Child Soldier
On October 20, 1970, two sisters from the Wilton Province set sail for Africa. They arrived on November 2 and after a ten-hour ride over dirt roads, they arrived in Tchien. Students, teachers, and prominent townspeople were there to greet them. Their work prospered and more sisters came.
In 1990, after almost a century of peace among the sixteen tribes, war broke out. On July 30, 1990, 600 women and children who had sought shelter at the Lutheran Hospital were killed. In August the sisters fled Libera in a convoy of 75 people headed to Ivory Coast. As they made their way they saw the devastation and loss of life that was the result of war. The five sisters who lived in different locations were reunited in the Ivory Coast capital; the last leg of their evacuation flight back to the States.
“Only when they saw so many sisters and family members gathered at JFK to welcome them did they fully realize the danger in which they had been.”