‘The long one, I guess.’
‘I was a volunteer with Basic Needs, in two of the wealthiest countries in the world if you measure wealth in terms of natural resources. The Congo is as big as Western Europe and has huge reserves of minerals, especially the kinds that we need to make computers and other modern electronics. Colombia’s natural environment is fantastic, and they export a huge amount of biomass. Unfortunately, the resources are worth an enormous amount of money.’
‘Huh? What do you mean, ‘unfortunately’?’
‘Because of the market value of the resources, people are willing to use violence to get control of them. I think there are four factions in the Congo, five in Colombia. Ordinary people who just want to live in peace are exposed to violence and suffer from shortages of everything – clean water, food, shelter, healthcare… Those are the people we try to help. In the Congo a lot of people suffer from cholera and are victims of sexual violence. Ironically, we were transferred to Colombia because it became too dangerous to be in the Congo.’
Cissi watched as Vera gently rested her leg on the sofa next to her. ‘Is that where you hurt yourself?’
‘Yeah, but I’m glad I got to see northern Colombia; that’s where we were. It’s so unbelievably beautiful! Have you ever heard of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the world’s highest coastal mountain?’
‘No.’
‘Imagine an area of a few thousand square kilometers that contains all the world’s climates. From coral reefs in the Caribbean to mangrove swamps and rainforests, deserts, steppes and tundra – all because the mountain rises out of the sea to a height of 5,700 meters. The mountaintops are always covered with snow; at the top it is -20 all year round.’
‘Sounds gorgeous!’
‘Yeah, what an experience it was! A completely unique people lives there… Kogi, the only indigenous civilization that still lives as it did before Christopher Columbus.’
‘There are people left that still live like that?’
‘The Kogi have lived on agriculture for thousands of years. They moved higher up into the mountains when the conquistadors came.’
‘And that allowed them to survive?’
Vera heard doubt in Cissi’s voice, and a feeling of sorrow arose in her as she admitted, ‘Many of them died.’ Vera stared down at her tea, remembering. ‘And I got to visit them. It was unreal, because they usually keep to themselves, and it is difficult to find them.’
‘So how did you get to them?’
‘The other people on my team were away doing vaccinations. I was doing inventory in the room where we kept the medicines. Suddenly he just appeared – a long-haired Kogi man dressed in white. He said: “We are in need of you. Can you trust me, please?” I just stared at him. As it turned out, I was forced to wear a blindfold when I went with him.’
The corner of Cissi’s mouth twitched and she mumbled, ‘Secret dream number… 86?’
‘What?’
‘No, but I mean, blindfolded… why?’
‘They don’t want people to be able to find them,’ Vera said simply.
‘But weren’t you scared?’
‘Yes, there was one thing I was afraid of… I usually don’t go out alone on difficult deliveries, and I was afraid that things would go so badly that I would be forced to do a fetal dismemberment.’
‘What? Is that what it sounds like?’ asked Cissi with a grimace.
‘Yeah. I still remember in Kivu, when Pierre had to crush the little head of a fetus that was stuck. But sometimes you have to do it, for everybody involved. I was usually the one who talked to the relatives, and when I had to tell the grandmother… oh, how I cried when I told her…’
‘What?’
‘That the baby was dead and would be buried with his mother, unless we tried to save the mother by breaking the baby’s skull. I can barely even manage to talk about it, and I was afraid that I might also be forced to do it.’
Cissi was pale. ‘I understand. It was the best thing to do given the situation. So it got… stuck to death?’
‘Yeah. But afraid… in Colombia there are lots of things to be afraid of, but I was never afraid of the Kogi. And the man who came to get me because his woman needed help, he was calm, despite the fact that it was urgent. He said he was named “Juan”, which I don’t believe for a second. Juan is a Spanish name, you know, but I just said… “Okay, where are we going, Juan?” And he said, “Al Corazón del Mundo”.’
‘The heart of the world… How lovely; he meant his wife?’
‘Actually, that’s what I thought too, but it wasn’t. I rode for what must have been an hour, blindfolded, on a bony donkey that climbed upwards though the jungle. I was glad when we got to a suspension bridge where he took off the blindfold and let me get off.’ Vera stopped talking and smiled inwardly at the memory. There was a long silence.
‘What are you thinking about?’ asked Cissi and looked at her, curious.
‘“Your trust is good,” he said. “That is good. Without it, you are alone and an easy target.’” Vera took a bite of her baguette. After a while she continued. ‘From the bridge I was allowed to walk; we continued upwards until we got to a village with round huts. We ran the last bit.’
Cissi swallowed the last bite of her baguette. ‘How were they?’
‘The village midwives had just got the boy out, feet first, just using their hands. It was fantastic.’
‘Was he alive?’
‘Yes, the son was okay. But the mother was bleeding a lot.’
‘Uh-oh… not good…’
‘No, you could say that I got there just in time. Juan translated what I said for the midwives, told them what I wanted to do to save her. They knew what stitches were, and they let me give her anesthesia and stitch her up where she had torn.’
Cissi squirmed like a worm on a hook; her sharp inward breath whistled between her teeth. ‘Did it work?’
‘I managed to stop the bleeding. She survived the evening and the night anyway, and I gave her our best antibiotics. I think she will have survived, so long as nothing unexpected happened.’
She had barely eaten anything and Cissi was finished. Vera took another bite and waved her baguette in the air. ‘This is what happens if you talk all the time!’
‘But the things you’ve gone through! What happened after that?’
‘They were very kind. The next morning Juan came and woke me up; I was supposed to go with his father-in-law. Later, when I got home to Sweden and searched online for information about the Kogi people, I understood that he was their Kogi Mama, shaman and leader. The old man took me to a lookout point and pointed and talked. I stood there – I had just woken up; the sunrise was fantastic… The jungle spread out over majestic mountains, crops far down in the valley and the turquoise ocean all the way at the bottom. And yet, what I remember most is his face… completely lined. You know, beautifully old and dignified, but worried like a child. And I tried to listen. “This is our work, our responsibility,” I think I got about half of what he said, but later I saw a film on the internet, and I understood what he was talking about – From the Heart of the World, The Elder Brothers’ Warning.’
‘El Corazón del Mundo was actually the place?’
‘Yeah. The Kogi say that their Sierra Nevada is the heart of the world, that they are older brothers and the rest of us are ignorant little brothers and sisters. They feel a responsibility to maintain the balance