Sarah

Sarah is my host mother Maria’s step sister, she has been living with the family for about three months. Sarah’s home situation was becoming abusive which began affecting her studies so instead of sacrificing her academic career she moved to Kotido. Sarah is a responsible, hardworking student and auntie to the kids. She is always either in the kitchen, working in the back compound, or cleaning some area of the home.

Like other family members Sarah has also shared a story from her life with me. Not only is Sarah’s story exceptional but the calmness and strength she had in her voice as she spoke was astonishing. This is Sarah’s story:

One evening some of my friends and I were bring firewood back to the village along the main road. While we were walking some warriors with guns surrounded and captured us, they made us drop the kindling we had collected and forced us to follow them deep into the bush. There are two things that happen when warriors capture women; they either rape them or they beat them and leave them to die. We were all very scared and feared the warriors as they took us further and further from the main road.

At one point, while we were walking, we passed a pond with men and women fishing for mud fish. The men ran away when they saw the warriors but the women who were with them were also captured by the warriors. They grouped us all together and made us carry the fish the men had been catching. When it became dark we were forced to build fires to cook the fish for them. After we fed them, they let us sleep but they monitored us all night with their guns.

In the morning the warriors came to us with a proposal; if we showed them where the cows were kept they would let us go. We told them we did not know where the corral was because the men take care of the cows. They told us they would shoot each one of us if we did not tell them, but we replied that we were ready to die and genuinely did not know where the cows were. They considered this and continued threatening us but we were resolute that we did not mind dying and the location of the corral was unknown to us.

The warriors became very violent; they shouted and pushed us but nothing could change the situation. Finally they made us take off all our jewelry and beads, they took anything they liked, and they took all our money. Thankfully none of us were raped or beaten badly and finally the warriors let us go.

Sarah finished her story softly and then smiled.

Sarah’s story, and other stories I have heard about the warriors and cattle raiding, the war in Northern Uganda a number of years ago, and the ongoing conflict in the area; give me such an appreciation for the safety I experience in my home country. The last war that was fought on United States soil was the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. However, after hearing these stories of violence I am also more acutely aware of a few atrocities of war that affect innocent people unrelated to the conflict. It causes me to grieve for the people who are experiencing war on their own soil; their lives contain more fear, anxiety, and suffering than I have a framework to understand.

A poster hanging on my office wall artistically shows a line of Ugandan’s dropping their weapons into a bonfire. On the other side of the fire is a mental worker creating tools and pots and pans from the melted weapons. The poster is an obvious reflection to the passage found in Isaiah 2:4b, “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” The wars of nations may be overwhelming for diplomats, presidents and congress people; but, as people of faith we have assurance that one day there will indeed be peace. In the meantime I will listen to other people’s stories, make peace with situations and people in my own life, and praying for peace to come in the lives of my community around the world. 

The illustration of Isiah 2:4 hanging in my office