Luis' story

This Lent, our WEE BOX Appeal is helping provide real solutions and build peace in active conflict zones in Colombia, and around the world.

Luis, from Chocó, Colombia, experienced the horrendous Bojayá massacre. Luis’ whole family survived that terrible day, but the attack has left him with unfathomable memories. 119 others were not so fortunate and perished in the explosion. 

On the morning of May 2nd, 2002, Luis was sheltering in the church of San Pablo Apóstol in Colombia with his family and hundreds of local people. On all sides, armed men were closing in. The church in Bojayá was surrounded.

“Just before the attack, a priest came in and said, ‘We’ll either all survive here, or all die!’

“A bomb came in through the roof. When it exploded, I was standing just 10 metres away. I was 17.

“When the bomb hit the room, everything went dark and smoky,” Luis tells SCIAF. “When the darkness lifted, a little two-year-old begged me not to leave him. I picked him up and took him out of the church. He died in my arms.

“When I got home, I just cried and cried.”

The attack left the church in ruins. But despite the carnage, the ‘mutilated Christ of Bojayá’ – a crucifix of our Lord Jesus – survived, albeit with His arms and legs missing.

Luis said:

“The role of the Church is to do social work in the poorest communities,” Luis explains, “because, the truth is, the Church is the only organisation that is always here.”

Today, this striking relic is a powerful symbol of the conflict in Colombia – a reflection of the suffering inflicted on communities, but also a sign of hope, of better things to come.

You can support some of the poorest families in Colombia, and countries across the world, by using your WEE BOX to make a BIG CHANGE. A better world is possible.