I was separated from the prisoners. I couldn’t pray with them, I couldn’t talk to them. And, it was a time of trial, a time of reflection, when I was left alone with my thoughts. Then God spoke to me, but how…? One of the rebels came to me with a cigarette in his mouth and said: “Nzapa a ga na mo ge”, that is, “God has brought you here”. I said calmly: “God didn’t put a rifle to my chest, He didn’t tell me to go all night, and He doesn’t hold me here. It was you who abducted me. I am your hostage.” The rebel replied: “But if God hadn’t agreed to it, you wouldn’t be here.” That sentence blew me away… The next day, in the evening prayer, I said: “O God, Thy will be done. Give me the strength to fulfill it.”
On Thursday morning I woke up as a new man. God wants me to be here! I have to help the prisoners! I want to go around the villages now, I want to do catechesis…, but I have a mission here! This is my mission! I have to help the prisoners! I have to bear witness to the rebels! And, so it was. I had a new strength, a new power. I forgave the rebels. I started talking to them. They allowed me to pray. They allowed me to go to Mass, to send information to my fellow missionaries. And, so it lasted six weeks. We were tired, sick, but I was able to support the other prisoners. We all thought that together we would be released because there were negotiations going on. However, the moment of trial came. We learned that I and fifteen hostages would come out. Ten are to stay. It was a very difficult moment. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to resolve these negotiations, but the rebels told me that I would meet their general, that I would fly with him to Congo on a government plane, and that was the hope for me to negotiate with him. The worst, however, was the evening when those who were to stay found out about it. Their “brakes” broke. They began to curse the rebels. The woman said: “Kill me, shoot me, I won’t stay here a day longer.” One rebel who has often been under the influence of drugs said: “I’m about to kill you and the rest will calm down.” I was afraid that there would be a tragedy, I prayed the rosary. There wasn’t much I could do. And, then one of the rebels said: “Go and pray with them.”
