Colombian public television aired video on Sunday afternoon of the moment when the four children who had been wandering the jungle for 40 days met their native rescuers.
In these moving images, filmed on a mobile phone, we see the four haggard children, the smallest in the arms of one of her rescuers. All are terribly emaciated.
Their saviors, members of the native guard, sing, smoke tobacco (a sacred plant among the natives) and give thanks with joy.
Invited to the set of RTVC (public TV), the team of natives who found the children in the jungle recounted the first moments of the meeting.
“The eldest daughter, Lesly, holding the little one by the hand, ran towards me. I took her in my arms, she said to me: I’m hungry”, said Nicolas Ordoñez Gomes, one team members.
“I asked where the boy is. He was lying next to him. After a first hug, and giving him some food he got up and said to me, very aware of what he was saying: my mom is dead.”
“We followed it up right away with softer words, saying that we were friends, that we came from the family, from the father, from the uncle. That we were family! He replied: I want farina and chorizo ??”(bread and sausage, editor’s note)”, detailed Mr. Ordoñez Gomes.
“Half an hour earlier, we had found a turtle on the way,” said another member of the team. “In the beliefs of our elders, if we find a turtle, we can ask it for a wish, and this wish will come true. I told him: find me the children, even if we wanted to eat it afterwards. When we found the children, we threw it away, we only thought of the little ones”.
The story on set of these first aids was particularly moving, the saviors of the children, copper-colored skin, wearing caps, colored scarves and sticks (the classic attributes of the native guards).
The commander of the search operations, General Pedro Sanchez, was also present, in uniform and a burgundy beret on his head. “They are the heroes”, he commented, to the attention of the fifteen natives present.
06/12/2023 00:31:45 – Bogotá (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
