Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Artu and Lourenso: Did you survive the war?





The two boys couldn’t have been much older than 17.  Perhaps they were younger.  Their uniforms were shiny-black in places where sweat had mixed with dirt.  Our uniforms were dirty too, with fear -soaked dust.
They patrolled around our defensive laager.
Some of the guys examined the AK47s the two UNITA men carried and found them to be rusting.  The rains had started and there was no oil for their rifles.  Our guys took out their cleaning kits and scrubbed off the rust and polished the barrels and oiled those AKs. 
We laughed with them and shared food from our rat-packs.  I took a photograph of our scruffy, dirty little band.  Just boys deep in the bush and out of our depth.  Frightened.
Artu and Lorenzo, did you survive the war?