Canadian missionaries will return to Kenya, following attack

By Lloyd Mackey

WILL THEY stay in Kenya, or will they come home to the Okanagan?

That was a burning question for John and Eloise Bergen, after they were attacked by machete-wielding men apparently recruited by one of their former security guards.

The short answer is that they will shortly come home for healing, but return sooner rather than later, to their work in Kenya.

The attack took place Wednesday evening, July 9, at the Bergen's colonial-era home and organic farm, near the agricultural town of Kitale. Both John, 70, and Eloise, 66, were left with deep cuts and multiple broken bones, and Eloise was repeatedly raped for close to an hour by her attackers.

The Bergens, who come from Vernon, had been in Kitale for four months. They went there originally to work in refugee camps during the post-election unrest. When that conflict ended with the establishing of a national unity government, and the camps were disbanded, they began organic gardening to supply food to the numerous orphans and widows in the area.

The programs involving the Bergens are sponsored by a coalition involving Kelowna-based Hope for the Nations ministry and partner group Love Mercy.

Eloise spoke to CC.com by phone from her bed in the Nairobi Hospital on July 12, while her husband was recovering from surgery which included the placing of a titanium plate in his broken jaw.

She said she was attacked while taking a bath in their home.

"I saw four or five black men with machetes and clubs," she recalled.

"But I sensed a surrounding pillow of God's presence. It was terrible but there was no overwhelming fear."

She said the attackers clubbed her, tied her hands with her husband's shaver and cell phone adapter cords.

"They left me with blankets over me and mattresses. I asked God to help me to get free, then remembered where I had scissors."

Eloise backed herself to where they scissors were, manoeuvring to where she could to cut the cords.

"Then I went outside to find out what happened to my husband."

Other attackers had beaten him up and left him for dead in the bushes at the side of their driveway. He had broken bones in several parts of his body. Both of them were bleeding profusely from the machete cuts.

With what she believes was help from God himself, Eloise was able to start the unfamiliar farm vehicle, get herself dressed and a pillow and blankets for John.

Then she hauled the "dead weight" of her almost unconscious husband into the truck and headed off to the HFN Kitale compound 10 kilometres down the road. A few gates blocking the road at various points quickly gave way to the careening vehicle.

From there, the couple were airlifted to the Nairobi Hospital where Eloise reported that "the doctors and staff have been awesome. Many of them are Christian and they know how to pray over us."

The Nairobi doctors decided that Eloise's jaw damage was not sufficient to require surgery, as had John's. Healing would take place naturally, she said.

But why, after all this, would they want to stay in Kenya?

Well, the vegetables must be grown for the orphans, and most don't have enough to eat, said Eloise. "There are so many street children, (many of them) glue sniffers."

HFN and its partner agency in Kenya, Love Mercy, are developing a 'City of Refuge' on 600 acres, with the capacity to produce enough food organically for hundreds or thousands of these orphans. And, in the longer term, the hope, in the words of the HFN website, is "to change this desert region to a well-watered garden, one oasis at a time."

But there is another element for Eloise.

Rape is endemic in many of the conflicts and struggles in this and other African nations -- a form of attack used by attackers as a means of intimidation. That means many of the widows with whom she and Joni Everleigh work have been raped.

"What I been through, now (is what many) women have experienced -- being raped and beaten with much violence. I feel God has something so big here," she said, referring to future points of contact in ministering to the widows.

HFN is receiving contributions to cover the couple's return trip to Canada, as well as to pay the medical expenses incurred in Kenya, where public health insurance is virtually non-existent.

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Westside Kings Church in Calgary, where the Bergens attended a few years ago when they lived in High River, Alberta, and where some of their children also worship, is also receiving donations. But Ralph Bromley, HFN director in Kelowna, said the Bergens will not need to be sent home in an air ambulance, as had been indicated in some Calgary-based news reports.

Further information about contributing is available by contacting HFN at 250-712-2007.

John and Eloise have been married for 45 years. They met at Canadian Bible College in Regina, where their parents were teachers. They have four grown children, two natural and two adopted.

For many years, they worked with the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination in New Zealand.

In more recent years, John has been in construction and renovation work and Eloise has taught piano and guitar.

Joni Everleigh, a former staffer at the BC Cancer Control agency in Kelowna, is now in Nairobi as Eloise's caregiver. Prior to that, she had been in Kitale for two months, working with widows. She told CC.com she plans to stay in Kitale for two or three years.

John, for his part, spoke of their joint willingness to continue.

"We realize there is good and bad in Africa, just like there is good and bad in Canada," he told a CBC News reporter on July 11. "We'll try to reach the bad as well as the good. What else can you do?"

Seven men have been arrested in connection with what is being described a revenge attack, and four more were being sought at press time. Two of the suspects were former security guards who had been let go, according to John, because they slept during night watch, allowing cows and goats to get into the vegetable gardens.

Related stories:

B.C.-based missionaries attacked in Kenya described as 'sweetest couple'
A Vernon, B.C., man and his wife who were attacked with clubs and machetes while on a missionary trip in Kenya were really looking forward to their trip, an official with their missionary group said Thursday. "They're just the sweetest, sweetest couple," said Natalie Barkman, a child sponsorship co-ordinator for Hope for the Nations, based in Kelowna, B.C. . . . John Bergen, a 70-year-old Canadian, and his 65-year-old American wife, Eloise, a native of Georgia, are reported in critical condition after being attacked with clubs and machetes, in the restive Mount Elgon region of western Kenya.
Canadian Press, July 10

Guards helped in attack of B.C.-based missionaries in Kenya, says group
A B.C. couple who traded their quiet mountain community for missionary work in Kenya were in critical condition Thursday after a brutal assault with machetes in an attack friends say may have involved the guards hired to protect them. John Bergen and his American wife, Eloise, who moved to Kenya from Vernon, B.C., to volunteer for the group Hope for the Nations, were attacked Wednesday night at their home in the town of Kitale. Police believe it was a robbery.
Canadian Press, July 10

Canadian missionaries attacked in Kenya recovering well, friend says
An elderly British Columbia couple working as missionaries in Kenya are making a good recovery in a Nairobi hospital after surviving a brutal machete attack from a gang that allegedly co-operated with their own bodyguards, a fellow missionary said Friday. John and Eloise Bergen were in critical condition after Wednesday's savage attack, but Steven Pippin, a volunteer missionary with Hope for the Nations, told The Canadian Press the couple is "out of the woods" and has now stabilized.
Canadian Press, July 11

Couple recovers in hospital after Kenyan home invaded
A Vernon man and his American wife on missionary work in Kenya are recovering in hospital Thursday after a brutal home invasion Wednesday night. A gang of thugs wielding machetes and clubs overpowered security guards at the home of John Bergen, 70, and his wife Eloise, 66, in Kitale, Kenya, on the western border near Uganda.
Vancouver Sun, July 11

Couple say they will stay in Kenya
The moment she first saw her husband in the hospital, Eloise Bergen couldn't help but tease. "They brought me down to his room in a wheelchair. He looks funny with his head shaved," said Ms. Bergen, in a telephone interview from the Nairobi hospital where the couple are recovering after a vicious home invasion. "I told him he looked cute."
Globe and Mail, July 11

Wounded missionaries' family raising money for flight home
The Calgary-area family of two missionaries attacked by machete-wielding burglars in Kenya is collecting donations to bring them home to recover from their injuries. John Bergen, 72, and his wife, Eloise, 63, were slashed and beaten on Wednesday and left for dead as burglars ransacked their home in the volatile region of Mount Egon. They're recovering in a Nairobi hospital.
CBC News, July 11

Couple forgive Kenyan attackers
B. C. missionaries brutally beaten, wife raped
CanWest News Service, July 12

Missionaries to stay despite vicious attack
'Jesus loves them and we forgive them,' B.C. man says of men who beat him, raped wife in Kenya
Canadian Press, July 12

July 17/2008

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