Nelson County woman remembers family slain by terrorists

Two years after her husband and daughter were killed by terrorists in Mumbai, India, Nellysford resident Kia Scherr is back in the city where her family spent their last days.

“Every day it’s like I’m with them here,” she said. “It’s hard. It’s both comforting and healing and at the same time it’s painful. I do feel much more connected with them here.”

Scherr’s family, Alan, 58, and Naomi, 13, were killed when terrorists attacked the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai, India on Nov. 26, 2008, where they had been staying while on a spiritual retreat with 23 other members of the Synchronicity Foundation, a spiritual-based community in Nelson County.

The Scherrs had lived at the Synchronicity Foundation in Nellysford on Adial Road for more than a decade. Alan was a spokesman and book editor for the organization.

It was Naomi’s first trip to India. It was also her first time on an airplane.

Kia Scherr was visiting relatives in Florida when the attacks occurred.

In early November of this year, Scherr traveled to India to commemorate the attacks on Nov. 26 and plans to stay in the country until December.

During her time in India, Scherr has met with many government officials and dignitaries, including President Barack Obama. She also has met with survivors of the terrorist attacks that killed 166 people, and family members or friends of those who died in the attacks.

“I needed to see for myself and meet the people here. I’ve been talking to staff members who were on duty during the attacks,” she said. “I heard their stories. So many of them lost family and friends, too. I met a woman who lost 22 friends, colleagues and people she knew well.”

Other members of the Synchronicity Foundation are traveling to Mumbai for the commemoration events, including Master Charles Cannon, the leader of Synchronicity Foundation, who survived the attacks.

Cannon and more than a dozen other members of the association barricaded themselves in their hotel rooms before rescuers found them more than 48 hours after the attacks. It was Cannon who identified the bodies of Alan and Naomi.

Cannon said he was looking forward to the two-week trip to India.

“It feels wonderful to be going back,” he said. “I’ve had a long history with India. I have many friends and acquaintances there that I remain in touch with. It will be good to be with them again as well as the people of India, who have always been very welcoming and honoring of me.”

Cannon said the foundation and its members as a whole have dealt with the trauma and loss of the terrorist attack “very well,” and he is “curious” to see what his reaction to being at the Oberoi Hotel again will be.

“I’ve been very reflective on that as any human being would be,” he said. “There is that very primal and instinctual part of you that naturally responds to the threat of death. That was a very traumatic experience in that regard.”

Cannon said he will be staying at the Oberoi Hotel during his time in Mumbai.

After attacks, Scherr and Cannon, along with the Synchronicity Foundation, launched One Life Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring and encouraging conversations about the “oneness and sacredness of life.”

During the commemoration ceremonies on Nov. 26 in Mumbai, the One Life Alliance will hold a live web cast from their website of the proceedings, at www.onelifealliance.com.

Scherr said the One Life Alliance is going to declare Nov. 26 the “Sacredness of Life” day during the commemoration events and invite those attending to take a pledge to honor life for 20 days.

“We have a chance of creating a positive outcome from this tragedy by bringing focus to the sacredness of life and honoring that,” she said. “Let’s make this day be known for that.”

Cannon said the One Life Alliance has a wide audience.

“One Life Alliance has an incredible global reach that keeps unfolding in the most beautiful, incredible way,” Cannon said. “It just has opened our world amazingly so. Everyone that we have shared our message with has been supportive and encouraging.”

Since losing her husband and daughter, Scherr said her life has gone from quiet and meditative to “very public.”

“It’s completely different,” Scherr said. “I was called to do this and I’m simply the messenger and have an opportunity to be the vehicle for a beautiful message. It’s a privilege to do this.”