Samiha was sat in the women’s section of St Peter’s church in Cairo when the 2017 bomb attack took place.
Upon waking, she found her face wrapped by medical cloths. The doctor asked her: ‘Is your name Samiha Atopi and are you married to Qalini?’ She hadn’t been identified, and had just been given the number 99 before then. No one had recognised her, due to her facial injuries.
No hope?
In the hospital, the doctors didn’t offer much hope. Her husband was told she wouldn’t survive. The attack claimed 27 lives, and it left Samiha with only half a face.
God had other plans!
‘The doctors might have given up on Samiha, but God had another plan!’, Qalini pointed out.
Samiha’s face still isn’t what it used to be, but the side of her face that is still intact glows when she smiles. ‘The doctors thought it was useless to treat me,’ she says, ‘so they just came to check on me every now and then to see if I was already dead. But I stayed alive. I don’t remember much of the explosion and the first days after it, but I remember that I saw Jesus on the ceiling when I was lying on the ground after the explosion.’ She says that Jesus continued to appear to her, even in the hospital. She would mumble his name as she lay unconscious.
‘I would have been willing to die for Jesus, but the fact that he kept me alive so miraculously tells me that he wants me to live.’
Struggled with forgiveness
Qalini has struggled with forgiveness towards the man who attacked the church that day. ‘But my faith tells me to forgive,’ he explains. ‘So every time I feel angry, I sit down with my Bible and browse through the Sermon on the Mount. There Jesus says we should forgive our enemies. It really helps me to read that part over and over again.’
Amazingly, despite not being able to see, hear or smell on one side of her face, Samiha doesn’t struggle with feelings of anger. Her incredible response? ‘If I would meet the family of the attacker, the only thing I would ask them is: “Do you know Jesus?” I pray they will find the right way.’
Samiha is hoping to return to Hungary for more operations that will alter her appearance.
