Liberia: The cost of defending the Gospel; how Rev. Abba Karnga survived a gunshot wound to the head!
In this 2021 file photograph, Rev. Dr. Abba Grogro GbidiDein Karnga sits in the very seat behind his desk where he was shot in the head by a MODEL rebel girl-child soldier in Buchanan, Grand Bassa. Photo by James Kokulo Fasuekoi
“Henry, war is not good!…All I could remember saying was, I am shot! And I fell to the floor unconscious”…Rev. Dr. Abba G.G. Karnga
By James Kokulo Fasuekoi|Editor-Publisher
At 93 today, the Rev. Dr. Abba Grogro GbidiDein Karnga has lived long enough to see his country’s good and bad times. And he has at least witnessed or survived four violent revolutions, with two sitting presidents being brutally murdered in the capital, Monrovia.
During a 1980 military take-over, the military junta oversaw the public executions of some 13 ex-cabinet officials. However, it was in fact the country’s two civil wars in the 90s and 2000s, that nearly snatched his life away.
Rev. Karnga, shot in the head by girl-child soldier!
Within about an hour after MODEL-rebel soldiers took control of the seaport city of Buchanan, July 28, 2003, a girl-child soldier of about age 12, shot Dr. Karnga in the head and he dropped on the floor.
The shooting wasn’t an accident; a disgruntled neighbor had pointed him out and a commander from the rebel MODEL faction to lead a team of “five armed fighters” including (the girl-child soldier) to his home to arrest or possibly execute him.
“All I could remember saying was, I am shot! And I fell to the floor unconscious,” Rev. Karnga wrote in a letter to his junior brother, Rev. Henry Goeh of South Carolina, after recuperation.
According to his account, published by a local church website, the incident happened moments after heavy shooting had subsided in the city and that’s when he awoke from the floor, sat in a chair and picked a call from Mr. Peter Dahn, son-in-law in the US.
“Henry, God’s miracles are worth believing. There was one in my case. No one will easily believe that a machine gun shot hit my head only to go through the flesh without a bone fracture nor brain damage. Prayer indeed is powerful,” it continued.
“Henry, war is not good!” Dr. Karnga’s lamentation went on, further citing that “both the rebel factions and the Government soldiers killed ” countless people in Liberia, aside massive looting of people’s properties including “family photographs” hanging on walls.
In yet a second letter to Tim Slanger, another brother, he explained that after three weeks of such ordeal, a Catholic priest, Fr. Boniface Flokiah secretly contacted Red Cross’ Sister Barbra and they smuggled him to Monrovia where he received immediate treatment.
Rev. Karnga marked for death in 1990?
Similarly, he told Rev. Henry Goeh of another rebel general named “C.O. Death,” from Taylor’s NPFL who he said had marked him to die in August 1990, and even set a date he would personally “kill” Rev. Karnga in the most cruel but bizarre fashion.
There weren’t any particular crimes held against Dr. Karnga except that he had lived peaceably in the city, preaching the Word of God, often helping out those who needed his help all those years.
“C.O. Death, the name of the rebel commander, had given me a death date, and had promised to behead me with a dull knife at 5:30 p.m.,” said.
Evenso, the fearless former classroom teacher said he refused to depart Liberia against the advice of his family and loved ones on condition that his life alone wasn’t better than those he would leave behind.
However, he said when his would-be “killer” arrived at 5: p.m. at his home “to do his job…he was late!” Dr. Karnga had been smuggled out of Buchanan for the Ivory Coast about ten hours earlier through the help of another Catholic priest named Father John.
Rev. Karnga, a people’s centered person
Dr. Karnga is a very generous individual and a people’s centered-person.
Hence, the need for the media to begin narrating his story especially, at a time when virtue is fast disappearing in this Christian nation, while immorality and lawlessness continue to increase among the ordinary people and the nation’s leaders.
In 2 Thessalonians 3:3 for example, Christians learn of the faithfulness of God: “But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.” Deuteronomy 31:8 further assures the faithful that “…He (God) will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” True indeed!
Apart from “protection” that God continues to provide Servant Dr. Karnga and family, He God has also blessed him with people-including from his Bassa ethnic group-who shower him (Karnga) with love daily.
God’s glory seems to surround him so much that people from far and near are often drawn to him as a father because of his goodwill.
On any given day, for instance, people take turns in Buchanan, waiting to meet him: some come to seek knowledge and wisdom while others go in to seek some types of help that may range from a small purse, food or domestic matters.
On the morning that Rev. Goeh led me to greet him May 20, 2021, a man who had been waiting near Dr. Karnga’s porch when we arrived soon forced his way into the house with us the moment Elder Karnga opened the door to let us in.
At first, he thought the man was part of our visiting team, but he asked him to wait so he could see him later since he was there to discuss a private matter.
Dr. Karnga’s good-name and his wonderful work for God, have drawn people to him from other parts of the world including America. Desiree, a one-time resident of Pennsylvania is one of them.
Now Desiree Karnga, she adopted the family’s name many years ago after the middle-aged woman befriended some of Karnga’s own children, many of whom live in that state.
Touched by the unity and love she saw among the Karngas, Desiree Karnga finally moved to Liberia prominently about a decade ago and got married, making sure her foster father, Rev. Karnga walks her down the aisles and gives her into marriage.
Dr. Karnga: the teacher, the scholar
Dr. Abba G. G. Karnga doesn’t seem to be your typical scholar that loves much publicity. In fact he appears to have evaded media publicity all those many years.
However, of late, the more Global Ekklesia sought to look into his personal life the more fascinating his story became.
Coming from a modest family background he didn’t have the privilege to start schooling early as most of his peers according to family accounts.
His elder daughter, Mrs. Mary Karnga-Dahn told Global Ekklesia, their father started school indeed, at age 18 and became the oldest in his “A.B.C.” class.
A current resident of Jacksonville Fl, she said her father’s “loud voice” in repeating the “A. B. C.” after the teacher’s in his early school days made his classmates-“all kids”, to poke jokes at him.
Yet, this unfortunate African experience didn’t deter Father Karnga from pursuing further education.
By the time executives of Ohio based Firestone rubber company arrived in Liberia and started to erect schools and a new city-headquarters for their company Teacher Karnga was among a group of young men who jumped in to help.
According to an August 28, 2019, Facebook post by Professor Dr. Syrulwa Somah, a leading Liberian scholar, Elder Karnga, was the guy who “coined” the name “Har-bel” for the “emerging city” during a forum staged by Firestone executives seeking suggestions for a name to be used for their HQs, in the early 1960s.
Dr. Somah indicated Teacher Karnga combined some syllables of the names Harvey and Isabella; “Har-” from Harvey [owner of Firestone) and “-Bel” from Isabella” (Harvey’s wife).
Correction/update: The lady in the above black and white photograph was erroneously referred to earlier as wife of Dr. Karnga. Rather, the woman is Mrs. Mary Karnga-Dahn, elder daughter of Rev. Karnga. We regret the error.