The decision that would change his life
“After a year of serving in the military, I am beginning to grow fond of it. I go out and the first thing I do is introduce myself to take the course as a professional soldier. I tried it twice and they didn’t call me, maybe life or God was giving me signs of what is not for one is for something. But I tried a third time and there I did pass”.
After passing the papers and performing medical examinations, Jovany is transferred to the Professional Soldiers School located in Ptolemais to prepare. In his suitcase were the dreams of a young man who wanted to give the best years of his life to his country. His family did not agree but they respected his decision.
“When I finished the course, They transferred me to the south of Tolima, more precisely to the Cañón de las Hermosas. It was a divisional battalion, counter-guerrilla number 31. As professional soldiers we go to where the guerrilla groups are, at that time the 21st Front of the Farc operated in the area”.
give life for the country
The Canyon of the Beautiful It is well known to both the FARC and the Public Force, since historically it was the place where several of the most important guerrilla commanders took refuge. We were able to establish that at the time when Jovany was transferred, the cannon was guarded by the insurgency and the most wanted leader was alias ‘Guillermo Cano’, one of the most important leaders and ideologues of the Farc.
“Every day there were clashes, there was a lot of anxiety, it was a very complicated area; but we wanted to retake control of the cannon. We were prepared if it is necessary to give our lives for the country. One day we were registering and controlling the area, we had been lost in the jungle for more than a week, until the day before my accident, we managed to find the exit, we arrived at a guerrilla camp where there was nobody”, explains Jovany in a low voice who adds:
“On September 7, 2009 at 10:00 am I stepped on the mine. It exploded very close to my face, I did not hear the detonation, they tell me it was that I was unconscious. The nurse arrived at 40 minutes, I was very sore, because the mine destroyed the muscle of my left leg. I was left disjointed at the hip, when it exploded so close to my face I had an eye burst, I lost my vision; I’m totally blind.”
From the time the accident occurred until he was taken to a hospital in Bogotá, this ex-soldier tells us that five hours have passed. A sister of his who was in the capital is informed and arrives at the place where the doctors try to save her life.; however, a doctor leaves the office and he informs his relative that Jovany is deadwho tried their best but couldn’t revive him.
The skeptical sister of what they told her clung to faith: “My sister asked for one last resuscitation attempt, I gave pulsations again but they didn’t give me much time to live. I lasted a little over a month in a coma.”
A second chance and the love of his life
Faced with this new opportunity that life gave him, Jovany began treatments to return to his daily life, years of treatments in which you have to start getting to know your body again and adjust to it.
In the Army there are a series of guides, who are high school graduates who provide their service to disabled people, It was through one of the men who accompanied him on a daily basis, that he managed to meet the love of his life.
“The guide who helped me at that time once went to visit me with my sister, obviously I couldn’t see her, but I made the conversation for her. We started out as friends and later I asked her to be boyfriends,” says Jovany.
For her part, Lorena used to accompany her brother to work as a guide, and Although at first Jovany seemed like a good person, over time he fell in love.
“I did not fall in love with his physique, I saw in him a very big heart, capable of helping anyone with everything and their limitations. Over time we got married, first civilly and then in church. We have been married for 11 years and we have two children, the girl named Alannah Madeleyn who is five years old and the boy named Ithan Anthuan who is three months old”, explains Lorena, as she helps Jovany to remove the prosthesis.
A man who has no grudges and waits for an opportunity
“I am a psychologist graduated, I managed to do it in six years because what was most difficult for me was the thesis. I have been a professional for a year now, I have knocked on many doors and they have not given me the opportunity to practice. Several times I have appeared for interviews and when they see me arrive they hardly even let me introduce myself, they send me back immediately. I don’t know if people are not ready so that people like me can also emerge or maybe I haven’t knocked on the door that I should knock on“, laments Jovany, who in his eyes look a little shiny.
With everything and his difficulties, the scars that life has left him, the inability to see his children and wife, Jovany surprised us by his tranquility when we asked him if he agreed to peace.
“I agree with peace, I am not a man of rancor, I forgive those who planted the mine, I forgive the Farc. Maybe they are things in life that one needs to get back on track. Without that accident I would not have met my wife and I would not have this beautiful home.”ends.