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Solomon Islands:The night the fear came |
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Grace was only eight years old when she learnt the true meaning of fear.
She was living with her parents and younger brother in a small fishing village in the west of Guadalcanal, the biggest island in the Solomon Islands.
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Grace in the camp she calls home. She'd rather stay there than return to the scene of her fears.
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> Conflict & Peacebuilding
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One night in 2002, Grace woke up to the sound of gun shots close to her house. She cried and ran to her parents, to discover they were as frightened as she was.
They all knew who had fired the shots. The Guadalcanal Revolutionary Army, led by notorious warlord and murderer Harold Keke, had been terrorising communities throughout the island for almost four years.
Grace’s parents had known it was only a matter of time before their peaceful village was drawn into the conflict.
That night they urged their children to dress quickly and flee their house into nearby jungle.
They escaped just in time. The rebels destroyed Grace’s village, burning down the houses and killing the livestock. Tragically, three young village boys, who had stayed in the village, also lost their lives that night.
For two weeks, Grace's family and the other villagers hid in the jungle, surviving on wild fruit and grasses.
At night, without blankets, Grace remembers being cold and in pain from the mosquito bites covering her body.
“It was a very bad experience. I didn’t like it.”
When they found out that there was nothing in the village to return to, Grace's family had no choice but to walk across the island, climbing mountains and crossing rivers, in search of help.
"We were lucky that kind villagers sometimes gave us food when we got hungry, and shelter too," says Grace.
Grace and her family now live in a camp for displaced people near the country’s capital, Honiara. She goes to primary school there and her mother has found work to help support the family.
The opportunities for peace have improved in the Solomon Islands since international peacekeeping forces arrived in 2003. Rebels like Harold Keke have been arrested. Essential services like hospitals and schools are re-opening.
World Vision has been working throughout the conflict with families like Grace’s, providing shelter, emergency supplies and healthcare. Now that it’s possible to return home, World Vision is helping with clinics, clean water and sanitation systems.
They are also working hard on peacebuilding initiatives. Though the warlords have been jailed, fighting and destruction of property still flares up from time to time.
Grace says she doesn't want to return to the village. Though she remembers being happy in the village, the memories of what happened to her there are stronger. She'd rather stay in the basic camp forever than return to the scene of her terror.
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