102: Dee's father crawled toward him

Right now, I’d like you to take a minute, and imagine this scenario.

I live in Florida, in the southeast area of the United States. I like it here. We have good weather most of the time, which means I can get out and bike almost every morning year round. My area is highly populated, so anything I need is readily available – grocery stores always stocked with food, lots of doctors and hospitals for medical care, and paved roads so I can drive my car anywhere I want. And if I need to go any distance, I have a major international airport about 20 minutes from my house. And like most Americans, I tend to take all these things for granted.

Then one night, a large group of rebel fighters, heavily armed, lands on Clearwater Beach. They start going through the residential neighborhoods, throwing rocks through windows and setting houses on fire. People wake up in confusion, not understanding why they are hearing explosions and gunfire. Parents grab their children and run outside to escape their burning home, only to be shot to death in their front yard.

News spreads quickly, by social media and by friends and family members calling to warn each other about what is happening. I get a phone call and realize we need to get out of the area as quickly as possible. My mom lives close by, so I call her and tell her quickly what’s happening and that we’ll pick her up in about 10 minutes.

Then we frantically try to decide what to bring. For me, this would be very difficult. Whenever I go on a trip, I have a checklist of things way ahead of time, to make sure I don’t forget anything. Now I have just a few minutes to decide what to grab. Our dogs, obviously. My laptop. Some clothes, a toothbrush…but how do you even decide what to bring, when you don’t know where you’re going, or how long you’ll be gone? I don’t even know how much gas is in my car.

But we’re able to escape, and we drive north. After about 7 hours in the car, we get to Atlanta. What we find is a large area where makeshift tents have been set up for the people who were forced to flee the state of Florida. This is where we live now. Our life is a tent community of Florida refugees, and we can never go back to where we used to live.

For Americans, this sounds pretty far-fetched. We don’t really think about a situation like this, because it just doesn’t happen here.

But for my guest today, Dee, it’s not just a made-up story. Dee lived with his parents and his siblings in a refugee camp in a village called Gatumba. This is in the country of Burundi, in Africa. 

Their community was attacked one night, and the violence that was carried out was so vicious, it made worldwide news. Even to this day, that massacre is what the village of Gatumba is known for. Dee witnessed some horrific things that night, and he was only 5 years old.

And a note about listening. Dee speaks fluent English, but he still has that strong African accent. If you’d like to listen while reading the words on the screen, you’ll find the full transcript of our conversation at WhatWasThatLike.com/102.

If you’d like to contact Dee, his email is dee0644@gmail.com. 

Want to discuss this episode with other listeners? Join us at Community.WhatWasThatLike.com. 

This episode is sponsored by Babbel US – language for life. Buy a 3 month subscription and get 3 months free by visiting Babbel.com, and use the promo code WHAT.

This episode is sponsored by The Jordan Harbinger Show – fascinating conversations with amazing people – JordanHarbinger.com/START.

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