"The first thing my daughter asked when she woke up was: "Mommy, where is my hand?". It was numb. A metal piece from the bomb's core had hit her in the shoulder and destroyed the nerves in her right arm." - Anila, mother of suicide attack victim.
"Earlier that Easter Sunday in 2019, I had dropped my 8-year-old daughter off at church to drive myself to work at a textile factory. I had barely had time to find fabric for the dress and get the sewing machine ready when the phone rang. There had been a terrorist attack in the church. I was greeted by a noisy chaos in front of the church and blood flowing everywhere in the church building. I fainted. Before I could look around, I was lying on my friend's couch. I didn't know if I had lost another loved one," Anila told me when I visited her in Sri Lanka this fall with a team from the Danish European Mission.
"The whole day I paced around me in fear and panic. It wasn't until evening that I got the news that my daughter was in the hospital. I went there and got the good news that she was alive. The metal part of the bomb had hit her right arm, so she had lost mobility and movement in it. But after 5 surgeries and physiotherapy, today she only has no movement from the wrist down."
"My daughter has been strong and tough through it all and has never given up," says Anila. "Before the attack she wrote with her right hand, but today she writes perfectly with her left. She even passed a test so well that she got into a school only for the best students."
"I used to be a strong Hindu"
When her daughter was 3.5 years old, Anila lost her husband. At the time, she had no income and had to live with her late husband's family. During that time, the family experienced something strange. Her husband's eldest sister suffered from kidney problems, but she was cured when she went to see a priest at church. She had also been told that she would never be able to have children. But after coming to faith in Jesus, she became pregnant and gave birth to a child. Anila was encouraged to seek out the Christian church and went from being a strong Hindu to believing in Jesus.
Anila got a sewing machine
After the 2019 terrorist attack, Anila started looking for a job that would allow her to work from home while giving her daughter all the help she needed. Thanks to Danish European Mission donors, she was able to get a sewing machine and start her own small business.
I'm sitting with Anila and her daughter in their small sewing room when Anila gets up and walks over to the red rack in the corner, which is filled with clothes. She takes one colorful patterned dress after another, unfolds it and proudly shows it to me. She is successful and has several customers who buy clothes from her. She also says that she sometimes gets the opportunity to talk to her customers about the gospel and what God has done for her.
Anila gives God the credit for where she and her daughter are today
"Without God's grace, it wouldn't be possible. If I didn't know God, I'm not even sure I would be here." - Anila
"There have been challenges in my life, but I don't doubt God's grace towards me. He takes care of me and gives me what I need," says Anila, smiling as she looks at her daughter.
I ask her if the attack has given her and her daughter a fear of going to church? She replies that she is not afraid. She trusts in God's grace. After the terrorist attack, the church has built a church with room for 2000, twice as many as before. The congregation is experiencing new people coming to faith, among other things by sick people with a Hindu background seeking prayer in the church.
