Prisoners of Hope: The Story of Our Captivity and Freedom in Afghanistan is the 2003 memoir of Christian aid workers Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer. The book details their early lives, their humanitarian work in Afghanistan, and their three months of imprisonment by the Taliban in 2001.
Born to middle-class American families, Curry and Mercer met at Antioch Community Church in Waco, Texas. They volunteered to work as aid workers with Shelter Now International (SNI) and were living in Afghanistan in 2001, having been motivated by a desire to serve "the poorest of the poor". While there, they provided humanitarian aid to hospitals, street children, and impoverished communities in Kabul. Curry and Mercer were arrested by the Taliban on August 3 after helping a local family to view the Jesus film and imprisoned for over 100 days along with several other foreign volunteers. During their internment, they were threatened with execution and became ill from head lice, asthma, and intestinal worms. Though the experience was "devastatingly hard", they wrote songs of praise to God and attempted to encourage the other prisoners. All of the SNI members were eventually freed by United States forces during operations in Kabul following the September 11 attacks of 2001.
Curry and Mercer jointly wrote their memoir in the year following their rescue. It was released in the summer of 2002 and received favorable reviews from critics.
Background
Dayna Curry grew up in Forest Hill, a suburb outside of Nashville, Tennessee with a population of roughly 23,000. Her parents divorced when she was young. She had a troubled youth following the divorce which included drugs, underage sex, shoplifting, and an abortion at the age of 17, all of which she deeply regretted. After becoming a Christian, she was able to "start all over and have a new life". She graduated from Brentwood High School in 1989 and subsequently attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Her father later stated, "I've always noticed her ... wanting to help people, and she's tended to have done this through Christian-based organizations." Heather Mercer grew up in a middle-class family in Vienna, Virginia. Like Curry, her parents also divorced and she attended Baylor University after graduating from Madison High School in 1995. She converted to Christianity after attending a church concert.
Curry, then 29, and Mercer, then 24, met through their shared involvement in the Antioch Community Church in Waco, Texas, where they received the opportunity to serve in Kabul, Afghanistan as aid workers with Shelter Now International (SNI). Mercer's parents strongly opposed the decision, especially after her younger sister, Hannah, died from an accidental prescription drug overdose shortly before her departure at the age of 21. Despite being placed in the upscale Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in Kabul, Curry and Mercer purposely requested the "smallest, most decrepit house on the street", explaining that they had come to serve the poor and did not want to be treated as wealthy foreigners.
While in Kabul, they worked with a large number of street children. Curry made a point to dedicate a least two days a week to helping one named Omar, whose father had recently died and whose family was struggling financially. Mercer regularly bought shoeshine and shoes for the children, who, according to Curry, began to call her "the compassionate one". When an interviewer later asked about the other forms of work they did, they responded, "At other times of day, we gave bread, fruit, or juice to the beggars we encountered. A small shop and produce stand were located at the end of our street, and when women beggars approached us, we would ask them to follow us to the shop and pick out the things they needed." Katrin Jelinek, one of their German coworkers, organized a program for boys to receive a hot meal and job training classes.
Towards the end of the summer, an Afghan family they had befriended began to ask about their faith and expressed interest in seeing a film about Jesus. Curry and Mercer agreed to privately show the film in the family's home on August 3, 2001.