The Wounded Warrior

By Virginia Egbujor

The 12 year-old was conscripted to fight a losing-war between Nigeria and the new state of Biafra. He was taken alongside his uncle on their way to harvest fruits in the rural parts of the Igbo heartlands, much against their will. It was determined as a desperate attempt of the nearly vanquished army in the uneven sided war of genocide waged against the much hated ethnic group. At that point in time, men and boys of almost any age were taken to combat to stave the impending defeat by the well trained and equipped assailants who used all at their disposal including: hunger starvation (total malnutrition and abject poverty) to achieve their end.

After more than a year in the ill prepared role of a soldier; without a gun, the child- soldier was picked unconscious from the rubble of a bombed out shelter at a college compound that served as a make-shift army barrack. He was bleeding profusely and his left leg was shattered and he was unresponsive at the scene. His uncle who had tried to protect and keep him alive was also severely injured.

However, both recovered, though with visible external and internal wounds.

They shared the same hospital for wounded soldiers when the war ended; with the routing of the ill-equipped army that was fighting only for survival (with no meaningful arms, ammunition or military organisation)

The intervention of the international Red Cross and the religious charities protected and sustained the wounded service men and all the ethnic population who symbolically considered all as wounded too.

The end of the war saw the then 13-year old back at his secondary school.

As his physical, emotional and psychological being was put together he continued his studies even to the highest level of academic and professional achievement.

The novel ends with the former child-soldier receiving his accreditation and taking his Hippocratic Oath to practice medicine: (to care and save not kill.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Dec 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504997218

Virginia Egbujor

Virginia Ada Egbujor is a literary fiction writer. (Novelist.) Her other Novels include: As the sky Darkened: the untold story of Biafra the homeland Footprints of the Amazons A lonely place to be: the tale of a migrant The Wounded Warrior. All published by Author house publishers.

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© 2015 Virginia Egbujor. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   12/19/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-9720-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-9721-8 (e)

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Acknowledgements

I sincerely appreciate the outstanding work done by Caroline Lewis in typing the entire manuscript for The Wounded Warrior

Dedication

The book is dedicated to all Child Solders in Africa and all over the world.

Kevin had just had a bath. He was assisted by a nursing assistant. This morning he is helped to have a warm bath by Jude. He has helped him on several occasions since he was in hospital. Kevin has been in hospital the time he was wounded. He sustained a near-fatal injury close to three months ago. He had been injured when the army camp he was working was shelled by the enemy. The shelling and mortar and other artillery was sustained for hours. As time went on the hut he and others including his uncle and Ike his friend were sheltering was hit and demolished. It was a miracle that he survived. His uncle nearly lost a leg and an arm. Ike’s young life was taken in the most brutal fashion. He always recoils with a combination of fear and anger when he remembers the fateful day.

His uncle who had always sheltered him since he was brought to the camp when he was close to his twelfth birthday was badly injured too. Both of them were brought to the general hospital at Aba. He was admitted to the children’s wing of the hospital and his uncle was at the adult ward. He was later informed by the nursing assistant Jude that both he and his uncle were unconscious when they arrived at the hospital. Though Jude works conscientiously and diligently to care for the patients in the intensive part of the hospital, he has particular care for him, due largely to his young age. Jude thought that it was a case of being in a wrong place at the wrong time. He was merely a child and should not have been anywhere near any war front let alone an active war sector. He also knew that at that desperate period of the war many things were not right and as he saw it, no one was safe or exempt, whatever their age or gender. Even, he said to Kevin he too was at risk, more so as he travelled to work each morning to care for people who are not well. Ill health would be caused mainly from wounds inflicted by bombs and bullets. There were scarcely people in the hospital because of ordinary physical illness. Jude had been stopped on several occasions by the conscripting teams. On some instances they had treated him as ‘a service dodger’ who was afraid of serving the fatherland, by taking arms against the invading force. Jude often knew what he would have said to those downgrading or relegating his own contribution to the war effort, but he knows fully well that being unduly assertive in matters of that nature would worsen his case. On one occasion Jude remembered a very stalemate. He corrected the notion of his undermining and over-zealous forcible recruiters, that it makes no sense to him that everyone must carry the gun when they exist; he said. That proviso meant a lot to those who understood. Lazor, as he was called at school went on and as the leader of the team came to the rescue and began to ‘lecture’ his team members that: they are several facets of existence in our country, even when there is a war. The important thing is for everyone to man their own end of the engine diligently and effectively. He concluded by saying almost to Jude alone that: they are those who will provide us with water, medicine, food and even light. All these make the life go on, no matter how hard and unsavoury it daily turns to. At that point his team members were distracted by the appearance of a young person on a bicycle. They quickly and aggressively turned attention to the newcomer. The young person may be barely fifteen years old. That would be a kind of misadventure on his part to be out and about so early. Jude shook Lazor’s hand and each patted the other on the back as they parted. Jude hurried to work and prayed he does not meet another band of conscripting brigade before he gets to the hospital. He has his hospital badge showing his essential duties, but some desperate recruiters are not often deterred by it. Luckily he reached the hospital without further interruption. He headed to the small staff office to look at the rota for the day. He has missed the general handover of the morning by the out-going staff. It is always an important event in his daily work. He was lucky to meet the charge nurse who briefed him on the events of the past care period and advised him to read more on the individual care records of the patients. When he looked on the rota on the main board he noticed he was to assist Kevin with his bath and prepare him for the nurse to dress his wounds as soon as he has had his bath. He quickly headed to the children’s serious injury ward. He has always looked after Kevin as his young brother. He was even there when he was brought unconscious to the unit, with near fatal injury. His groin area was shattered by large shrapnel from a mortar shell. In fact the young child as he prefers to call him narrowly missed death. His genital are, at least part of it was compromised. He thought as always, what the future holds for him as he would attain manhood and maturity in not so-distant future. Suffice it that he is alive, he taught. That bridge will be crossed when he gets there. They may be new inventions or plastic surgeries to help him in future; most important thing is to survive first. He went to the locker in the sluice area and took all he needed for Kevin’s bath. Nurse Agnes will do the full dressing afterwards. He would also take all he needs to take off the old dressing, before helping him to have his bath, or he would do it the other way around as long as he used aseptic material: swabs, cotton wool or bandages as the case may be. As he had all he needed he headed to Kevin’s room. It was quite close to the ward entrance. As he turned the corner, he saw Kevin looking out of the door, with some apparent anxiety. He knows that the periods of baths and re-dressings are not pleasant moments for him. He always does his best to minimise the pain and anxiety. As soon as he got in he called out in a loud pleasant voice. Hey Kev, how are you little brother, I hope you have not been waiting too long for me Yes uncle, as Kevin calls him I know you are helping with my bath this morning, so here I am he replied. Are you sure? Jude asked, pretending to be teasing him. He well knows the severe pain the young child, as he continued to refer to Kevin, goes through over and again, be it just cleaning or taking off the dressings and putting them back on the wound. He often knows it is a ‘necessary evil’. The process has to be repeated as often as was possible, for the wound to heal well. Contrary to that; the wound might be infected and may become susceptible to complications or deteriorations. No one wants that, he affirmed to himself. He thought again how it came to that a twelve year old, who at normal time would still be in primary school, would be here suffering a soldier’s wound. The times are not normal. There was a raging war and as those sponsoring the war effort keep reiterating, it is a war of survival and every hand no matter how young apparently, he thought, should be on deck. He surmised that the assertion has crossed the line as far as Kevin Ako was concerned. He would however concede that the young boy has coped well. He hardly cries out in pain despite the excruciating nature of it. Indeed he has borne his wound well, even more than some adults. He could even make small jokes when the unsavoury process is going on. Sometimes, Jude would introduce some diversionary techniques to take his mind off the pain. Recently he started a conversation with him in the midst of peeling off the en-sauté dressing. He said: hey Kev, I hope you will help me learn how to use a gun; to press the trigger or pull it, which is correct? he asked. But poor Kevin, he was overwhelmed with pain, he gnashed his teeth and said I can’t teach you anything now I am in such great pain" Then he burst out wailing. He was so loud that even those at the end of the ward dragged their own wounded limbs to peer through the curtain to express their sympathy. Kevin would laugh and joke when the pain eased, but that day was extraordinary. There were two other unduly young soldiers but Kevin was the youngest of them all.

This morning both the bathing and cleaning around the edge of the wound went on apparently smoothly and quickly enough. Jude always left the dressing of Kevin’s wound for a trained staff. He could attempt to attend to other patient’s wounds. Kevin’s was more complex than usual. Both flesh and bones were involved, so also veins and major arteries, criss-cross the boy’s upper groin and pelvic region. Though it was showing signs of healing, but it is wise to leave it to more trained and experienced hands. The rapid growing back rate of the muscle tissues is impressive. Truly, Jude thought; they say that children’s or young people’s wounds or fractures heal more quickly than those of adults. He remembers the village ‘orthopaedics’ (cultural healers), saying that any infirmity or accident to the young person’s bones works in vain. The young person and his bones will always snap out of its strangled- hold and triumph in quick recovery. Even the village bone healer knows as much and the modern orthopaedic doctor, trained in western medicine wholly agrees with him. It is the green bone structure (green- stick effect). In the first place it does not snap and break easily. Again, it grows back relatively quickly. All things work well together for children particularly as far as recovery is concerned, Jude thought.

He had completed his part of the care of Kevin’s wound and personal hygiene. They were both waiting for Nurse Agnes. She works with the ‘bone doctor’ as he is called. Kevin could have been left to bathe himself but the tendency to for him to throw water over the wounded area may not be ruled out. They tried before but Kevin’s wound was soaked. The orthopaedic surgeon was not pleased, he advised against that, fearing a set-back in the healing process. The wound; he advised should be left dry as much as possible. That would prevent any harmful micro-organisms from finding any easy and comfortable habitat to the discomfort of their host and thereby challenging their recovery. He had taken time to explain that to Kevin, he also stressed the undesirable consequence to expect if his wound is wet. It is really unfortunate for the young boy because this particular part of the body is more susceptible to getting wet during the process of urination. In the early days of the wound the carers tried to use pad but they discovered that the affected area was virtually left in a pool of fluid. The situation improved as soon as Kevin became mobile or have the bedpan near his bed. First the nurse or the nurse assistant would assist him to use it and later he was able to do so himself. Soon, he could visit the toilet adjoining his bedroom and ease himself, though carefully. He was always reminded to be careful. In addition, to try and head for the toilet soon enough, without allowing the overwhelming pressure to ease himself to set in first. He would smile shyly when such advice is given, particularly if the person giving it is a female. Jude had set up the tray for the re-dressing of Kevin’s wound. Everything needed was in the tray this included: clean bandage, swab, scissors, sterile water in tubes and gloves. Everything was there and it is strictly aseptic procedure.

Strangely, Agnes was not yet there to carry out the procedure. It was unlike her to come to work late or delay a planned procedure. Then Jude went outside. Soon he returned being extra cautious to put away to safety the materials he had put out. He knows that the aseptic state must not be compromised in any case. He put them away and informed Kevin to excuse him for a few minutes. He went out again, and looked up the approaches to the hospital. Then he spotted Nurse Agnes coming through the gates. He could see that the nurse did not look her usual bright and cheerful disposition. She was clutching her bag nervously and was looking strangely over her shoulders. Jude could also observe the eeriness of the atmosphere. He was sure it was not like that when he came in to work earlier that morning. He quickly went back to Kevin’s room to put back the wound dressing tray. He thought about the strange look Nurse Agnes had on her face. He also discerned the unease that appeared to pervade the atmosphere. Suddenly, Nurse Agnes more or less dragged herself into the patient’s room clutching her chest and appeared to be struggling for breath. Jude quickly helped her to the nearest chair. She began to speak amidst tears and visible choking. Agnes said: "the war appears to be over; the invaders have taken over all the places. They are stopping all the vehicles, separating male and female passengers and questioning every