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‘Love wins’: How a N.S. town collaborated to protect kidnapped women in Africa

Click to play video: 'Two Canadian women rescued from kidnappers in Ghana'
Two Canadian women rescued from kidnappers in Ghana
Two Canadian women have been rescued after they were kidnapped in Ghana last week. Lauren Tilley and Bailey Chitty were working there as volunteers. As Ross Lord reports, the young women's Maritimes communities are breathing a collective sigh of relief – Jun 12, 2019

Simple signs with a pair of blue hearts capture a small town’s sentiments over the rescue of two young Maritime women from kidnappers in Ghana.

A sign on the main street of Amherst, N.S., declares, “Love wins,” and placards have appeared in windows saying “Love won.”

WATCH: Ghana’s Minister of Information Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah told the media that security forces have rescued two Canadian women who were abducted in Ghana earlier this month.

Click to play video: '2 Canadian women rescued from kidnappers in Ghana: officials'
2 Canadian women rescued from kidnappers in Ghana: officials

Aaron Stubbert, the principal of Amherst Regional High School, said in an interview Thursday the message spread as the town celebrated the rescue of 20-year-old Bailey Chitty of Amherst, as well as 19-year-old Lauren Tilley of New Brunswick.

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The University of New Brunswick students were returned to safety by Ghana’s security forces Wednesday after a raid in the suburbs of Kumasi, the country’s second-largest city.

READ MORE: Canadian citizens kidnapped in Ghana: Global Affairs

Youth Challenge International, the non-profit group the women were volunteering with, has said Tilley and Chitty are receiving emotional and psychological support from professionals as they travel home.

Joe van Vulpen, deputy warden of Cumberland County, says the two-word offer of support went up at the public health centre on Amherst’s main street where Bailey’s mother Christina Chitty works.

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