Renk – “I could hear the voices above me. The crying. I wanted to scream but the mud all around me didn’t allow me to speak.”
There are stories that expose everything wrong with humanity. Others that make you believe in it. And then there are some that do both.
This story is about having to risk your life to survive in economic hardship and the type of compassion that makes miracles come true.
It was just another day for Jimmy Ogwu, spent collecting soil with his friends in the hope that selling it for construction would make enough cash to get through another day.
At their usual place, they followed the lead of many others before them who had used all their power to break through the stone-like surface to reach the valuable soft soil below. Yet another byproduct of the effects of climate change drying out once fertile ground.
These efforts have left crater-like holes which make it possible to access the sought-after material more easily by scraping it from the walls.
It’s not without risk - as the constant scraping has left large overhangs of the hard surface level - but considered worth it for those desperate for income.
That day, their luck ran out.
“I remember looking for good soil and joking with my friend. Then suddenly everything was dark and I couldn’t move,” remembers Ogwu.
The overhang had crashed down on them. They were buried alive.
Encased in mud, he managed to whimper. A sound that turned out to be his lifeline.
One of the many others working with them, who escaped the landslide, were searching but had almost given up. Hearing the sound, a woman ran almost half a kilometer to the base of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan.
“She was crying and screaming so we immediately knew she needed help. We just didn’t know what kind of help because of language barriers,” recalls Commander, Col Azeem.
Once they were able to translate, everything moved quickly. The peacekeepers immediately mobilized their Quick Reaction team.
Ten minutes later, they arrived, ready to give everything to make the impossible, possible.
Still in disbelief, Commander Azeem describes the scene.
“We immediately started digging. We really used all the strength we had but, to be honest, seeing how the almost stone-hard soil had basically built a new flat surface after the landslide, we didn’t know how anybody could survive underneath it.”
“Our main enemy was time. But we also couldn’t rush it. We had to be careful not to cause any harm in case we encountered one of those buried.”
After 15 minutes, they reached soft soil.
After 30, they reached the top of a head, unable to move due to the muddy prison, but with a strong pulse.
“Seeing his head, we suddenly got a boost of energy that seemed to exceed normal human abilities,” beams Commander Azeem.
Once they freed his head, they immediately provided oxygen to stabilize him.
He was swiftly identified as Ogwu by his brother who had run to the site when he got the news.
But the mission was not complete, there was still someone missing.
“With eyes as determined as I’ve ever seen, despite being crushed by mud, the man’s first act as soon as he opened them was pointing us in the direction of where he thought his friend was.”
Later, Ogwu shared that he had waited for almost an hour, unable to move but painfully able to hear everything happening above him.
“I never thought I could be saved but, if I was, I promised myself that my first action would be to save my friend.”
Unfortunately, miracles rarely come in pairs. His friend didn’t make it.
“Despite this initial feeling of euphoria like we’ve never felt before, we suddenly felt like we failed. Our goal was to save them both, so many of us were close to tears when we realized this wasn’t possible. We tried our best.”
Closely monitored by UNMISS medical officer, Dr. Anghad Singh Sodi, Ogwu was taken to hospital where he received treatment for surprisingly minor injuries.
“I still can’t understand how he survived. Maybe it was the fact that he was buried while he was still standing while his friend fell when the overhang hit him. Maybe there were air pockets in the dirt, but we didn’t see any. My only explanation is that it was the kind of miracle you encounter once in a lifetime, if at all,” says Dr. Sodi.
Yesterday, the peacekeepers visited Ogwu in the clinic.
“He couldn’t understand a thing I said, and neither could I the other way, but we laughed a lot together,” explains Dr Sodi with a smile. “I think we both understood that we were part of something bigger than ourselves.”
Shortly after, Ogwu found out about his friend and left the clinic. His brother, Sabit Kimo, still by his side, immediately knew why.
“He just wanted to be alone, the heartbreak of losing his friend was bigger than the joy of his own survival. But he will be okay, it will just take time to grieve.”
Today, Ogwu is resting, trying to make sense of something incomprehensible. Tomorrow he will stand again, back to fighting for survival in a world where nothing can be taken for granted. Never forgetting that anything is possible.
by Jaella Brockmann
