- Zap
- Jun 19, 2023
- 4 min read
In 2015, Jackson Quincy Nahayo, a former tree planter, returned to Burundi, fifteen years after being stolen from his home and left for dead in the jungle. Jackson gathered support from generous donors in Canada, but his work tree planting provided the income needed to build his hospital. He purchased a plot of land in the rural province of Cibitoke, loaded a shipping container full of medical supplies and left Canada with a hopeful heart and eager dreams.
Since then, the hospital has grown to a level where it receives hundreds of visitors each day. From seed to spoon, Jackson’s family also grows the grain it uses to serve porridge as they strive to provide a holistic medical service with the best standards possible to their patients. The hospital also functions as a community centre for many in the surrounding areas. In 2017, it provided refuge for people fleeing another conflict. Jackson also performed as the first responder to those killed and injured by the massacre.
In early 2022, Jackson’s wife gave birth to a child who passed away only a few days later. Heartbreakingly, Jackson explained that had the child been born with access to Canadian medical services, he likely would’ve survived. Currently, the goals of the hospital are not only to be able to respond to unexpected crises but also to develop a stronger and more comprehensive maternity and birthing ward to ensure other families do not suffer in the way Jackson’s does. To achieve these goals, support from caring friends is needed.
The following is an excerpt from ‘Nahayo: They Left Me for Dead,’ a book written by Dustin Unrau. Dustin planted with me and wrote a book about the accomplishments of Jackson Quincy Nahayo. Jackson also planted with me and became my then 4-year-old son's best friend in camp! His story is devastating and incomprehensible to most of us who grew up here, but it is also undeniably beautiful in what he's done with his planting earnings and life. He is a person that I look up to as being incredibly giving and motivated to improve our world!
Excerpt from Nahayo: They Left Me for Dead (Trigger Warning)
This excerpt contains depictions of violence that may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.
"Cool mountain air flirtatiously cleansed the dusty parking lot filled with planters preparing for the start of the season. Chaos surrounded the crews as they busily loaded trucks, gathered equipment and established routines as experienced vets and wide-eyed rookies attempted to organize themselves as a camp community. The nervousness and excitement fuelled by optimism for a potentially lucrative year, mixed with a daunting trepidation over the gruelling tasks ahead. For me, tree planting was the perfect marriage of my own appetite for adventure and my desperation for tuition money. Those who weren’t enrolled in school were financing freedom for travel or moving on from another equally interesting seasonal job. There was one among the crew however, who had an altogether different motivation for signing up for the job. Hustling among the crowd, strapping down quads and loading trucks was a quietly eager young man dressed in blue coveralls. With only a brief introduction, he mentioned something about being from Zambia and then together he led me in efficiently packing for camp. He moved with an energy that seemed unmatched by the rest of us and I secretly hoped that I would have more chances to work with him as we started planting. As luck would have it, we were paired together for most of the season, and we pushed each other to bag up as much as possible and raced over the cut blocks. It was on a particularly sunny day that Jackson finally opened up to me about where he came from and why he was here. As we walked along together along the slopes, bending down every third step, Jackson told me about his home country and growing up in a rural village nestled among another range of mountains. His family held respected positions among the community, where they hosted large feasts and acted as leaders in many ways. But all of that would soon change. When Jackson was 6 years old, war broke out in and around his community. One day when he was in school, bullets and explosions rained down around him and his classmates. Holes perforated the walls as gunshots whizzed overhead. Children cried and scrambled over each other trying to escape the invasion. Jackson told me about how he saw one of his teachers lying in a pool of blood as he ran past. The soldiers were too powerful, and Jackson was rounded up, along with his sister and other children. They were told their parents had been killed and then were taken into the jungles to become a part of the rebel army. After weeks of working as soldier slaves Jackson lashed out at his captors. The soldiers laughed at him and took him into a clearing in the jungle. There he saw his sister being held by the men. A rifle was dropped into Jackson’s hands, and he was instructed to shoot his sister. With tears streaming down his face, Jackson knew he could never harm her. Knowing he was about to be killed, he refused. The soldiers turned on him and beat him until he was no longer conscious. There’s no way to know how long he was lying there in the darkness, but when he awoke everyone was gone. Jackson had been left for dead in the middle of the jungle as a six-year-old boy. He spent the next 4 years wandering, mostly alone through several other central African countries before finally achieving refugee status and flying to Canada. After Jackson completed high school, he returned to Burundi to see the home that was taken from him. When he saw the devastation left by years of conflict and poverty, Jackson dedicated himself to finding a way to bring healing to his people and the lands he loved so much. He completed a degree in nursing and was determined to build a hospital in his home province. To fund his dreams, Jackson spent years planting trees and working on the oil rigs to save up enough money to kickstart his projects."
Read more of Jackson's story in Dustin Unrau's book 'Nahayo: They Left Me For Dead.'
