Indonesia

Four teenage girls walked down the path leading to Poso ChristianHigh School. The sun was shining in a cloudless sky and the girlslooked forward to another day of classes. It was a holiday for theIslamic schools in the area, celebrating the holy month of Ramadan. ButChristian schools like the one the four girls attended were still in session.Their friendship and fellowship brought smiles across their young facesas they enjoyed the peacefulness of the early Saturday morning. The stillness of the air was broken as six men dressed in black andwith veils covering their faces jumped out of the bushes and ran towardthem. Before the girls could move, the men surrounded their young victims and viciously began swinging machetes. Screaming for help, thegirls fought for their lives. Only one, Noviana Malewa, was able toescape. Covered in blood from cuts mostly on her face, she ran to findhelp. The bodies of Theresia Morangkir and Yarni Samube (both fifteenyears old), and Alfita Poliwo (seventeen), were left on the ground, theirheads severed from their bodies and missing. A couple of women walking to the nearby market heard the girlsscreaming for help. Filled with fear, the women ran toward the militarypost, reporting what they heard.