Patient testimony of a 24-year-old woman who was shot in the leg and the cheek during the attack on Lekwongole on December 27, 2011, when her three-year-old daughter, her only child, was abducted:
Our village was one of the first to be attacked. Three women, including me, ran with our children—my own three-year-old daughter and two of their boys 10 and 11 years old. We could only carry water with us for the children, no food, no clothes, nothing.
We ran and tried to hide in the high grass when we heard them approaching. But they heard my child crying so they found us three women and the three children. They abducted my child and slit the throats of the two boys in front of us. They told us three women to run—we ran 10 meters and they started shooting. The other two women were killed right away. I was shot in the leg so I fell down. They came over to me and shot me in the head to make sure I was dead and left me there for dead. But the bullet just went through my cheek, so I survived. I crawled to the river to take water and stayed there alone for seven days, in much pain. I didn’t know where my family was or what had happened to my daughter, my only child.
On the eighth day, I couldn’t stay there alone anymore so I used a stick to get up and walked for two hours until I came across neighbors who cared for me for seven days. They told me that my mother was missing. Then they left to inform my family where I was. I was alone again for two days. I crawled again to the river to take water. Then my husband’s brother found me and carried me for three days to Lekwongole. I couldn’t walk, I was so tired, and it was very painful.
Then MSF returned to Lekwongole and drove me to Pibor. I found out the next day that my mother was not just missing, she was dead. I felt so lonely. My mother is dead, yes, but at least if my child was still with me I would be okay. But I’m not okay. I don’t even know what happened to my child.
From my family, 10 people have been killed—four women and six men. From my husband’s family, eight people have been killed. They also abducted my sister’s son, who is six years old. It is very painful because my whole family has been killed. My only child has been taken—I feel so alone and it’s very painful.
For the future, if I get something to work with then I will, but only God knows. People are just stuck here with nothing now.
Civilians continue to bear the brunt of extreme inter-communal violence in Jonglei state in South Sudan. More on the situation there.
Photo: © Heather Whalen/MSF
