Waiting for the Boat
And so with that we followed the man. We walked and we kept distance from him and he led us to a very small hut by a river. So we walked inside and we were greeted by the owner and then she instructed us to go into the next room. Which we say next room, but it’s very much the wall right there and behind that. And when we passed that wall, we saw tons of people who were already there, lying on the floor just like sardine. And we just looked at each other—we don’t say “Oh hello, how are you in here?” You know, we don’t say anything. So then, we find a spot and lied down, sit down and rest. We wait until whatever they instructed us to do.
So we waited for several days and we became restless because it was so tense. You could not leave the house! You just stayed there—only go to the bathroom in the afternoon or when it’s safe. When they say, okay, then you go outside to do it. So we were living like that—I think for a week. Then one evening somebody came and gave us sleeping pill, to distribute sleeping pills and tell us to give to young children. And they want—he said, “If the children happened to be crying, you know what to do.” You understand? Because, that would be a life and death matter. You could kill one child and save a whole—over a hundred people. So, I felt chill in my spine. And thank God, I think everything happened for a reason. The baby—the six-month old baby was so quiet. Amazingly, he was so quiet and he was asleep at all time. And he wasn’t like that [before].
(I’ll show a picture of what he looks like now.) [laughs]
But that’s what happened and so I guess it was so intense the sleeping pills didn’t work. My daughter was stayed awake the whole time. She knew. And then, by midnight, we were instructed to leave the house. And we walked quietly, very softly. So anyway, so we walked through the small village in the middle of the night to go to a river. And there, they already had a couple of boats—small boats, like a canoe. And, God, the canoe was so small! Couldn’t fit a whole family. So, anyway, my husband and his nephew and his mother were in different boats. Just me and children were in that [different] boat. And thank God that we made it to the ship—the big ship that [was] waiting outside. You know, out in the middle of the river.
We made it there in pitch dark night. You put your hand in front of you you didn’t see anything. So at that time I heard a lot of noises. I noted that we already made it there to the big boat. And I saw people already in the boat, on the boat, so he threw down—he lowered down the rope ladder and [we] climbed up. And I was holding one hand—one child one hand—one hand was climbing up. Thank God that the baby didn’t slip off and [fall] into the water. But that did happen to somebody. And I heard that. The woman’s [pause] scream pierced into my heart. Imagine your child fell into the water. But I didn’t have time to think more because I was worried about my own business. And, with that, I was able to get on the boat. When I got on the boat I could not land my feet down because it was so packed! It was so packed and the man who was pulling my arm said “Let go of my arm” because he had to help other people. But I couldn’t let go of his arm because I couldn’t find a spot for me to land my feet down. And I had to, you know like, find a way. And finally, I was able to lower one foot down and I let go of that man and I landed on someone’s head—just to tell you.
The thing is the news broke down on the last minute and so a lot of people who were waiting there—maybe villagers—they got on the boat free.