Tragedy

Smail and Woosman

At around 10:30 last evening, a terrible thing happened in the village next to us.  A stranger to the area was found in someone's home.  The owner reached out to neighbors who confronted the man.  One thing led to another and the man was brutally killed.  I was there this morning and saw the corpse.  When I say "brutally killed", I mean brutally.  People claimed self-defense.  Others said that he had a pouch of powder (black magic) in his pocket.  No one knew him.  Fourteen hours after the incident, the local judge had not come by to declare a wrongful death.  The body was there for all to gawk at.  Soon afterwards, the police (assisted by MINUSTAH) arrested the home owner and his whole family including his wife who is one of our housemothers and a son who is a member of the Espwa Community.  Neither the wife nor the son were there but who cares.

The saddest part is that we eventually found out that the stranger was the father of one of our boys.  Woosman, above, saw the corpse this morning and thought his clothing looked familiar.  He called his brother, Smail, who identified the body as their father.  Before we knew what was happening, the locals buried the body.  Woosman's dad has a history of alcohol abuse and we figure that he was inebriated and confused when he came yesterday to visit his son.  

Needless to say, Woosman and Smail need some prayers at this time.  Our housemother, young community member and their family could use some, too.