Prisoners of Hope

Dayna Curry grew up in Forest Hill, a suburb outside of Nashville, Tennessee with a population of roughly 23,000. Her parents divorced when she was young. She had a troubled youth following the divorce which included drugs, underage sex, shoplifting, and an abortion at the age of 17, all of which she deeply regretted. After becoming a Christian, she was able to "start all over and have a new life".[2] She graduated from Brentwood High School in 1989 and subsequently attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Her father later stated, "I've always noticed her ... wanting to help people, and she's tended to have done this through Christian-based organizations."[1] Heather Mercer grew up in a middle-class family in Vienna, Virginia. Like Curry, her parents also divorced and she attended Baylor University after graduating from Madison High School in 1995.[1] She converted to Christianity after attending a church concert.[2]

Curry, then 29, and Mercer, then 24, met through their shared involvement in the Antioch Community Church in Waco, Texas, where they received the opportunity to serve in Kabul, Afghanistan as aid workers with Shelter Now International (SNI).[5] Mercer's parents strongly opposed the decision, especially after her younger sister, Hannah, died from an accidental prescription drug overdose shortly before her departure at the age of 21.[6] Despite being placed in the upscale Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in Kabul, Curry and Mercer purposely requested the "smallest, most decrepit house on the street", explaining that they had come to serve the poor and did not want to be treated as wealthy foreigners.[7]

While in Kabul, they worked with a large number of street children. Curry made a point to dedicate a least two days a week to helping one named Omar, whose father had recently died and whose family was struggling financially. Mercer regularly bought shoeshine and shoes for the children, who, according to Curry, began to call her "the compassionate one". When an interviewer later asked about the other forms of work they did, they responded, "At other times of day, we gave bread, fruit, or juice to the beggars we encountered. A small shop and produce stand were located at the end of our street, and when women beggars approached us, we would ask them to follow us to the shop and pick out the things they needed." Katrin Jelinek, one of their German coworkers, organized a program for boys to receive a hot meal and job training classes.[4]

Towards the end of the summer, an Afghan family they had befriended began to ask about their faith and expressed interest in seeing a film about Jesus. Curry and Mercer agreed to privately show the film in the family's home on August 3, 2001.[8]

Subsequently, the Taliban arrested Curry, Mercer, six other foreign aid workers, and 16 Afghan SNI members on accusations of proselytizing and converting to another religion respectively.[9] The other captives included Germans Georg Taubmann, Margrit Stebnar, Katrin Jelinek, and Silke Duerrkopf, and Australians Diana Thomas and Peter Bunch.[10] Curry and Mercer, along with the other aid workers, were detained in a number of women's prisons. They recounted that Afghan inmates at the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice's prison were regularly and severely beaten for small infractions. "The screams were so horrendous," relayed Curry. "I've never heard anything like that." Though the Western women were not beaten, they suffered a number of physical discomforts; several prisoners contracted head lice, including Mercer, and flies infested the cell so badly that Curry and Mercer each killed about 150 every day.[11] The bathrooms were unsanitary with toilets shared by over 40 individuals and cold showers. The 10-by-10-foot (3.0 m × 3.0 m) prison cells left the inmates crowded. All of the women contracted intestinal worms, and Curry struggled with asthma.[11][12] Still, the detainees were allowed frequent communication with their relatives in the United States,[11] and they were able to interact more directly with the Afghan women than before, as the Taliban was less concerned with regulating their communications. "We got to hear their stories and sing their songs and dance with them and play games with them and wash clothes together," Mercer said.[8]

Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in Kabul, where Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer lived prior to their arrest

The Taliban charged Curry and Mercer with evangelizing Muslims and frequently interrogated them. The two were informed that they could potentially be executed if the case went to trial. Both state that they leaned on their faith as a reprieve from their emotional anguish throughout the ordeal and wrote several praise songs.[2][11] Curry marked her 30th birthday in prison on November 4 and was allowed to send a letter to Antioch Community Church, which was published in the US. In it, she said, in part, "It is so good to hear that so many people are praying. I hope they are praying for this country along with us."[13]

All 24 SNI members were freed by Northern Alliance and US troops on November 15 during an anti-Taliban uprising. The night before their rescue, they had been forced to sleep in a steel container while being transferred to another prison, and, according to Georg Taubmann, a German captive, it was "terribly cold.... We had no blankets. We were freezing the whole night through."[14] According to Mercer, "The men who came and rescued us did a fabulous job - I don't think Hollywood could have done it better."[10] Curry and Mercer spent a total of 105 days in the Taliban's prisons.[9]

A year after their rescue, Heather Mercer stated, "I would do it all over again because I know the tremendous good that has come out of the situation. Not just for us but for many of the Afghan people." She added, "The Afghan people are amazing. I wish every American could know an Afghan in their lifetime. They are some of the most hospitable, resourceful, kind people I have ever met. For all they have suffered, they are a people that have overcome. I think some of the greatest lessons I have learn, even in the short time I was in Afghanistan, have come from poor Afghan people. You have nothing, but give everything. They find ways to overcome even the most tremendous obstacles."[8] Dayna Curry also expressed hope of being able to return to Afghanistan to continue serving the Afghan people.[11]

Shortly after their rescue, Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer were invited to the White House by then-President George W. Bush. Of the experience, they stated, "It was really privilege and honor to see the president, to be able to visit the Oval Office, and then to be able to stand with him out in the rose garden."[15] Bush acknowledged to the public that he had spent a significant amount of time worrying about the safety of the aid workers, especially for Curry and Mercer.[16] At the Rose Garden press conference honoring the two, he stated:

Heather Mercer and Dana Curry decided to go to help people who needed help. Their faith led them to Afghanistan. One woman who knows them best put it this way: They had a calling to serve the poorest of the poor, and Afghanistan is where that calling took them. And Heather and Dana's faith in God sustained them throughout their ordeal. It's a wonderful story about prayer, about a faith that can sustain people in good times and in bad times. Their faith was a source of hope that kept them from becoming discouraged. I talked to them right after their release, their freedom, and I sensed no bitterness in their voice, no fatigue, just joy. It was an uplifting experience for me to talk to these courageous souls.[17]

Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer made a number of national appearances on television programs such as Larry King Live and the Today Show encouraging others to become active in foreign missions and aid work. Mercer's mother Deb Oddy, who had opposed her daughter's decision to go to Afghanistan from the beginning, began to publicly denounce the mission in the days that followed the prisoners' release. An interview by Oddy on Dateline NBC led to the widespread misconception that Curry and Mercer had gone to Kabul only to evangelize. They responded that that was not the case and later divulged that one of their primary reasons for writing Prisoners of Hope was to allow the American public to have an accurate account of what had happened.[2] Additionally, all of the profits from the book's sales went towards helping the Afghan people.[8]

Heather Mercer founded Global Hope in 2008, a nonprofit organization that serves in Iraq. While working in Iraq, she married Mohanad, a Kurdish Christian from the region.[18] Ten years after Curry and Mercer's release, the latter was interviewed by Timothy C. Morgan of Christianity Today. During the interview, she reiterated that she does not regret her decision to go to Afghanistan and stated that everyone involved in the hostage crisis continues their work in relief aid.[19]

• Dayna Curry; Heather Mercer; Stacy Mattingly (2003). Prisoners of Hope. New York: WaterBrook Press. ISBN 1578566460.

• Prisoners of Hope website