Pemba on living through horrors of war

Photo of the newspaper seen in the video, press clippings (in French)

"Dossier Humanitaire
Madame Pemba toujours en danger

Le 27 octobre 2008 alors que le général déchu Nkunda et ses hommes se trouvaient aux portes de Goma, certains militaires de l’armée régulière ont organisé des assassinats ciblés à travers certains quartiers de la ville comme règlement des comptes causant plusieurs victimes civiles parmi lesquelles nous avons noté monsieur Honoré Singi Singi ancien agent de la coopération italienne « COOPI » … à Goma. Une veuve, Madame Pemba Madiamba et 7 orphelins dont 2 filles et cinq garçons ont été laissés par le défunt dans des conditions pitoyables. Ces assassins n’ont pas été identifiés jusqu’à ce jour malgré plusieurs …"

English translation:

Humanitarian dossier - Ms. Pemba still in danger

October 27, 2008 while the fallen general Nkunda and his men were at the gates of Goma, some soldiers of the regular army staged targeted assassinations through some of the city as a settlement of accounts causing many civilian casualties that we noted Mr. Honoré Singi Singi former agent of the Italian Cooperation "COOPI" ... in Goma. A widow, Mrs. Pemba Madiamba and seven orphans whose two daughters and five sons were left in pitiful conditions. These killers have not been identified so far despite several ...

Video transcript:

It was around 7 pm, soldiers came to our house. When they entered our house.
They fired bullets “Pan pah pah pah…” They took my husband and I was left in the bedroom. There were 6 soldiers, I saw with my eyes.

One of the soldiers approached me and started to touch me. I pushed his hand away. I refused. When I refused, he took the gun and hit me “Pah” on the head.
I fell down on the ground. It was night time.

When the ordeal ended, I did not know anything. I did not know where I was. After that, they made us run away. The situation was too unsafe, let’s run away,
otherwise they will kill us all. So we ran away in the night into the woods.

Before all this happened, I had a comfortable life. I dressed well. I ate well. My husband bought me a car that I drove everywhere I needed to go. I Had a nice life.

When I lost everything, it was so hard. I couldn’t stand living. I wasn’t able to endure my life; I didn’t have it in me. My younger brother told me about Transcendental Meditation. He said, “Come with me. Come with me to this place where people learn to meditate.”

Because he knew I was at the end of my rope, and my head was not working properly. Then I started this meditation technique. Those horrors happened in 2008. After all that time, it is only now in 2011 that I can say I am functioning normally again. My mind can function again. But before I could not sleep at all for days on end. Now I can sleep again. Before that, I would constantly think about my troubles… constantly thinking about the children I have lost and don’t know where they are today.

If someone came to tell me of a problem, I would panic; my heart would beat really fast in my chest. I had no peace of mind. It’s meditation that rescued me. So I am very happy to meditate; It is helping me so much.

Now when I hear of a problem, I meditate and right away can feel myself relax and calm down. That is why I am so happy about TM. It saved me. I say thank you so much to David and all the people who have made it possible… for me to learn TM.

David Lynch Foundation « Women’s Initiative », <David Lynch Foundation Women’s Initiative>