News about insurgency attacks in Mozambique continues to make headlines, but for Ernesto*, these aren’t merely accounts he can identify with from a distance. They are instead reminders of his own horrific experience at the hands of Al-Shabaab. It’s been nearly eight years since his life was irrevocably affected, and Ernesto recalls with clarity the moment it began. He had travelled to the beach close to his house where he would buy fish from the local fisherman and then resell it.

“That day I waited for dusk to go to the beach to meet the fishermen. But that day, when it was between five and six in the afternoon. The terrorists arrived and started shooting. They started to burn down the houses. I tried to run… but I kept hearing gunshots… I didn’t see how to escape”, he recalls. In the commotion of what was happening, Ernesto recalls that a few people managed to flee. But many of them feared the armed men that outnumbered the village. According to Ernesto there are usually about 200 to 300 who attack a village or several villages simultaneously, making it difficult for people to escape. As soon as people run, they begin to shoot or use machetes to stab anyone who tries to run. During this attack, he recalls that there were over 100 armed militants.

A burning question

The attackers caught Ernesto and forced him to join a group of people that had already been rounded up. “When they caught us, they gave us luggage, bags for us to carry. Things that they had looted, with people’s belongings.” The bag however was big and heavy. Under its weight, Ernesto stumbled and fell. The jihadists ordered the entire group to halt and for Ernesto to get up, but he could only get up on to his knees.

“That’s when they took out the machete, they hit me in the head on the left side. I started bleeding… They said that I had to pray so that I could carry that luggage… I had to pray in Arabic. I said ‘no, I am not a Muslim. I’m a Christian…” They started laughing, they laughed and laughed, then they asked for a knife.” The jihadists went on to torture Ernesto in a terrible and dehumanising manner. “I was bleeding, my legs were bleeding, my knees, my feet, my ear that was cut off, my head was full of wounds… I was bleeding all over.”

The men then set the collar of Ernesto’s shirt alight and walked off, thinking they were leaving him to die. Yet, God had other plans. A villager and his wife who had fled the attack were hiding in a nearby bush watching everything. When the jihadists left, the man rushed to where Ernesto was, threw sand on him and put out the fire.

Healing day by day

Ernesto escaped, but not without severe burns to his chest and back. When he was eventually taken to a
hospital, the doctors removed nails in his knees. At first his swollen feet and legs rendered him
paralysed. He continued initial treatment and spent 45 days in hospital. Once home, his recovery was not without complications. The regenerating skin caused other complications like severe itching and keloid scarring. The scars were also psychological. Not only because of what happened but the immense pain from the healing skin caused him great discomfort and left his body disfigured.

Looking back at when he thought life was hopeless, Ernesto remembers that “I was going to commit suicide, but something told me, ‘No, you have to be strong. You have a daughter that you need to care for. This daughter has no one else who can take care of her, except you’. So, because of my daughter, I started to have a different attitude, a new courage to be able to live this life”.

Through the support of ministry partners who assisted with medical bills, trauma counselling and much prayer, Ernesto has been able to start rebuilding his life. The suffering that once almost pushed him away from God, has been put into a different perspective of stronger faith. “At that time, when they told me to pray in Arabic, I knew that I could not deny who I was. If I belonged to Christ, I had to belong to Christ, no matter if they killed me. I couldn’t say ‘no, I’m a Muslim’. No, because I’m not a Muslim, I am Christ’s. So, I had to speak the truth, I couldn’t lie’.”

Despite his past suffering and the current hardship and challenges, Ernesto continues to look to God for strength. He holds on to his faith. He does not let his past put his back to the ground. He hopes to make a successful live for himself and take care of his family. He also has a passion for teaching, and hopes to be actively involved with this in the future.