Nigerian missionary school's alumni force an investigation into past abuse

(RNS) — Alumni of Hillcrest School, a boarding school run by missionaries, have been pushing for an independent investigation since 2021, when a former principal admitted to molesting students during his time there.

People walk on the campus of Hillcrest School in Jos, Nigeria. (Video screen grab)

Bob Smietana
December 4, 2024

(RNS) — Three years ago, James McDowell, a former principal at the Hillcrest School in Jos, Nigeria, used a post in a Facebook group for the school’s alumni to confess to molesting two students. That led to more allegations of abuse and calls from former students at Hillcrest for an independent investigation.

On Sunday (Dec. 1), an alumni group representing survivors announced that eight Christian organizations have agreed to help fund an investigation into the allegations. Founded in 1942 by Church of the Brethren missionaries, Hillcrest educated both the children of missionaries, Nigerian students, and international students with the help of other denominations.

The Hillcrest alumni group has identified about 50 cases of alleged sexual abuse at the school.

The former students negotiated with 15 different faith groups that sent missionaries and students to Hillcrest over the years, coming to agreement with funders from the North American Baptist Conference; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Pioneers UK; the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church; SIM Nigeria; and the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada, as well as Resonate Global Mission, a Christian Reform Church missions group, and the Church of the Brethren.

Hillcrest leaders have also agreed to cooperate with and help fund the investigation.

Nigeria, red, located in West Africa. (Image courtesy Wikimedia/Creative Commons)

“It’s been a very long, tough road but now, we have real hope that the horrors so many of us endured will be brought to the surface,” said Letta Cartlidge, president of the Hillcrest Survivors Steering Committee, in a statement announcing the investigation.

Zero Abuse Project, a St. Paul, Minnesota, nonprofit that seeks to prevent child abuse, will conduct the investigation and promised to consider allegations dating back to the school’s founding. The Zero Abuse Project declined to say how much funding has been committed for the investigation, pointing instead to more information on the group’s website.

“The investigation will include whether Hillcrest School or others in authority (including the mission agencies cooperating or not cooperating with the investigation) had knowledge of abuse and, if so, how it/they responded to allegations of abuse,” according to the Zero Abuse Project website.

Kevin DeRaaff, director of Resonate Global Mission, told RNS in an email, “We are grateful to work with Hillcrest and our fellow mission agencies in supporting this independent investigation and trust that this process will surface the historical truth of what was experienced by students at Hillcrest and serve as a conduit of God’s healing and restoration for those who continue to live with pain and trauma.”

Graeme Simpson, deputy director of Pioneers UK, which had staff and students at Hillcrest, said in an email that his organization supports the investigation so that “the truth will be heard.”

“The investigation will be independent, and we will await its findings before being able to remark further,” he said.

Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, a spokesperson for the Church of the Brethren and an alum of Hillcrest School, said the denomination remains involved with the school and took part in the discussion over how an investigation could move forward.

“We feel a moral and ethical imperative to see that a good investigation is carried out,” said Brumbaugh-Cayford.

RELATED: Africa’s Anglican prelates say Archbishop Welby’s resignation is warning on abuse

Bishop John Schol, interim lead bishop of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria, said the church, which has supported and helped oversee Hillcrest, has been aware of the abuse allegations and supports the investigation. “The safety of our members, communities and visitors is of paramount concern to us and we remain vigilant in our efforts to ensure local churches and ministries are safe places for all,” Schol said in an email.

A spokesperson for the UMC’s General Board of Global Ministries said the UMC sent missionaries and missionary children to Hillcrest until 2000. The UMC is not aware of any allegations involving UMC missionaries., said Susan Clark, chief communications 0fficer

“Global Ministries is in full support of this investigation and is sharing the cost of the investigation along with other mission agencies and Hillcrest. We pray that its conclusion will bring healing to all those affected,” Clark said in an emailed statement.

Cartlidge said that as many as 6,000 students may have attended the school during its history, of which only about a third of the students were from missionary families. Others were international students or from Nigeria. She worries the focus on missionary children who studied at Hillcrest has overshadowed the bigger picture.

“It’s a story about the children of Hillcrest, not the missionary kids of Hillcrest,” she told RNS.

According to the Zero Abuse Project website, the mission groups and Hillcrest have agreed to help investigators find any document that might assist with the investigation. The school and mission groups also agreed to help Zero Abuse survey students who attended Hillcrest. Zero Abuse will publish a final report of its findings and will have total control of its content.

Hillcrest and the missions groups have also hired Accord, a conflict resolution firm based in West Virginia, to provide services to survivors of abuse during the investigation.

Cartlidge credited the Hillcrest alumni group with pushing through until it secured the investigation and said there has been a tangible sense of relief among alumni now that an investigation is underway. They are also taking comfort that neither Hillcrest nor the missions groups will be able to stop Zero Abuse Project’s findings from becoming public.

“The big thing is that they cannot cut and paste it,” she said. “They have to publish it in full.”