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Like Mercer, 30-year-old Dayna Curry struggled with concern, if not guilt, about the stress put on her family. Two days after U.S. bombing began, the elder Curry said she wrote him that "she's sorry for the whole family worrying about her—especially my mother, who has been ill."

On October 18, after most of the Taliban justices failed to meet with the aid workers' lawyer, and the chief justice put off giving a verdict, Curry's voice was even more subdued. Besides praying for his daughter's release, he said in low tones, "I just want her to be looked after."

One week later, he received a letter from his daughter, relayed by e-mail from Cassell in Pakistan. Curry's firstborn wrote him, "The female guards that come each day to look after us have not been paid in two months—they are hungry—we give them any food we have extra or leftover to take to their families."

Most of Tilden Curry's immediate family reside in Denham Springs, Louisiana, where his sisters threw a benefit celebration for his imprisoned daughter on her birthday, November 4. Curry told the more than 250 townsfolk in attendance that if his daughter survived the ordeal, the same faith that led her to Afghanistan most likely would lead her to return.

"He kind of surprised us," says his sister Jackie Covington. "But Dayna gets a lot of her characteristics, I find, from my brother. She's a deep thinker and very determined."

By the time of that Sunday afternoon birthday celebration, the Taliban had cut off contact between the aid workers and their families. The Taliban had already demonstrated willingness to use civilians as human shields, and Northern Alliance troops and U.S. bombs were getting closer to Kabul.

But the "Birthday Blanket Bash," which raised $5,600 to provide Afghan children with blankets, was a festive occasion replete with hayrides, space-walks, and piñatas.

"We had face-painting, and it kept everybody in a pretty joyous mood," Covington says. "But a couple of times when Tilden was talking, I felt that a few people got a little teary-eyed because you could tell he tried so hard to be strong. And he is."

Curry was at a church dinner when two members told him his daughter had been released. She called him that night.

"Her first words were, 'Dad, I'm free!' It was such a joyful feeling to hear her voice—I will remember it the rest of my life," Curry says.

His mother died five days later. "We had hoped that she would be able to see Dayna again," he says, "but a least she was able to know that she was safe."

Copyright © 2002 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also appearing on our site today:

Big, Soft TargetsChristian relief agencies no longer work in war zones—they are the war zones.

A Bible study based on this article is available in Christianity Today's Current Issue Bible Study Series. This unique series uses articles from current issues of the magazine to prompt thought-provoking discussions in adult Sunday school classes or small groups.

Previous coverage of the Shelter Now imprisonment includes:

Entrapment SuspectedShelter Now leader believes workers were pawns in Taliban scheme. (January 18, 2002)

Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry Go Home to WacoChurch will send short-term mission to Afghanistan in the spring. (Dec. 11, 2001)

Free at Last!All 24 Shelter Now aid workers are going home. (Nov. 15, 2001)

Dayna Curry Will Celebrate Her 30th Birthday in a Taliban PrisonWith trial indefinitely postponed, the future is murky for Shelter Now hostages. (Nov. 2, 2001)

Caught in the CrossfireFamily, churches press for release of American missionaries in Kabul. (Oct. 31, 2001)

In Perspective: The Friendliest Murderous Militants in the WorldThe Soviet Union, United States, and others helped create Afghanistan's ruling Taliban. Will the world's most Islamic state backfire? (August 30, 2001)

Aid Workers Held CaptiveTaliban alleges housing group's staff engaged in evangelism. (August 30, 2001)

Diplomats Receive Visas Into Afghanistan, but Will Only Meet with Officials Over a week after raid on Shelter Germany, future for workers still unclear. (Aug. 13, 2001)

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February 4 2002, Vol. 46, No. 2