Archive for February, 2010
Impression in the Grass
“I didn’t ever want to go back to that place,” Antoinette’s brother tells Koko on the drive out to the airport and back. His father sent him in his place. He was there when they found her body, so he can show us the spot, now 10 days old. ”It’s only because you asked that I’m going. I’ll take you there, but I’m not comfortable talking about it.”
We have to take a long detour, avoiding a back road short cut that inexplicably creeped-out both Koko and me, only to find out a few minutes later the LRA was spotted on that road just two days ago.
We drive through an abandoned school yard – no class since the attacks. The road gets too narrow, so we get out of the car and follow Antoinette’s brother through a maze of Bamokandi’s back footpaths, gardens, and mud-and-thatch compounds.
Antoinette’s brother slows down at a T in the path. “She was shot there, at my aunt’s house, and ran this way…”
Koko and I follow him twenty feet up the path, where she must have collapsed and dragged herself to the bushes.
He points to a small opening, chest high grass against in the dense brambles. Her outline is as clear as if it was marked in chalk. Antoinette’s impression in the grass, exactly as she laid when she died. A round spot for her head, her arms, legs outstretched. I can see her laying there, embracing her baby boy.
“They piled sand to cover up the blood,” Her brother notes. A small pile of sand lies exactly where she would have bled to death from the gunshot wound between her legs.
I look back at her brother, who is struggling to stay calm and detached. He seems somewhere else. I ask him, “Are you okay?”
He avoids my eyes, looking back at the path. “I’d like to go now, please.”
Ash and Burnt Grass Floating Down Like Snow
Dungu Updates, most from Twitter: @thousandsisters:
- Met locals armed w/ machetes, hand made bow/arrows, spears, sling shots. Hardly a threat. Just trying to protect families. Heartbreaking. 6:33 PM Feb 1st
- Met girl last night who saw LRA in town. 6:31 PM Feb 1st
- Men burning the bush around the church’s pastoral property for safety, ash and burnt grass floating down like snow. Fire crackling from bush. 6:30 PM Feb 1st
- All shops in Dungu closed today/tomorrow in protest. Problem, because after my bout w/ food poisoning, we’re out of bottled water! 2:30 PM Feb 1st
- MONUC (UN) spent 3 million building compound in town center, millions a yr maintaining it, while locals live on $1/ day. Is tension any wonder? 2:29 PM Feb 1st
- Meanwhile, soldiers don’t shop @ local market, don’t mix w/ locals, don’t do foot patrols, and have never intervened during an attack. 2:28 PM Feb 1st
- When the mango protests started, UN fired shots to scare off 2 civilians from their compound. Head of Oxfam quebec witnessed both incidents. 2:27 PM Feb 1st
- Last wk, before the incident, residents were so angry at UN for no protection, they threw stones at UN compound. What did UN do in response? THREW THE STONES BACK AT THE CROWD! Injuring a small child and elderly woman. Oy vey! 2:25 PM Feb 1st
- Mystery solved? MONUC just changed uniforms, leading local’s to imagine it was LRA! Why couldn’t MONUC just explain that to the people??? 1:15 PM Feb 1st
- Just talked w/ Oxfam Quebec in Dungu. In undercover experiment, they were able to purchase full FARDC uniform and weapons in 24hrs for $25. 1:15 PM Jan 31st
- Food poisoning in congo. No electricity or running water. Mmmmm. 6:36 PM Jan. 31st
- Just visited the local market – locals say food prices have tripled since the LRA arrived. Cultivation is too dangerous, so food is scarce. 10:44 AM Jan 31st
