INTERVIEW
In their words: Canadian couple's horrifying ordeal
John and Eloise Bergen suffered broken bones, deep cuts in Kenya attack
Last Updated: Friday, July 11, 2008 | 3:20 PM ET
CBC News
John Bergen and his wife, Eloise, left, rest in a Nairobi hospital on July 11, 2008. (Sayyid Azim/Associated Press) John Bergen, 72, and his wife Eloise, 63, endured a vicious beating by several men armed with machetes and clubs in Kenya. The Canadian couple came to Africa from Vernon, B.C., four months ago to do missionary work and have vowed not to let the attack keep them from carrying on their work.
The two recently spoke with CBC Newsworld's Andrew Nichols about their terrifying experience and why they have chosen to stay on.
Andrew: John, we know you've undergone surgery, how are you feeling right now?
John: I'm feeling fine. I have two broken arms and legs that have been [indiscernible]. But I'm OK, my jaws are broken, and tomorrow they're planning to do surgery on my legs and my arms and my jaw, and my wife's jaw as well. She's been pummelled pretty badly. She's very, very swollen. So that's sort of the report on our physical condition.
Andrew: Well, it's certainly good to see that you both are recovering from this, but it's just such a horrible thing that's happened to the two of you. Can you take us back to the attack? Was there any warning or indication that there was a problem?
John: No. The only problem that we've had is my night watchmen on the farm. We have a farmhouse together with some garden plots where we can grow vegetables for the poor children who have no food, and so that's what we're doing. And the other night when I walked out of the house about 9 o'clock in the evening, and at 9 o'clock it's very dark outside, I'm calling for the night watchman, I can't recall exactly why I was calling for him, but all of a sudden, I'm jumped by about five or … five or more people who had machetes and clubs and they began to pound on me, and they've got me down on the ground and choking me, and that's why my voice is a little bit rough sounding.
And so they just kept on pounding and cutting and pounding and cutting and then finally threw me into a hedge, and then unbeknown to me, as I'm lying there just trying to recuperate, they went into the house and found my wife in the bathtub. And that was very bad, because they not only raped her, but they beat her and cut her. It was a very horrendous, horrendous situation for my wife.
'[They] just kept on pounding and cutting and pounding and cutting and then finally threw me into a hedge...'—John Bergen
So then eventually they started taking money and laptops; we had one laptop and a camera to go along with the laptop so that we could communicate with Canada with pictures and e-mails and so on. So they stole that, and then left. They went outside, backed my car out of the carport and tried to drive it away, but they must not have been very good drivers, because they hit the hedge and the car stopped. So then they just took off on foot. And Eloise came out eventually. She found me under the bush, under the hedge, and said she was going to start that car. And drive me in there, and into town so we could go to our Christian missionary compound, because we knew we'd be safe there.
So that's what she did. She dragged me into the car. I don't know how she did that, because I’m quite a bit heavier than she is, and so somehow she got me in there and we both drove to town. And I was out for most of it. I just don't remember too much. I think I got hit too many times in the head. So I was not too conscious at all. So we got to the place and they took us to the Kitali Hospital, where we got treatment.
And then from there, then from there they put us on an airplane.… My wife tells me in Kitali they did surgery for three hours on me and two hours on my wife, because we were so cut up and beat up and so on. So then sometime after that they chartered a plane and flew us to Nairobi so we could get more proper care, hospital care. So that's sort of my story, and Eloise, she can tell you her half of it if you want to hear it.
Andrew: We absolutely do. If you could just pass the phone over to Eloise.
John: We'll pass the phone over to Eloise and she can tell you her story. Thank you for listening.
Andrew: Thank you. So Eloise, can you hear me?
Eloise: Hello, this is Eloise, yes.
Andrew: Hi there. Tell me a little bit about how you're doing and how you're feeling and how you're able to, after being attacked yourself, able to get your husband to safety?
Eloise Bergen is shown with a child in Kenya in this recent handout photo. (Canadian Press) Eloise: Well, I was naked the whole time they were — whatever they were doing. They attacked me for 45 minutes to an hour, and so when they left, my hands were still tied behind my back, and I asked God to help me figure out how to get free. So he helped me remember that I had a pair of haircutting scissors in my makeup box. So I opened up the box praying that I wouldn't drop the scissors. I found the scissors, and then I was able, after a long time, to cut myself free.
I put a blanket around myself and went outside, and I called John, and I said, "Are you OK?" And he said, "No." I said, "Well keep talking so I can find you."
So he kept talking, and I found him lying there under the bushes. I think they had left him for dead. And at first we didn't know what to do because there's nobody we can run to, because nobody lives around us. So John said try to start the car, so I did after three times of trying to back it out of sort of the ditch, where they put it, banged up against a tree, the third time I really goosed it and got out of there.
And I took the car closer to where he was lying on the ground and put my arms — I got on the back of him, put my arms under his armpits and lifted him up, but he was too heavy. I said, "John, I can't carry you, you're too heavy." And he said, "Well, try your best and I'll just try to shuffle my feet along the ground."
'We want to stay because we know that this is where we're supposed to be.'—Eloise Bergen
So that's how I got him to the door of the car. Then I had to put him down and get my strength back again to lift him, because he was dead weight. I had to lift him up into the 4x4. And my face was just profusely flowing with blood at the time from my mouth and my nose, my whole body, during the whole ordeal was covered with blood. By this time before I left I had run back into the house to get a pair of jeans on and a shirt on. I couldn't find my shoes, so I just went without my shoes, and I said to John, "What if they've locked the gates?" He said, "Just ram the car through the gates anyway."
When we got to — we had to go through two gates to get to the highway, and I found that they weren't locked, they were closed, but I still just rammed right through both of them, and I got him to Kitali.
Andrew: Eloise, it is unbelievable to hear all of that. And from what we understand, you and your husband want to stay in Kenya. How does your family feel about that, and why do you want to stay?
Eloise: We haven't had a chance to talk to any of our family yet. We want to stay because we know that this is where we're supposed to be. God told us to come here, and we feel like we're on an assignment here to help the orphans. There are many people — most people here don't have enough to eat. We were growing gardens to help feed the orphans, and my husband and I minister in the outlying villages in the bush to people there, God's healing power and love, and we feel after this ordeal that we'll even have more to say to the people than we had before the ordeal.
Andrew: Eloise and John, it's been a pleasure to speak to you both. You are both the story of bravery and strength. It's truly unbelievable. Thank you very much. And best of luck in your recovery.
Eloise: You're welcome. Thank you.
