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provides training, consultation and crisis response to missionaries. Carr’s team spent eight days holed up in a compound amidst fighting between rebel and government troops during September’s coup attempt.

By Karen F. Carr

Sunday, September 15
Our team headed to Bouaké along with several associate staff for two days of planning for an MKs in Crisis Workshop.

Tuesday, September 17
The participants for the Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills (SYIS) Facili-tator’s Training Workshop arrived in Bouake. We had eighteen at the SIL Center in Bouake (seventeen adults and one teenager accompanying his parents).

Thursday, September 19
I woke up at about 4 a.m. to the sound of automatic gunfire in the distance. At about 6:30 am we heard news of an attempted coup and that the cities of Abidjan, Bouaké and Korhogo had been attacked. Despite some tension and nervousness in the air, we decided to continue with the workshop.

About mid-morning, however, the gunfire sounded very close. We decided to move the workshop into the main building where we would be more protected and secure. Shortly after, we heard the news that Bouaké was in the control of rebel forces and that we could not leave the SIL Center. African employees started to carry in a supply of food for us, realizing that we might have to prolong our stay.

For the next few days, we continued the workshop-which was amazing that people could concentrate and work so hard despite the constant distraction of gunfire, the tension in the air and the inability to leave the compound. Spirits and morale remained very high and the group was becoming more cohesive. The four of us workshop facilitators decided to form a crisis management committee and started to prepare for a possible long term siege and a possible evacuation. We divided up tasks and ran parallel tracks of workshop facilitation and crisis management.

As we headed into the weekend, it was becoming clear to us that this situation was not going to resolve itself quickly. When our water was cut, we realized that we needed to start conserving water and possibly food. We never lost electricity or phone lines the entire time.

Monday, September 23
As we were preparing supper, there was a barrage of gunfire and heavy artillery very close to us. From different locations around the compound we all ran to the building’s middle floor and into the hallway, our agreed-upon safe haven. For the next few hours, we stayed grouped in the hallway and found ways to stay safe from any stray bullets that might hit the building. We were not being fired on personally but we were caught in some sort of cross fire. The intense shooting that night only lasted for about half an hour but we stayed put longer just to be cautious.

Tuesday, September 24
Probably the worst day for us in terms of being in the middle of the fighting. For four hours that afternoon, there was shooting all around us. We were lying down on the floor, praying, comforting each other and answering the phone-which was ringing about every ten minutes.

Wednesday, September 25
We got a phone call telling us that the French troops had arrived at the MK Boarding School. Later that day we heard that the children had been evacuated by a French military escort. Two of our participants had children in that school and we all rejoiced that the children were now safe from gunfire.

That same day, we had received a call from one of the SIL employees, a Liberian, asking if he and his family could seek refuge within the walls of the compound where we were staying. He feared for his life and the lives of his family. When they arrived that afternoon, they were accompanied by six other Liberian families. As we opened our doors, we were astonished to see some forty Liberian men, women and children all seeking refuge.

Questions arose on the leadership team-like how will they eat, will this place really be safe for them, will our providing refuge for them put our own lives at risk? We asked the group to pray together as we conferred and finally decided that we could not turn them away.

Thursday, September 26
At 3:00 in the afternoon, eight days after the fighting had started, we finally received the call we’d been awaiting. We could safely leave Bouaké. We were able to leave in our own vehicles as the French troops had temporarily secured the town and had negotiated a forty-eight hour cease fire between the rebel and loyalist troops. While we were thrilled to escape, we also felt the grief and distress of leaving behind many Africans who were trapped in this war zone with no clear escape.

We made it as far as Yamoussoukro on Thursday where we were greeted by American soldiers. We all spent the night in one person’s home. Our group of eighteen had been together under such tense circumstances that we wanted to stay together until it was time to say goodbye.

Friday, September 27
We arrived in Abidjan where we were greeted by a very warm, loving group from several missions who had been waiting and praying for us. As a group we had a closure time and said our goodbyes-which was not easy.

The future of Côte d’Ivoire remains uncertain. MMCT has often helped debrief others after crises, but this time we are among the ones needing to be debriefed. We are exhausted and know that it will take time to process and recover from all this. We are encouraged that there are some counselors and debriefers coming in to help us. And we know that in God’s bigger picture his purposes will be worked out no matter how hazy the road ahead looks.