In 2008, a Canadian female journalist and her boyfriend went to Somalia for work interviews, but were kidnapped and imprisoned.
She was imprisoned for 460 days, during which time she was violated by many people and experienced a hellish life.
So how did this female journalist escape from the kidnappers?
What kind of life did the female journalist who was once treated inhumanely live afterward?
Amanda had a tragic childhood
In 1981, Amanda was born in a small town in Canada, and her life in her childhood was not satisfactory, which can be said to be very pitiful.
Amanda's father is an "alcoholic" and has a very short temper, whenever he finishes drinking, he will punch and kick his wife and children, and the family that should be happy and happy makes Amanda's father a mess.
Eventually, Amanda's mother couldn't take it anymore and chose to divorce her husband, leaving the town with her two young children and starting a hard life.
In order to share the pressure on their mother, Amanda and her younger brother would go to the street to pick up scrap after school to supplement the family's expenses.
By chance, Amanda found a copy of the American Geographic Magazine while rummaging through the trash can, and her eyes were immediately attracted by the magazine's beautiful landscape cover, so she happily brought the magazine home.
When Amanda returned home, she read the magazine many times and immersed herself in many beautiful landscapes, and then she had a dream of becoming a traveler and wanting to travel all over the world to see the good scenery.
After graduating from high school, Amanda was not admitted to the right university, and her family was already poor, so she no longer had the financial ability to support her and continue her studies.
After dropping out of school, Amanda got a job as a waitress at a bar not far from her home, although Amanda faced a noisy audience all day long, but she never forgot the dream in her heart.
Amanda took advantage of her time off from work and started traveling with the salary she had saved.
Freelance journalist Amanda
In the process of traveling, Amanda has continued to grow her knowledge, allowing her to find her true self, and she has also met many "freelance journalists" of all kinds during the journey.
They travel back and forth between countries, documenting all the novelty, and in Amanda's eyes, these "freelance journalists" are noble and free beings.
Amanda, who returned to work in the bar after the trip, had been thinking about the profession of "freelance journalist", and finally she couldn't resist the impulse in her heart, and chose to resign from the bar owner, deciding that she also wanted to become a "freelance reporter".
The profession of "freelance journalist" requires years of travel, which is also very hard, but Amanda is very happy because this is the life she wants.
In 2007, Amanda went to war-torn Afghanistan, where the situation was chaotic and dangerous, and Amanda reported an article for which she also gave herself the title "Fearless Amanda".
After experiencing this thrilling report, Amanda did not feel scared, but preferred to pursue this kind of exciting reporting place.
In 2008, Somalia was called "one of the most dangerous countries" because of its perennial gathering and large number of bad organizations, and a friend of Amanda told her about this dangerous place.
After Amanda learned about this place, she immediately told her boyfriend Nigel about her idea of going to Somalia and reporting the news, and her boyfriend was very angry after learning the news, saying that it would kill her if she went there.
Amanda has made up her mind to go, in her heart to go to Somalia, to report explosive news, and to make herself more famous, so Amanda began to play the emotional card with Nigel.
She began to recall to Negro what the original intention of the two was when they were together in the first place, and Nigel regarded Amanda as his true love, so after listening to Amanda's words, he let go of his worries.
The two embarked on the dangerous road to Somalia.
Travel to Somalia for your dreams
On August 1, 2008, Amanda and her boyfriend Nigel arrived in the perilous city of Somalia.
In addition to the dilapidated buildings, there is also the scorching sun, which shines on Amanda's face, which makes Amanda unbearable, but this is the path she chooses for herself, and she gritted her teeth and persevered.
The two carried cameras on their backs, walking on the dilapidated street, due to the perennial attacks, there were basically no people on the street, and the two were particularly "conspicuous" at this time, but in the chaotic Somalia of the times, "conspicuous" is not a good thing.
The two men did not understand the local dialect, so they found two guides to show them the way, and the guides led them to drive the car, and as soon as they entered the outer area of Mogadishu, they were violently shot at by a group of masked men.
Fortunately, the masked man just wanted to scare the two of them, but fortunately, the bullet didn't hit them, and the two local guides were so frightened that they fled in a hurry, leaving only Amanda and Nigel, who were already scared and paralyzed.
The masked man pointed a gun at the heads of the two, and Amanda was already incoherent with fright, and hurriedly told the masked man that he was a reporter, but the masked man didn't buy it and didn't care what the two identities were.
It turned out that these masked men had been eyeing the two of them for a long time, and after following them for a long time, they finally waited for a suitable place, and this group of masked people chose to start.
The kidnappers took out the ropes they had prepared in advance, tied them up and took them to the kidnappers' "lair", and the two were locked up in a small dark room, which was full of all kinds of bugs and rats.
The robbers directly picked up the cameras of the two men, filmed Amanda and Nigel tied up, kneeling on the ground and begging for help, and sent the footage to their families, demanding a ransom of $3 million.
Amanda is a "freelance journalist" and Nigel is a "freelance photographer" who does not belong to any media organization, and their families are forced to ask the Canadian government for help.
After lengthy negotiations with the kidnappers, the Canadian government first calmed the kidnappers' patience and then sent representatives to Somalia to conduct further interviews with the robbers.
The robbers refused to budge on the $3 million ransom, and the two sides eventually collapsed, and the Canadian government representatives asked to meet with Amanda and the two before leaving, and the robbers agreed to this condition.
When the Canadian representative met the two men, he asked them to stay here as Muslims for the time being, so as to reduce the victims' cruel persecution of them.
and assured the two that they would continue to find a way to rescue them, and let the two wait patiently for a while.
Inhuman abuse
The Canadian representative underestimated the vicious nature of this group of kidnappers, and as soon as the negotiators left, the group of robbers began to brutally abuse the two people.
When the kidnappers saw that Amanda was so slender, they had evil thoughts, and the robbers blindfolded Amanda with discarded strips of cloth and took turns violating Amanda, and Amanda had tears of despair in her eyes.
At this time, Nigel was lying on the ground with his whole body tied, and he tried his best to break free, but at this time he couldn't move at all, and could only watch these kidnappers brutally assault Amanda.
Since then, Amanda has become a tool for the kidnappers to vent their physical needs, and the robbers have been violating Amanda for a long time.
Whenever Nigel tried to save his girlfriend, he was brutally beaten by his kidnappers, and he would not stop struggling until he knocked Nigel unconscious.
Amanda and Nigel endured more than a year of captivity, during which they tried to escape several times, but they were found by the robbers, and each time they were recaptured, they were subjected to more brutal abuse.
The two of them thought that they were going to be destroyed to death by this group of beasts in this life, but at this time, a beam of light finally shone in.
Escape from Somalia
It turned out that the kidnapping of the two had spread all over the world through news broadcasts, and the families of Amanda and Nigel had never given up on them and were always looking for an opportunity to continue negotiations with the robbers.
At this time, the two of them were of little use to the robbers, so they agreed to lower the ransom.
During this year, the two families have been raising funds, and finally after 460 days of fundraising, the two families took 1.2 million US dollars and handed them over to the robbers to pick up the lives of the two people.
After Amanda was rescued home, she often remembered the scene of being violated in Somalia, and several times wanted to kill herself and leave this world, but whenever she thought of her family and boyfriend, she would give up on this idea.
After a long struggle of thoughts, coupled with the reassurance of a psychotherapist, Amanda finally came out of the shadows of the past.
In 2013, Amanda came out of the darkness and published an autobiographical book called "The Loft in the Sky" based on everything she had encountered in Somalia.
At the same time, she has set up a non-profit fund to raise funds from around the world to help women in Somalia and save them from the hardships of life.
Resources:
Beijing News - "A Female Journalist's Somali Nightmare"
North America Report - 460 Days of Canadian Women Journalists Captive, Gang-raped, and Abused by Terrorist Groups
Modern Express - "Canadian Female Journalist Publishes Book About 460 Days of Hell in Somalia"
Baidu Encyclopedia - "Amanda Linhot"