After the Last Tear: Rising from the Ashes of a Broken Marriage By Cassila K

Chapter 33

The first time I met Joseph was in a camp in Goma.

At that time, the situation in eastern Congo (DRC) was chaotic.

Militants, driven by the scramble for mineral resources and ethnic conflicts, frequently attacked villages. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes, seeking refuge in larger cities.

When I arrived at the refugee camp, a few doctors were treating a little girl.

She had been injured in an explosion, with a small pebble embedded in her ear. She cried in pain and struggled violently, making the doctors hesitant to proceed.

Someone called out, "Joseph!"

A tall man responded and stepped forward.

He examined the situation and surprisingly pulled out a few playing cards from his white coat, performing a magic trick on the spot.

The little girl was quickly captivated and stopped struggling, giving the doctors an opportunity to act.

When the pebble finally fell into the tray with a "clang," the cards in Joseph's hand had disappeared, replaced by an African violet.

The little girl stared wide-eyed in amazement and tugged on his sleeve, trying to find the vanished cards, but to no avail.

She clapped her hands in delight, pulling at her parents' clothes as she squealed

with joy.

Joseph handed the flower to the girl and escorted her grateful parents out of the medical tent.

I couldn't

slightly surprised, and asked in French, "New faces are

"Country A," I replied.

Chinese, introducing himself: "I'm

"Where did you

a rarity in the

proudly. "I grew

to his quarters, I discovered a small garden he had created using scavenged foam boxes, plastic

the African violet,

grow these?"

legs on the table, he answered confidently,

I was puzzled.

"You probably think food, clean water, and medicine are more important to them, and flowers are

I nodded.

"Here, everything pushes people to forget beauty, but flowers

there's hope, there's

across his face, and he winked at me.

were like a beam of light, striking a chord

me.

myself unable to look away from his lively, carefree

camp, only Joseph and I were

first impression, Joseph was incredibly dedicated to his

me with extensive data on casualties and patient treatments and even assisted me in completing my first-ever surgery-successfully delivering a

unusually high mortality rate among AIDS patients

but they're still dying in droves..." "That doesn't make sense unless they're

volunteered, "Let