Waco pastor fears for safety of ex-BU students held in Afghanistan


The Rev. Jimmy Siebert talks to reporters at Antioch Community Church. (Duane A. Laverty/Waco Tribune-Herald)

By JASON EMBRY/Tribune-Herald staff writer

[ from http://www.wacotrib.com/auto/feed/news/2001/09/18/1000866025.22424.6314.2349.html ]

The church pastor to two Waco women jailed in Afghanistan and accused of spreading Christianity there said Tuesday he's concerned they could become human shields as tensions escalate between that nation and the United States.

Antioch Community Church has lost touch with Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer since their parents and American diplomats left Afghanistan Sept. 12, a day after terrorist attacks on the East Coast, senior pastor Jimmy Seibert said.

Danny Mulkey, pastor of families at Antioch, is in nearby Pakistan and — until the parents and diplomats were told to leave Afghanistan — helped relay news about the women to their church home.

Osama bin Laden, a prime suspect in organizing the attacks, is believed to be in Afghanistan. President Bush said last week the United States would hold responsible not only the people who committed the terrorist attacks, but "those who harbor them."

A delegation sent by Pakistan to try to convince Afghanistan's Taliban government to hand over bin Laden went home Tuesday without reaching an agreement, and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf scheduled a televised address to his people this evening .

Before leaving Afghanistan's capital of Kabul, the Pakistani delegation met with Mercer, Curry and their six fellow aid workers, a Pakistani official said on condition of anonymity. Pakistan asked the Taliban to release the aid workers — the two Americans, four Germans and two Australians — and the rulers promised to consider the request, he said.

Until last week's attacks, Baylor University graduates Curry and Mercer were on trial for preaching Christianity in the sternly Muslim country. If convicted, Seibert said, they face about seven to 10 days in jail and expulsion from the country, according to the most recent document from the Taliban.

"They had a trial going, we had the opportunity to have an attorney and all the indications we had were that we were moving through the trial process and were going to have the opportunity for a decision fairly soon," he said. "Since that time, I don't think anybody knows."

Seibert answered questions for about an hour at a Tuesday morning news conference, which signaled a shift from the church's previous position of giving limited information about the women. He called on the public to use prayer to trigger their release.

"We need a miracle, and we believe that miracles can happen if people pray," he said.

Since the women were first detained six weeks ago, the church has encouraged members to visit its 24-hour prayer room. The rectangular room includes two windows, maps and news clippings that update the status of Curry and Mercer.

The two women worked through Shelter Now International, a Christian-based agency located in Germany. Seibert said the women were in Afghanistan to provide health care and basic education for street children.

Seibert, who was serious but never somber during his Tuesday remarks, said the women knew they were entering a dangerous situation. "There's always concern, but their trust was in the Lord to see them through," he said.

Curry, 29, grew up in Virginia and graduated from Baylor in 1993. She was a social worker at Caesar Chavez Academy, a Waco school for students with behavioral troubles.

Virginia DuQue, an administrative assistant at the school when Curry started there, said Curry used to take students from Caesar Chavez to the LULAC Bilingual Head Start program twice a week. There the teen-age students would read to the 3- and 4-year-olds at Head Start, as well as put on puppet shows and play with them outside.

"She would just sort of stand back and let the kids take charge, and they would do good things under her supervision," said DuQue, who later became Head Start's executive director and a Waco school trustee.

DuQue said she and other Head Start employees warned Curry about the dangers of going to Afghanistan before she left in 1999, and they hoped that she would not go. But Curry expressed her belief that God had called her to the impoverished country.

"She could only see nothing but good in people," DuQue said. "I don't think she realized the seriousness of what it was going to be."

Mercer, 24, hails from Tennessee and graduated from Baylor in 1999. She baby-sat and held other jobs in Waco for almost two years as she prepared to go to Afghanistan after graduation.

Baylor German professor Frauke Harvey taught Mercer in two classes and described her as a diligent, high-achieving student.

Harvey said Mercer seemed aware of the troubles she might face abroad. But Harvey also sensed that Mercer was "sheltered" and had little experience on her own in a foreign country.

"She was not the type that I would have said that would go to Afghanistan," she said.

Seibert said both women wanted to work with the poor and believed they were called to Afghanistan. Mercer often looked for books and Web sites that would give her new information about the country, said Jeannie McGinnis, a former roommate of hers who works with Antioch's college ministry.

McGinnis said Mercer tried to befriend the friendless, and that she showed a constant fondness for the poor. She would sometimes strike up conversations with strangers outside convenience stores and supermarkets.

"If she saw someone who was obviously hurting and really needy, she would just start talking to them and loving on them," McGinnis said. "If there was a tangible, practical thing she could do like cook a meal, she'd do it."

Curry's two-year commitment to Afghanistan was up in August, but Seibert said she had signed on for another year. Mercer arrived in March and expected to be there several years.

The two were detained six weeks ago, and since then have been fed and kept together during the day. Restating that he does not know what has happened since Sept. 12, Seibert said they have been locked up in separate cells at night.

Curry and Mercer's parents went to Islamabad, Pakistan when they left Afghanistan. During one of their last visits with their daughters, the parents took Curry and Mercer some warm clothes.

Mercer's father has offered to be detained in his daughter's place, and Seibert said the same offer has been made by a group of American veterans.

The aid workers' Pakistani lawyer, who is versed in Islamic law, has been unable to get an Afghan visa to go to Kabul to meet with his clients.

It is unclear when the trial will resume. In Kabul, the Taliban's chief justice said they still were reviewing the evidence and waiting for the lawyer of the eight aid workers to arrive.

Seibert said many people here want to know how to respond to the tragedies of the last week. The answer, he reiterated, is to pray.

"We really can pray, and it really does matter," he said. "Because there's no practical advocacy (for Curry and Mercer), we really do need a guardian angel to come and show them the way out."

Jason Embry can be reached at jembry@wacotrib.com or at 757-5743. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

© 2001 Cox Newspapers, Inc.

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