In a war torn country a sister was separated from his younger brother. Been missing for 6 months she feared the worst - his brother, the one she cared for and loved the most is shot dead by the enemy. She can't even bear to see the door of his brother's room. Her mind keep recalling how his brother would happily come out of it, greet everybody and eager to learn new things. His smile, his laughter, his energy - she sorely miss it. The pain is so much that smile began to fade from her face. One day, her smile was gone. Together with her voice and her will to live.
She saw troops coming, but it is not the enemies. They are peacekeepers and relief workers. The troops seems to be looking for something, using devices that looks like mine detectors. But that's odd as the place have been cleared of mines last week. Then the troops started digging. Not just a few troop but almost the whole squad together with machinery. As they dig deeper and deeper only then she realize what they are doing. They are digging a mass grave, a proof of the enemy's ruthlessness.
Lots of bodies are uncovered. The stench unbearable. The bodies wrangled like vines of a writhing tree.
"My brother is one of them," she said to herself.
That breaks her heart.
The troops worked round the clock to identify each body. Using whatever tools and information that they have to put a name to the lifeless bodies.
True enough, her fears come true. The news hit her like a rushing train. She felt herself being knocked out of this world. She lost the reason to live, the world is meaningless to her.
The troops symphatize her but they are hapless in the matters of the heart. They can't even say soothing words to her as they don't speak her language. Then come a small relief team, not troops but an NGO. The troops meet up with the group and asked, "Do you have a psychiatrist among you?".
The group leader pointed to the team psychiatrist - a doctor. The troop told him of the story of the girl and then bring the doctor to her.
The doctor also don't speak the girl's language yet he shared the same faith as her. As opposed to the troops whom doesn't have anything in common with her. The doctor counselled her through an interpreter, a fellow sister whom her study for a degree halted because of the war. The interpreter not only convey the words from the doctor to the girl and vice versa but also together with the emotions. The doctor reminds her to hold fast to God, and the reasons why she must go on with life.
That opened her heart a little. She began to smile again after months without any smile.
The doctor thanked Allah, grateful that he helped to bring back a smile, and a life.
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Based on a story shared by Dr. Azhar Abd. Aziz of MERCY Malaysia at IIUM Kuantan.
Something to ponder; The war torn country is 95% Muslim yet out of the 200 relief organization registered for mission only 10% is Muslim organization.
