University administrator experiences Ivory Coast attack

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - She's still shaken by the experience.

Despite that, Peterson-Miller said she "absolutely" would return to Africa.

"The people who suffer the most from this are those in the Ivory Coast," said Peterson-Miller, director of Admissions and the Office of International Student Services at Indiana University South Bend.

Armed men attacked a beach resort in Grand-Bassam, Ivory Coast, on March 13, in an attack claimed by al-Qaida's North Africa branch. At least 19 civilians and two soldiers were slain, as well as six attackers, according to news reports.

In her role at IU South Bend, Peterson-Miller travels abroad once or twice each year to forge ties and recruit potential IU South Bend students. In the past, she's made such trips to Taiwan, China and Malaysia.

This was her first trip to Africa. She was among about 25 people participating in a U.S. Commercial Service education trade mission. The group included academics from universities big and small, public and private.

The group made initial stops in South Africa and Ghana, with Ivory Coast the last stop on the trip.

The Ivory Coast visit was the one most important to Peterson-Miller, because about 25 Ivory Coast students are studying at IU South Bend and it's one of the university's largest drawing spots from abroad.

The delegation trip was scheduled to end March 13, the day of the attack. Peterson-Miller was heading to a farewell luncheon at the hotel L'Etoile du Sud (the Southern Star) and was running late when the gunfire started.

Running late turned out to be lucky. The hotel where the luncheon was scheduled was among those where the gunmen opened fire.

"At the time we were to meet (at the hotel), they rose up with their guns," she said.

Her husband, Christopher Miller, accompanied her on the trip.

The couple heard heavy gunfire, and ran for cover in a nearby museum. They didn't know what was happening and "it felt like they were shooting at us," Peterson-Miller said.

Their small group later crawled to a safer spot in the basement of a building. They were with members of the U.S. Embassy staff, who were making cellphone calls to gather information.

"One of the women was pacing back and forth, saying: 'We're in big trouble,'" she recalled.

They were in that room for several hours, with their phones ordered off for safety reasons, and they lost track of time. "At that point, everyone was praying," Peterson-Miller said.

They didn't know for sure it was a terrorist attack until hours later, when the gunfire stopped and they were moved under armed guard by bus, first to the mayor's house, then to the U.S. Embassy in Abidjam, a city about 20 miles away.

"That was the first time we heard it was intentional and they came to kill," she said. They also learned the attack was planned in advance and the attackers intended to take hostages.

Peterson-Miller had planned to stay on an extra week to meet with parents of current IU South Bend students and administrators at a nearby university. Instead, she and her husband returned to South Bend on Thursday.

But she would go back. Such in-person experiences are important to form bonds of trust and make people there aware of educational opportunities available in the United States, she said.

"It was an extraordinary experience," she said, "to walk the earth in Africa."

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Source: South Bend Tribune, http://bit.ly/1ULoGc8

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Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com