wfn.org | UMNS# 05194-Students battled to leave Liberia but plan to return

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Students battled to leave Liberia but plan to return

Apr. 4, 2005

NOTE: Photographs are available at www.UMC.org.

By Tamie Ross*

Three Liberian students at Southern Methodist University overcame
life-threatening obstacles to reach the Dallas school from their
war-torn homeland-walking 30-plus miles through checkpoints peppered by
rebel gunfire, then riding rickety buses to small planes that carried
them through seven risky stops on their 36-hour trip to America.

Even before their dangerous exodus, they bested stiff competition to
receive full scholarships to United Methodist-related Perkins School of
Theology. Each battled for nine months to obtain visas allowing them to
enter the United States, even as civil unrest blocked paperwork and
closed key government offices.

Yet, their goal is to return to Liberia in 2006 to teach, preach and
share a message about forgiveness.

"That would be the fulfillment of my dream," said the Rev. Isaac
Chukpue-Padmore, 39, who is completing a master's degree in theological
studies and is an elder in the United Methodist Church's Liberia Annual
Conference. "Once I won that scholarship, not even war could stop me
from getting here. And nothing will stop me from going back."

Chukpue-Padmore and compatriots Yatta Young, 53, and Anna Kaydor, 28,
arrived in Dallas in September 2004 with no clothing, money or worldly
possessions. Seminary leaders say their courage and fortitude is driven
by an intense desire to further their education so they can return home
and serve their fellow Liberians.

They have become heroes on campus, according to Tracy Anne Allred,
student services director at Perkins. "The students literally risked
their lives to get here," Allred said. "They've gone through
extraordinary efforts to get here so they can be educated and serve
their United Methodist Church."

An estimated 150,000 people were killed in Liberia's six-year civil war
that erupted in 1989, according to the United Nations. In 2004,
President Charles Taylor went into exile under pressure from the
international community, and U.N. peacekeepers started the five-year
process of restoring order and encouraging people to return to their
former homes. The new government is scheduled to hold elections in
October 2005.

Throughout it all, the United Methodist Church, under the leadership of
Bishop John Innis, maintained a strong presence in the West African
country founded in the 18th century by freed American slaves. Innis
recommended Chukpue-Padmore, Young and Kaydor for Perkins. The three
were chosen ahead of more than 60 applicants from several countries,
while a fourth spot went to a student from the Philippines.

Young, an ordained deacon completing a master's degree in church
ministry, says the Perkins community has embraced them.

"I think it is God's will that we should be here now, and that other
Africans should come here and rejuvenate this community," Young said.
"We've been told, and we believe, that we bring an exuberance with us
wherever we go. 'Let it well up from within!' I say to them."

They often attend an African outreach at Lover's Lane United Methodist
Church in Dallas. The trio also travels with other students to area
United Methodist congregations, sharing past experiences and their hopes
for the future of Liberia and the church.

At Button United Methodist in Little Elm, Texas, more than an hour from
their dorms at SMU, the three led worship and taught Sunday school
classes. Afterward, they were treated to a luncheon. "It was a wonderful
day for us," Kaydor said. "When we're surrounded by good people on
campus and when we go out, it makes being so far away from home a little
easier."

Kaydor is working toward a master's degree in theological studies. She
plans to marry and teach full time, then hopes someday to enter
administration.

"This school has blessed me, and so I'm eager to return and impart what
I've learned," she said. Half her life has been spent "just surviving"
the war in Liberia, she added. "It will be a challenge to return, but
there is a lot of opportunity and hope for me now that has never been
there."

Young talks with her husband by phone twice a week, and she checks on
her daughter and 3-year-old grandson by phone and e-mail.

Chukpue-Padmore worries about his wife and five children. He relishes
phone calls filled with simple details from their daily lives and plans
to continue in ministry when he returns. "I know that I have been given
the opportunity to prepare for the future and work for the church," he
said. "All is not lost. There are better days ahead."

When they do return, the challenges to rebuild their lives and further
their ministries will be different. After 14 years of war, progress will
not come overnight.

"When the guns are silenced, the effects of war will be seen as
far-reaching," Kaydor said. "Children grow up in war. Adults are
changed. There are a whole new set of expectations there. And people are
depending upon us, and the church, to help them move past what has
happened and to rebuild in every way."

*Ross is a freelance writer in Dallas.

News media contact: Matt Carlisle, (615) 742-5153 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org