Kennewick Peace Corps volunteer recovering after stabbing

Pamela Harvey dreamed about joining the Peace Corps for as long as her mother can remember. Her dream came true in June when she left for Uganda to help children in a health care center.

“She wanted to give of herself,” said her mother, Jackie Harvey of Kennewick. “She wanted to make a difference.”

But the Kennewick native woke up to a nightmare about 2:30 a.m. Sept. 28. Two men entered the Uganda home where Pamela, 23, and another Peace Corps volunteer were staying.

The men attacked Pamela and roommate Karina Menezes of California. Harvey was stabbed in her side with a butcher knife, which went all the way through her left lung, also hitting her diaphragm and slicing her stomach.

Menezes was stabbed in the abdomen and unsuccessfully tried to fight the men off before getting punched, she wrote in a blog post. She continued to yell and was able to get the men to leave when she told them the police had been called and were nearly there.

The floor of the home was drenched in blood, and the two women moaned in shock about what had happened, Menezes wrote. The intruders also stole electronics.

The young women were taken to a hospital near their post in Ogur, then by ambulance two hours to Gulu, she wrote. They then were flown to the capital of Kampala.

Menezes wrote that the doctors there weren’t doing much, and they were flown to South Africa the next day. At this point, Harvey, a 2010 Kamiakin High School graduate, was stitched in a way that caused her unbearable pain when she moved, making others sick to their stomach to watch.

Pamela underwent two surgeries shortly after arriving in South Africa, but had to have a third Oct. 7 when doctors discovered she continued to bleed from an open wound in her lung, said Jackie Harvey, who arrived in South Africa with Pamela’s father, Gary, on Oct. 1.

Pamela had three requests — that both parents come, they don’t cry and they bring Big Bear, a stuffed animal she has had since first grade.

Gary read Pamela the South African edition of People magazine, while Jackie acted silly to try to get her to open her eyes, Jackie said.

Pamela was released from the hospital Oct. 15 and is awaiting clearance for the 16-hour flight home, her mother said. The stabbing suspects are in custody, though it is unclear why they attacked the volunteers.

Pamela is healing, but remains weak, her mother said.

“My walking is slow, energy is low and my breathing is sometimes scary and painful. But all of you had my back and I am so blessed to be me,” Pamela said on a recent Facebook post.

The attack remains too difficult for Pamela to talk about, Jackie said.

Jackie returned to the United States on Oct. 11, while her husband remained with Pamela. Jackie said she needed to take care of some of the challenges facing Pamela on her return, starting with talking to Rep. Dan Newhouse’s office about assistance on her plane trip home.

Pamela will have to leave the Peace Corps while she recovers, her mother said. She can reapply later, but, for now, her dream is on hold.

“Watching her struggle to just live, I’m sad right now that her dream is over,” Jackie said. “As a parent, I can’t make her better. I wish I could take her pain away from her.”

Pamela has volunteered for years. She was honored as a Girl Scout for teaching 75 young people for their babysitting certifications. She also volunteered for Seattle Children’s Hospital’s Jennifer Van Zuyen Guild, which supports uncompensated care.

Pamela first went to Uganda in 2014, when she was an intern for Spokane-based Krochet Kids International, which trains women in impoverished countries to become business leaders.

Her mother said that Pamela was initially supposed to go to Tanzania to work with the Peace Corps, but that fell through. The Peace Corps initially wanted to make her reapply, but she was able to use her experience in Uganda to get stationed there.

Pamela had 38 goals she wanted to accomplish while in the Peace Corps, an assignment that was supposed to last 27 months, her mother said. Among them was making strides against breast cancer. She also wanted to help kids who saw their youth center close two years ago.

“Her hope was to pull together some grants and try to get the youth center open,” Jackie said.

Pamela ultimately wants to work for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which seeks to reduce poverty and improve health care around the world, Jackie said.

“She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body,” she said.

The family is uncertain how much money the Peace Corps will contribute to Pamela’s recovery, so fundraising accounts have been set up at Bank of America, as well as online.

In a statement, Peace Corps officials said there is nothing more important to the organization than the health, safety and security of its volunteers.

“In this case, Peace Corps is working closely with other U.S. officials and local authorities, and we are grateful for the shared commitment by the people and government of Uganda to keeping volunteers safe,” the statement said.

This story was originally published October 26, 2015 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Kennewick Peace Corps volunteer recovering after stabbing."