Eyewitness Report
By, Sonia Zayas
I have traveled the world and seen many things violence, war, protests and revolting but nothing like this. The religious war in Ambon, Indonesia, has been something that has captured my mind and disturbed me greatly. The city of Ambon is divided into two religious areas controlled by Christians and Muslims. I came to Ambon not knowing what challenges I might face.
I landed on the west side of the city, which is the Christian side. When I approached the apartment that I would be staying in for a couple of months, I suddenly started hearing screaming and shouting then out of nowhere. A group of men, woman, and children were running toward me and I could see it in their faces that they were running out of fear not joy or playfulness and right behind them were a group of men and officers armed with weapons shouting and shooting at them.
I stood there in shock not believing what I was seeing then reality hit me and I dropped everything I had and started running in the direction the crowd was heading toward the mountains for cover. I ran and ran never taking a look back to see who was chasing me. I made it into the woods stopping behind a bush to catch my breath as I looked around to see what my next move was going to be when I saw a man about my size. He had short black hair and rich brown skin. He was crying well not crying but sobbing taking quick breaths as he rocked himself back and forth as I was approaching him to see if he was ok he saw me and scrambled to his feet ready to fight. I jumped and let out a shriek then reassured him that I was not going to harm him. He calmed down and told me his name. It was Karim. And he also loved traveling heed heard about what was happening here in Ambon but didn’t think it was this bad.
I asked Karim about the group of people who were being chased and the chasers. Karim said that the group that was being chased was a group of Christians and the...