It's been quiet all day, but now just as I start writing this, more gunshots ring out in the night not too far away. We're under a curfew and the police and military have orders to shoot violators on sight.
The riots started early Friday morning, and as in 2001 we woke to the sounds of shooting and, when we looked outside, saw billowing smoke in several places. Unlike September 2001, it seemed pretty calm around the hospital, with no refugees fleeing over the walls onto our compound or gangs of youths pursuing them.
By 10 am or so, though, we were ordered to leave the hospital compound, which was considered too close to the trouble, and to move to another compound about 2 miles away. We quickly gathered a few things and joined the convoy, five cars moving up the streets nearly deserted except for some youths at roadblocks and defending their neighborhoods.
Throughout Friday and Saturday, things remained unstable. In many parts of town, whichever group was the majority was attacking the minority: beating, killing, burning homes, shops, and places of worship. Those attacked, men, women, and children, fled wherever they could for safety, sometimes onto the compounds of our missions and friends, or any place that seemed a bit safe.
Being a member of the crisis management team, I spent much of Friday and Saturday helping to assess the situation and determine our response. My specific task was setting up Internet-based communications (a chat room, Skype chats, Skype-to-phone text messages, and a situation summary wiki page). Along with radio communication (phones were not working), these proved very helpful.
By Saturday evening, it seemed that the police and military had things pretty much under control in the areas near the hospital, so we moved back. Since then it has been pretty quiet. Barring any change tonight, we'll probably go back to our regular schedules tomorrow, though Hillcrest school is closed at least until Wednesday. I'll probably spend a good chunk of the week in debriefings and assessments of what happened and what we can do better next time.
Maybe I'll talk a little in the next blog entry about some of the emotional stresses and turmoil of these situations and their aftermath. It's important to emphasize that our family and co-workers were never under any physical threat or even discomfort -- we had a fine time Friday and Saturday with our friends on the other compound! Electricity, water, food, beds, and even Internet all day long. Our situation couldn't even begin to compare with the plight of hundreds or thousands of people in Jos who were injured, killed, lost loved ones, or made homeless.
Clever title!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your final paragraph. I look forward to a future blog about that.
Good thing you and yours were safe.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, there was too much unnecessary destruction in Jos and many of us are left wondering what steps are in place to prevent a repeat of the chaos.
take care and stay well.