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Posted: Thu, Jan. 26, 2012, 5:42 AM

At Valley Forge Christian College, relief at rescue of Jessica Buchanan

By Anthony Campisi

Inquirer Staff Writer

Jessica Buchanan was kidnapped in October.

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Whenever A. Glenn McClure glanced at the tiny black elephant statue in his office at Valley Forge Christian College, he'd say a little prayer for Jessica Buchanan. He knew his former student, now an aid worker in Somalia, had been held captive by pirates there since October.

Buchanan graduated in 2007 from Valley Forge Christian, where McClure heads the education department. The elephant, he said, was "her way of saying thank you" for his help in setting up a student teaching gig for her in Africa that would help cement her enduring commitment to that continent.

On Tuesday night his prayers were answered.

Buchanan, 32, was rescued by a team of Navy SEALS that included some involved in the military operation that killed Osama bin Laden.

Paul Hagen Thisted, 60, from Denmark, was freed along with Buchanan in the dramatic nighttime rescue, which U.S. officials said left nine Somali captors dead. The two were working for the Danish Refugee Council and had just finished a workshop on land mines when they were kidnapped.

U.S. officials said the raid was triggered in part by intelligence reports that Buchanan's health was failing. They did not elaborate.

At Valley Forge Christian, a small religious school of 1,100 students at the edge of Phoenixville on the grounds of a former military hospital, Buchanan's teachers remembered her Wednesday as a passionate student who was focused on teaching in Africa.

Before enrolling in the college, she had visited Nigeria. McClure said that when he approached her in 2006 to ask where she wanted to do her student teaching, he was surprised at her reply: She wanted to work at a Christian school in Kenya - Rosslyn Academy, in Nairobi.

"She had a passion to teach in that school," said McClure, who had to ask state education officials whether she could earn her teaching certification by working overseas. They said she could, as long as she was supervised by a teacher certified in the United States.

"She was a very passionate young lady," McClure remembered. When he asked what she would do if her plans to teach at Rosslyn fell through, Buchanan replied: "I don't want to teach anywhere else."

"She felt like God was directing and guiding her to Nairobi," McClure says, calling Buchanan a mature and focused student.

So Buchanan moved to Africa after graduating in 2007, and went to work full time at the academy, teaching fourth graders. It was in Africa, too, that Buchanan met her husband, said Don Meyer, president of Valley Forge Christian, which is affiliated with the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination.

In addition to a sister, Buchanan, who grew up in Ohio and Arizona, has a brother. Her father, who lives in Virginia, learned of the rescue in a personal phone call from President Obama. A college spokeswoman said the family did not wish to comment.

Growing up, Buchanan attended Ridgeville Christian, a school outside Dayton, Ohio, that is no longer in operation, according to the Associated Press.

Meyer remembered Buchanan returning to the Phoenixville campus for a visit two years ago, after her mother had died.

Venturing overseas is not unusual for the school's graduates. The chapel on the 100-acre campus has 47 flags in it, representing the countries around the world where alumni live.

"I want to bring you a Somalian flag," Meyer remembered Buchanan telling him.

The school president said he first learned of Buchanan's release from her brother-in-law, a student at the school.

Meyer broke the news to students at a daily morning prayer service Wednesday.

Danielle Guy, a freshman from West Philadelphia, attended that service. "That'll make a great testimony for the whole world," Guy said, explaining that she's a recent convert to Christianity and Buchanan's story "moves me."

David Scolforo, chairman of the behavioral sciences department, found out about Buchanan's rescue from his daughter, Christine, who is one of Buchanan's best friends and was a roommate at Valley Forge Christian.

Buchanan is "like a daughter to me," Scolforo said, recalling that she often spent time at his house. "It's been terrible," says Scolforo, who had been afraid that he would read of her death in a news report.

He said Buchanan's sister, Amy, called his daughter Tuesday night to tell her of the rescue.

And as for the Valley Forge Christian campus, where television news vans were lined up outside the main administrative building Wednesday, Meyer said, "This is not a routine day in our neighborhood."

Contact staff writer Anthony Campisi at 215-854-5015, acampisi@phillynews.com, or @campisia on Twitter.

Comments

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:21 AM, 01/26/2012

Since when did the U.S.Government start worrying about their citizen's "failing health"?

— oakster

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:40 AM, 01/26/2012

Glad we have our Spec Forces to rescue people who put themselves in harm way. I guess a navy seals life is worht as much, but then again I guess ther volunteer for the job...but didn't she also.

— FROM THE BEACH

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:41 AM, 01/26/2012

I am moved by her faith in god that guided to do mission work in Africa. Thank god for navy seals.

— Fritz and Alice

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:46 AM, 01/26/2012

Why were these people in Somalia?

— eng51

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:55 AM, 01/26/2012

Send her father the bill for the rescue.

— jimmymack

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:02 AM, 01/26/2012

The important thing is that it was coincidentally done on the night of the SOTU and was able to provide a nice backdrop for the Presidents speech.

— Phishface

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:31 AM, 01/26/2012

Thank God for these brave heroes. They are amazing. They do all this for little pay and recognition.

— robtpenn

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:41 AM, 01/26/2012

As someone who spent several years in Africa, I applaud Jessica Buchanan for her desire to make a difference in an area of the world where there is great need. I have no use for Christians who go to far-off lands just to spread their doctrine, but there are many whose faith drives them to do kind and useful things for people who have little and are suffering. Working to combat the scourge of land mines is certainly one of those things. I hope Ms. Buchanan will be OK. And BTW, michaeljackson, there's no indication at all that Ms. Buchanan was trying to convert Muslims. She was working for a non-sectarian organization that neutralizes land mines when they are laid in areas where they will maim or kill civilians. So she was trying to save the lives of Somalis, who happen to be Muslims. I hope you're not opposed to saving lives.

— Dave Clemens

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:44 AM, 01/26/2012

Somebody write this down...if I'm ever in a bad situation please call Navy Seal Team 6 to get me out. Those guys are beasts!!!

— mtairy1

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:57 AM, 01/26/2012

For Who, For What??

— lefty

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:04 AM, 01/26/2012

Seal Team Six is a team of Americans from all walks of (American) life who have formed a more perfect union.

An example for us all as stated by the Commander-In-Chief: President Obama.

— Tanksleyd

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:05 AM, 01/26/2012

Prayer works!

— Kevinmac

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:10 AM, 01/26/2012

I guess diplomacy wasn't working.

— STEPHEN1988

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:16 AM, 01/26/2012

First question...Why Somalia? That place is the REAL wild west. Plenty of other places to have a convention on land mines. Kudos, to Seal Team 6! They continue to show the best in our military. They are the best in the world!!!

— spreadheadpa