MONROVIA, LIBERIA - Like many Liberians, David Kolleh remembers a time when he looked at the dead bodies of his people with a sense of envy.

The 14-year civil war turned this West African capital into “a city where death was better than life,” he said. “Being alive was meaningless, as the order of life in Monrovia was violence and murder.”

Kolleh, 44, ministers for a church of Christ in Gbarnga, the provisional capital of Bong County, about 120 miles north of Monrovia. He endured more than a decade of fear, uncertainty and horror. In his struggle to survive he was separated from his family, arrested multiple times, beaten and threatened with death.

He witnessed starvation, brutal executions — even cannibalism.

Kolleh credits his faith with his survival, but said there were plenty of times when he felt abandoned and angry with God.

At those moments he saw God working through his family, friends and his infant daughter, who saved his life at least once.

IN THE SHADOW OF WAR

Born in the village of Dorstown, Kolleh encountered churches of Christ through a radio program, Search the Scriptures. He was baptized at age 26 by Thomas Clinton of the Gaye Town church in Monrovia.

He earned a diploma from the French Institute in 1988 and took a teaching job at the Camp Schiefflin Military Barrack, a stronghold for soldiers of then-president Samuel Doe. Doe seized power in a military coup in 1980 and won a presidential election in 1985, though his opponents disputed the results. By that time, Doe was a “full-grown dictator,” Kolleh said.

He was living in the barrack on Dec. 24, 1989, when the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), led by Charles Taylor, began its campaign against Doe’s forces.

Kolleh knew he would be forced to fight if he stayed but feared reprisal if he asked to leave. He didn’t play cards or drink with the officers and was considered “unsociable,” but he conducted Bible studies with many of the soldiers’ wives and children.

On May 8, 1990, a colonel in Doe’s army commended Kolleh for his service and granted him clearance to leave.

Four months later Doe was captured and killed by a splinter group of the NPFL. His brutal execution was videotaped and circulated widely.

LIFE AMONG THE REBELS

For Kolleh and his wife, Naomi, life in Monrovia was hard. Bodies lined the streets. Food was scarce. The couple eventually moved to Gbarnga, in Bong County, controlled by Taylor’s forces.

“Living among rebels was a real challenge,” Kolleh said. “They behaved as if they were from a different world.”

Fighting later forced the Kollehs from Gbarnga. They were on the run when Naomi gave birth to their first child, Winnie. Providing for a wife and daughter seemed impossible, and Kolleh said he became frustrated with God. Then a friend led them to a United Methodist church and cared for their needs.

The conflict forced the family to move again, and it wasn’t long before they were caught at a makeshift checkpoint where rebels were recruiting fighters by force. Kolleh took Winnie from her mother before soldiers separated the couple.

Baby in hand, Kolleh stood before what he called a “death squad.” A “dirty and desperate fighter” approached him.

“He took out a human skull and set it on my head. He warned that if it dropped, I would likewise drop.”

Winnie started crying. Kolleh described it as a terrible, bitter cry that silenced the soldiers. The recruiting officer ordered him set free to find the baby’s mother.

THE DARKEST HOUR

Kolleh’s most gripping story of survival began at 4 a.m. Oct. 30, 1994. He was awakened at gunpoint by a soldier who wanted him to carry looted items to the town of Ganta. That meant crossing territory controlled by the Liberia Peace Council (LPC), a hostile splinter group.

Twenty minutes after passing the bank of the Beh River, gunfire erupted and Kolleh’s protectors fled. He lost consciousness and awoke under two dead bodies. He heard LPC fighters counting the dead. One said, “We need the hearts of two men for this evening’s meal.”

Kolleh began reciting Psalm 27 in his head: “The Lord is my light and my salvation — whom shall I fear?”

One fighter searched Kolleh’s pockets and found his New Testament. Another kicked him in the head, causing him to cry out. The men laughed and used the pages of his Bible as rolling papers for opium. They asked him why God hadn’t saved him.

Kolleh was imprisoned at an LPC camp. He watched in terror as the fighters performed the ritual killing of another prisoner, removing his heart and intestines and boiling his flesh. “I wish the earth had swallowed me up to avoid seeing such wickedness,” Kolleh said. “They assured me the next day was mine.”

Later a priestess of juju — the Liberian term for sorcery — questioned Kolleh. He told her he was a preacher. She hit him and accused him of provoking evil spirits. He stood silently in prayer.

Finally, she told him to leave the camp or be killed. He received no explanation for his release, but “it was clear that my presence was causing serious damage to their oracles,” he said.

REBUILDING WHAT WAS LOST

After surviving 14 years of war, any Liberian is qualified to write a book on human suffering. Kolleh has done just that. “My Journey Through the Valley of Death” is the title of his unpublished manuscript. The work details his family’s struggles and his efforts to rebuild churches of Christ in Gbarnga.

Kolleh preaches for a congregation of about 105 members. He also hosts a local radio show, “The Restoration Broadcast,” and has plans for a rural evangelism program and a preaching school in Gbarnga.

He also works with the church of Christ in Suakoko, a town where he and his family found shelter during the conflict.

Fungbeh Karmue, who works with the Suakoko church and eight other churches in Bong County, also has harrowing stories of survival during the war.

Karmue’s wife, Neyor, lives in Jacksonville, Fla., and plans to reunite with her husband in Liberia soon. She attends the Argyle church, Jacksonville, where one Sunday she met visitors Don and Martha Bryant, members of the Quail Springs church, Oklahoma City.

The Bryants were encouraged by Neyor Karmue’s story and visited Suakoko earlier this year. They met Kolleh and caught his vision for rural evangelism.

“Most of the focus for evangelism has been in the city of Monrovia,” Martha Bryant said. “The rural areas are in need of facilities which will house a place of worship, a school and a clinic.”

Kolleh said he was encouraged by the Bryants’ interest in helping the Liberian people, now facing extreme poverty because of the war. The suffering isn’t over.

Reflecting on his own struggles, he realizes that when he questioned God about why he was suffering “I only found myself becoming a victim.”

“When believers suffer, they should count it as blessing and remain unmovable,” he said, “for our labor is not in vain.”