Community Corner

Hamilton Church Mission Group Robbed, Assaulted

Members of a Hamilton church mission group was robbed and assaulted in Guatemala earlier this week.

A mission group from the First Congregational Church of Hamilton was robbed and assaulted just as they were heading home from Central America earlier this week.

Pastor Dorrington Little said the group was headed in vans to Guatemala City for their flight home when one of their vans was carjacked on Tuesday night. The members of the group in the van were robbed and assaulted, according to Little.

The robbery happened when one van got separated from a caravan of other group members. The group was made up on teenagers and adult chaperones, WHDH-TV reported, and some of the assaults were sexual, the station reported citing unnamed sources.

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“By God's grace everyone is now safe, and all the team members were able to continue their travel home on July 23 as originally scheduled,” Little wrote in a statement about the event. “The congregation and families of First Congregational Church of Hamilton are very grateful for their safe return.”

The 17-person group left Logan Airport in Boston, headed to Guatemala City, on July 16 for an eight day service trip.

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While there, the team conducted Vacation Bible School for children in a rural mountain village, helped building a home for a homeless family and cleaned out a community lot that was previously unusable. The trip was organized along with Partners in Development, whose goal is to help impoverished communities attain independence and whole life improvement.


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