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similar fate had damaging and lasting repercussions of her mental health. Anas’ reintroduction with his family brought the realisation that these people, an extended family, and wider community had all been instrumental in his survival as well as his mothers. The people of Rabilau, and now his family, all a part of the story had now welcomed us into the narrative.
Over a meal, in fact two lunches sourced from the nearby fields, we were told the history of the region and how everything had played out. I’ d wandered back to my tote smoking friend and thought of what part he’ d played in it all. Where the narcotics a coping method or a way to seek greater enlightenment to put meaning to the not very distant past?
A great sadness had fallen over me to the point of tears, to the point I’ d felt I’ d needed to step away. Better thoughts flooded back as I’ d realised a small child was watching me curiously from a darkened doorway, the encounter seemed to sum up the entire experience and perhaps the innocence of childhood will overcome the tragedies of the past that had been happening so close to my home country.
Cigarette in hand, something I hadn’ t done for almost twenty years, I sat with some of the other men,
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