Chapter 12 – Starvation
Trigger warning: Talk of rape, gunfire and death.
Maura had been working for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) for almost two years when she suddenly found herself and a few of the female aid workers cut off from the rest of their team. They were treating the female patients in the village when it fell under siege.
Maura and the aid workers were in a small out building at the rear of the village, not very many people knew that the little out building was there. It was hidden from sight by large trees. There was a small path that led to the out building. For safety reasons they covered the opening of the path when they were treating patients. The patients were scared enough to be seen by outsiders so the privacy when being treated was appreciated.
They heard the gun fire and hid as best they could. Maura had two aids with her and six women from the village along with three small children. Maura asked everyone to be quiet as they did not want to draw attention to themselves. Maura knew that the attackers would have no problem raping the women and then killing them. She did not want to die. She wanted to survive this attack.
For over three hours they heard the gun fire and screams of the villagers. She knew that almost all if not all of the villagers would be killed. It is how the attackers worked, they raped the women and beat the men to death while they made the women watch. Then when they finished having their way with the women, they killed them.
The hardest part of their time in hiding was keeping the small children quiet. A hand over the mouth didn't always work. Maura felt terrible but she had to do what she did not want to do. She took out a syringe and loaded it with a small amount of sedative. She gave each child a small amount of the sedative. She normally wouldn't do this but she didn't want to be found by the attackers.
She told the mothers what and why she was doing what she was doing and they agreed with her. They held their babies while she administered the sedative. The mothers wrapped their babies up and held then while they waited for the attackers to leave the village.
The nine women and three children waited until the next day to leave the out building. Maura couldn't believe the devastation they saw. The village was destroyed. Most of the buildings were burned to the ground. There were dead bodies everywhere. It was too much for them to see. Maura knew what needed to be done. They needed to bury and burn the bodies. It would take them time to gather the bodies and dig the mass grave for the 90-100 dead villagers.
One of the ladies was too weak to help with dragging the bodies and digging the graves so she was asked to stay with the small children in the out building. There were some toys in the out building which would keep the children busy.
Maura was hoping that they would be able to retrieve some food but there was nothing left of the village. They would have to look for food. Maura knew that the village wasn't near any other villages. If they were she doubted that the other village would have remained untouched. They were on their own.
They only had the food that was in the out building which wasn't that much. They hadn't planned on being at the out building all day so they only had some snacks to get them through the few hours that they were to have spent with the six women, four of which were in various stages of pregnancy. Some of the women were on the verge of starvation. She needed to do something if all of the women were to survive this ordeal.
Maura thought back to the survival course that she had attended prior to time with MSF. She tried to remember what types of bushes that bared edible berries were in the area. She also asked the other women. Maura also wanted to see if she could find the satellite phone that was in the village. She knew where her supervisor hid the phone. She just hoped that it was not one of the burned areas of the village. If she could find the phone, she might be able to get a call for help out.
They spent several hours dragging the bodies to a common area. She wanted to bury the bodies and wait a few days to burn the bodies as she did not want to draw attention to the area. She wasn't sure how far their attackers were from them. She was trying to make smart decisions. Her supervisor had run the crew through worst-case scenario training and Maura tried to remember everything he had told her. It was important now that she was living out one of the worst-case scenarios.
She went to the site where she thought the phone was but it was not there. There went that idea she thought. It was four days until the next check in and at this point, she wasn't sure if there was any MSF staff left in the area to perform the check in.
They finished burying all of the bodies and went back to the out building. The women were hungry and dirty. They would have to gather all of the food that they had and ration it. She knew that there was a portable shower set up in the corner of the out building so they would have to ration their water also. She didn't know when or even if they would get any supplies.
All of the vehicles in the village were damaged and could not be driven. The attackers had done a number on the village. Maura was just thankful that she was not there. Because of the remote location of the out building, they had been saved from the carnage that the attackers had imposed on the village and the villagers.
They only had enough food for two meals for everyone after that they would be out of food. Maura had one handgun with six bullets. There were only six cots in the out building so she slept on the floor and used her backpack as a pillow. She did have a blanket. They discussed that tomorrow two of them would go out and try and find some berries or other type of food. Those that went would take the handgun with them. They would only go for no more than three hours.
The really sick woman that had watched the children was not in good shape, Maura wasn't sure how long she would survive. She wished she would have gotten to the village earlier as she might have been able to do more for her. The woman knew that her time was short, she had told Maura that as soon as she met her. She had been sick for way too long. Maura knew that the woman had some sort of cancer. The woman had asked that she not be given food, she would rather the others had her share especially those that had children. They needed to be strong for their babies.
Maura hated agreeing to the woman's demands but she understood. She thought that if she was in a similar situation, she would more than likely do the same thing. They all went to sleep and when morning came, the two aids volunteered to go out and search for food. They knew that Maura needed to stay and help the women. They knew that they were stronger than the woman that they were treating so it made sense to them. Maura couldn't argue with their rational. It was a sound decision. They took out the basic map that they had and mapped out which direction they would go. They set off with a return time established.
Maura tried to make the sick woman as comfortable as possible. That was the least she could do. The other women played with the children and tried not to think about what dire straits they were in.
After three hours the two aids returned, they were not able to find any food or berries in that direction. They did note that apparently someone had burned down most of the brush leading out of town. They would set out later in the day in different direction to look for food and berries. They decided to only eat half rations that night in an effort to spread out their remaining food. Maura didn't eat any rations, nor did her two aids.
During the night, the sick woman passed away. Maura felt as it was a blessing, she knew how sick the woman was. They respectfully dragged the woman's body out to where they had buried the other villagers and dug up an area to bury her body. Everyone had gone with her and they said a little prayer for her before they covered her body up with the dirt.
Maura wasn't sure if it was starvation or her illness that had taken her life. She was so skinny, she looked as if she hadn't eaten in months. Maura cringed when she saw the condition of her body when they first met. Maura wasn't religious but she prayed that they would make it out of this ordeal alive. She didn't want to starve to death in this village's out building while trying to care for the remaining women.
The fourth day seemed like it was so far away. They had run out of food and water and were barely hanging on. Most of them slept most of the time. Maura heard vehicles and people talking. English speaking people. She could feel the adrenaline pumping and felt as though she had enough energy to go outside and walk the short distance to the edge of the opening.
She made it to the outside of opening, she wasn't hallucinating, there were people. She screamed as loud as she could before she collapsed. One of the occupants of one of the vehicles saw her and came to her aid.
They gave her water and when she came to, she told them about the others in the out building down the path. The aid workers ran to the out building and attempted to revived all of the women and children. The village women and children didn't make it. They had been starving when Maura was treating them.
Maura was devasted. She had tried her best to have everyone pull through this ordeal. In the end only she and her two aids made it. The three of them were in better physical shape and had eaten before the ordeal began. It took a few hours before they were somewhat able to talk. It took days for them to recover but they were alive. On the verge of starvation, they were rescued. Maura resigned from MSF. She went to stay with her parents in France and for the first few months, she didn't do anything. She had no desire to do anything, except breath and eat. She had nightmares almost every night and decided to talk to someone about it. She saw a therapist every other day for one month and then once a week after that.
During the third month she watched a documentary about autopsies and decided that she wanted to go back to her first love, being a medical examiner. She knew that she would have to enroll in a few classes to update her skills as it had been years since she had finished her medical degree in forensic science.
She sent off an email and within a week she was approved to take the classes she needed. She informed her parents and moved to Massachusetts so that she could attend Harvard Medical School. Six years later she accepted the position as the Chief, Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.