whom were amputees. They weren't allowed to bring these kids to America with them, but they hoped to save money and bring them later. Bintu asked me for an international calling card so that she could call and check on the children.
We had to leave the café for their job interviews. I was struck by the contrast between their tragic stories and this restaurant with its scones and Italian sodas. I pondered the weirdness of time and place.