'I cry silently at night for him'

KILLED: WIDOW WITH 3 YOUNG KIDS TELLS OF HER PAIN

- Marizka Coetzer

The wife of one of the 13 South African soldiers killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) conflict never imagined she would be a 30-year-old widow with three young children. Jessica Strydom would have celebrated her 12th wedding anniversary with her high school sweetheart, Pieter Strydom, 34, who bled to death after fleeing from a bomb in DRC last week.

The couple have three sons, 15, 12, and nine, who were struggling to accept they will never see their father again.

"It has been very challenging, especially for the youngest son; he doesn't understand. He knows that his father is with Jesus but still breaks out in tears and gets nightmares every night and calls for his father in his sleep."

"The oldest son took the news very badly on the night we found out. He kept on asking what we did wrong to deserve this and what his father did to deserve to die this way."

The middle son is like his father - he has a way of dealing with it, but I worry because he is not crying and wants to go back to school to keep himself busy.