Patient testimony of a man, 39, who was shot in the arm during the attack on Pibor on December 31, 2011:
When the attack happened on my village, we fled into the bush with no food, just water for the small children. I was shot in the arm and hid in the bush with my wound for eight days. So much blood was coming out. Sometimes I would just sleep without knowing it. At night it was so painful I couldn’t sleep. It took me another three days to walk to the hospital.
I was lucky. They didn’t find my family when I was shot because they ran ahead and entered the river, keeping just their mouths open out of the water to breathe, hiding the rest of themselves under the water. You might be found if you hide in the bush, but if you’re under the water they won’t find you.
In my community, some have been killed. Many are still missing. We don’t know if they are dead or not—we saw some who were killed. There are children who have been taken.
We are very happy MSF is here—we thought MSF would not operate again because everything was looted. We were afraid you would not come back. If MSF wasn’t here, I would not feel better. Maybe I would have died.
My home has been burnt to the ground, all of it, everything. I don’t know if I can go back home—because so many are missing, many are dead. We want to go back to cultivate maize and sorghum for the children, but now there is nothing there.
Those who are still alive, what do they think about all this death, the missing? Many are still crying, still looking for their missing children and wives. How can we think about our future?
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
Heart wrenching!!
