ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, August 20, 1996               TAG: 9608200065
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-4  EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press 

A YEAR AFTER BEING ABDUCTED, MISSIONARIES RETURN HOME

Sandra Harrington remembers the most chilling moment of the day she, her daughter and three others were kidnapped in Tanzania - when one gunman asked another whether they should shoot the captives all at once or one at a time.

A year later, Harrington, a missionary, and her daughter Christine returned home, arriving here Sunday for a 10-month furlough along with Harrington's husband and Christine's father, Dr. William G. Harrington, also a missionary.

Sandra Harrington, 35, and Christine, 11, were abducted by bandits as they took a bathroom break along a highway that cuts through a wild animal preserve near Morogoro in the east African country. William Harrington was not captured because he was the last to return to the car from the rest stop.

The passing of time has helped the terror to fade, Sandra Harrington said.

``I still think about it, but sort of in the abstract. It's not a living memory any longer; it's in the past,'' she said.

The three gunmen took the victims' car and drove them two miles down a remote dirt road. One of the captives was beaten, but none was shot.

Instead, they were drugged with a sedative and left for dead in the preserve. A rescue plane spotted the dazed missionaries the next morning.

One of the gunmen was later found dead in the wreckage of the stolen car. Another was caught and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The third has eluded capture.

``When you look at the scenario, it really could have been so much worse,'' William Harrington said.

The family lived in Chesterfield County until 1988, when they were appointed missionaries by the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board. William Harrington was a family physician for seven years. In Tanzania he is head of the one-doctor Kigoma Baptist Hospital. His wife, who was a part-time nurse here, teaches English.

``God was working through it in so many ways,'' Sandra Harrington said.

A group of about 15 friends and relatives, including William Harrington's parents, Betty and Tim Harrington, welcomed the family home.

``You always worry about them ... but the hijacking really took the icing off the cake,'' the elder Harrington said.

LENGTH: Short :   49 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. Christine Harrington, 11 (left), talks with friend 
          Marcie Fairchild, 11, at Richmond's airport Sunday.