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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Violence on a different continent is hitting home in Nashville.

For the last couple of weeks, Trevecca students and staff have been desperately trying to reach two of their student-athletes, Lilian Mwange and Anne Opana, after they went home to Kenya for the holidays and got caught in the country's turmoil.

Whatever energy they brought to the soccer field hardly matched their feelings about going home.

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It was the first time the two Trevecca students would be going back to Kenya since starting college.

"They were so excited," a teammate said.

Mwange couldn't even make it home when her brother was killed.

Coach Brett Armstrong said one thing they were looking forward to was "being able to participate in that political process."

Participating in the process helped lead to worries over their safety.

Five-hundred people have been killed in Kenya's post-election turbulence; 300 were burned inside a church after what is being called a rigged election ignited ethnic violence across the country and in the two women's hometown of Nairobi.

"We've been very worried about them," another teammate said.http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/naia/sports/w-soccer/auto_action/1651258.jpeg

A couple days ago, staff was able to contact Opana's family, but no one had heard anything from Mwange for weeks until they were able to contact Opana's family and learn that the women had spent the day together.

"We got together and prayed for them hoping, knowing that God would hear," a teammate said.

While no one has heard her voice, the news that Mwange is OK is a relief, and a reunion is now hopefully just days away.

"Probably hug and cry and just listen to them tell their stories," a teammate said.

Getting the women back is still not a sure thing: the new president appointed his cabinet on Tuesday and violence could ensue because of it, but the women are scheduled to return in the next few days.

Both Mwange and Opana are seniors and plan on staying in the U.S. for a while longer and go to graduate school.