Nineteen. That's the number of innocent warriors who were killed in a fire accident in a Tuvalu school dormitory. 18 of them were girls no older than you or me. The last warrior was their matron, a motherly woman in her forties. When the fire started, it was only the sheer force of survival of two of the warriors that one of the locked doors in their dormitory were smashed open. This, unfortunately, didn't stop the fire from spreading. One sister remembers grabbing for her eldest sister who slept on the top bunk, only to find her absent. She grabbed their bibles, but as she was running out, she dropped one and she didn't stop to see who's it was.
She believed her sister had already made it outside. Sadly, when she arrived outside, her worst nightmare had come true: her sister was still trapped inside the burning dorm, and the bible she clung to was hers. The girl remembers screaming for her sister, begging for her to get out somehow. In the early morning hours, the remaining students and matron who hadn't made it were found, the matron on top of them, her arms outstretched as if to protect all of the girls. The world mourned their loss, and the community of Tuvalu remembers them to this day.
To the innocent warriors who perished, I pray that you have found peace and are free of suffering. The world remembers you, now and forever.
YOU ARE READING
An Innocent Warrior
Non-FictionIn 2000, 18 girls aged 14 to 17 and their matron perished in a fire in a dormitory in the Oceaniac island of Tuvalu. I have written a sort of memoir for them, in hopes that the tragedy that took these innocent warriors never happens again.
