John Ngauja knows what it takes to make peace. Forgiveness.
It’s a lesson he learned under the most challenging circumstances imaginable: the nine-year civil war in his homeland of Sierra Leone. The conflict was marked by countless atrocities against civilians, including the amputation of villagers’ limbs by insurgents, as a way of intimidating local populations. For John, International Medical Corps’ 29-year-old head driver in Freetown, it’s a personal story; his cousin, Tamba, a rural hunter, became an amputee victim at the very start of the war, when rebels found him in the bush and cut off his hands.
When the war ended some five years ago, Sierra Leoneans engaged in a huge national debate about what had happened and how to face the future. Although the leaders responsible for the conflict were put on trial, many of those who committed atrocities took part in a truth and reconciliation commission. They listened to the stories of their victims, many of them in tears, and apologized for what they had done, begging to be forgiven.
“This had always been a peaceful country,” says John. “We chose forgiveness. We understood that if we were going to move on, we had to forgive those who had done this. Revenge would have continued the violence. People like my cousin who had suffered, said, ‘let this be only a story for me, not for your children or my children.’”
During the five years he has worked for International Medical Corps, John says he has seen his country slowly but surely improve, particularly the rebuilding of hospitals, schools, and homes.
“I saw joining International Medical Corps as a way to assist my people,” he says, “particularly because it is a health care organization. After the war, health services were very poor here.”
Today, John says, the people of his country still face many hardships. “But compared to 10 years ago, now it’s better,” he says. “The most important thing is that we have peace.”