"We need good thoughts and prayers to help us with this situation," says Heather Mercer's father.
In a sense, they are the first "POW's" of America's new war. Dayna Curry, 29, from the Nashville area, and Heather Mercer, 24, from Vienna, Va., are trapped in Afghanistan, unwitting pawns in an international game of terror. "And we need all the good thoughts and prayers we can get to help us with this situation," Heather's father, John Mercer, told Religion Today in a phone interview from Islamabad, Pakistan, on Oct. 3. "We're obviously concerned and want everything to turn out all right."
Mercer and Curry, who work for the German-based relief group Shelter Now, are among eight people on trial in the Afghan capital of Kabul. They were arrested Aug. 3 for allegedly trying to convert Afghan Muslims to Christianity - a practice forbidden under Taliban law.
Peter Bunch and Diana Thomas from Australia, and Georg Taubmann, Katrin Jelinek, Margrit Stebner and Silke Durrkopf from Germany, also are being detained, along with 16 unidentified Afghans. All have denied the charges.
John Mercer said the defense lawyer for the detainees went into Kabul on Friday, met with them on Saturday to go over the case, and appeared in court on Sunday. According to Mercer, the judge gave the lawyer three to 15 days to decide what kind of case to present. Right now they are getting the charges translated into English, and the lawyer is being given the opportunity to look at whatever evidence there is against the detainees.
"Here in Islamabad, we do not yet know what kind of case they will present," said Mercer, "although we are in contact on a daily basis with the lawyer by phone. We're anxious for a successful outcome to the trial and we would like to go back to Kabul if that were feasible, but it isn't."
Mercer, along with his ex-wife Deborah Oddy (Heather's mom) and Nancy Casell (Curry's mother), were forced to leave Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attack on America because of the security situation.
"You can imagine what it must be like for a mother to leave her daughter in a situation like this," Nancy Cassell said at a press conference in Islamabad. Cassell told the AP that her daughter went to Afghanistan to help the country's women, who are not permitted to attend school beyond age 8. "She just really has a heart for the people there who are oppressed," Cassell said of her daughter.
According to Mercer, his daughter "was always interested in doing humanitarian aid work in high school and through college. She had visited Afghanistan twice before she went permanently in March of this year. Heather was always concerned about people who didn't have as much and wanted to help out," he added. "She truly cared about the people of Afghanistan."
When asked how he was holding up, Mercer said, "We're doing OK under the circumstances. We have our ups and downs as I'm sure the detainees do."
President George W. Bush had demanded that the ruling Taliban free the relief workers, but their situation became more uncertain in the wake of Sept. 11, reports CNS. Their relatives fear that the prisoners, especially the two American women, "could be used as human shields" if the United States retaliates against the Taliban for harboring Osama bin Laden, who is suspected of masterminding the terrorist attacks.
According to Compass Direct, the alleged "crime" of the relief aid workers could carry the death penalty, although the Taliban leader decreed earlier this year that any non-Muslim caught "preaching Christianity" would be jailed for up to 10 days and then expelled from the country.
Taliban Chief Justice Noor Mohammad Saqib said on Sunday that the eight relief workers would receive a fair trial despite the threat of U.S. military action against Afghanistan's ruling Taliban. According to a report in the Washington Post, Saqib said, "There will be no discrimination or injustice against you."
John Mercer said he believed that if the United States would attack, the Taliban "would do their utmost to keep the detainees safe."
A History of Helping
Mercer and Curry both are members of Antioch Community Church (ACC), a non-denominational evangelical church, located in Waco, Texas. ACC is part of the encouragement and support team that assists the women while they work for Shelter Now, a non-profit aid organization.
The agency provides food, clothing and housing for refugees, as well as basic education and health needs for street children. In Pakistan, at one Afghan refugee camp of 70,000 people, Shelter Now is the main provider of housing, food and water.
Mercer and Curry were part the college ministry at ACC while they were students at Baylor University. Lori Scott Fogleman, director of media relations for Baylor, told Religion Today that the campus is "constantly" praying for the women during Chapel services and in small groups.
Curry graduated from Baylor in 1993 with a degree in social work. She worked with troubled youth as a social worker in the Waco independent school district.
Mercer graduated in 1999 with a degree in German. At Baylor, she was very involved with Baptist student ministries. "She had a real desire to help people," said Fogleman. "She really felt called to Afghanistan."
Mindi Adams, Mercer's friend since junior high, said, "Heather has a real burden for helping people who are in need. She would basically give anything she owns to someone who needed it." Adams and Mercer both attended McLean Bible Church when Mercer lived in the northern Virginia area. "We were inseparable," said Adams in a phone interview. The two decided to go to Baylor together and were roommates during their sophomore year.
"The night before she left for Afghanistan, she was excited that she was finally getting to go; this was what she'd been wanting to do for so long," said Adams. "In her mind, she wanted to go to a place where the people were the most needy, and as far as she knew, that was Afghanistan."
Jeff Abshire, administrative pastor for ACC in Texas, told Religion Today he has known both women for quite a few years. "They are very passionate about their love for God and they express that in their daily life, just by loving Him and by serving others."
According to Abshire, the two women are very focused individuals "in that they have given up a lot of opportunities in the worldly sense so they could serve the poor and underprivileged. They are very self-sacrificing." Abshire said that Mercer wanted to move into one of the refugee camps in Afghanistan, "so she could be closer to their need."
Senior pastor Jimmy Seibert, said in a press release, "We have two clear goals at this time, to pray and to practically serve the State Department and the families in any way possible in securing their release."
Since their detainment, members of ACC have been praying 24 hours a day in small and large groups. "We are confident that God is taking care of our friends and will work through this difficult situation," Seibert said. "At the same time, we carry a heavy burden for Dayna, Heather, and their parents. These ladies are such a part of our family here, we cannot help but grieve for them and with them."
The pastors at ACC "specifically ask that Americans everywhere bring Dayna and Heather's names before God daily, asking for the prison doors to open and for us to be able to see them face to face in America again. We are also asking for Americans to continue to pray for the four Germans, two Australians and their Afghan friends."