Somalia, one of the least developed countries in the world, is famous for "piracy" and "war" all over the world, because Somalia has been in a state of anarchy for a long time, and ships from other countries are often hijacked, so this sea area located in the easternmost part of the African continent was once regarded as a "forbidden area for navigation" by countries around the world.
Somali pirates
But for some young juniors, Somalia is also an opportunity, especially for those who have just entered the society and hope to become popular, there is a "splash of wealth", the so-called "wealth and wealth are sought in danger", if you can explore the true face of Somalia, then the seeker will also become famous.
It was with this mentality that Amanda, a 27-year-old Canadian female journalist, embarked on a journey to Somalia, but Amanda did not realize at that time that this trip to Somalia not only did not make her famous, but instead left her living in a haze for the rest of her life.
So, what did Amanda do to be so humiliated? How did she escape? What kind of life did Amanda live after escaping?
Amanda
In August 2008, Amanda Linhot arrived in Somalia with her boyfriend, Amanda was only 27 years old at the time, and the reason why she came to this dangerous place in Somalia was because Amanda had just found a job as a journalist, and in order to make a difference in her work as soon as possible, Amanda chose to take the risk of going to Somalia to cover the news.
Amanda is well aware that Somalia is full of dangers, and the slightest mistake can endanger her life, but this famous "pirate kingdom" also has a lot of valuable news, which can easily help her win a reputation in society, so under the catalyst of young enthusiasm, Amanda decided to take a risk and invited her boyfriend to embark on a journey to Somalia with her.
Survival conditions in the Somali region
At that time, Amanda was full of curiosity about Somalia and was full of enthusiasm for the news she was about to carry out in Somalia, and before leaving, Amanda wrote in her diary: "I am very happy because there is no competition there." ”
When Amanda first arrived in Somalia, everything went well, in her opinion, it was not as dangerous as she thought, and it seemed to be no different from the outside world, and during her exploration, Amanda also met Robert Delapa, a reporter for National Geographic, who was also looking for valuable news in Somalia at the time.
When he first met Amanda, Robert was attracted by Amanda's youthful energy, because Robert and his party arrived in Somalia one step earlier than Amanda and were relatively familiar with the environment here, so Amanda asked Robert a lot of questions about Somalia after meeting.
Robert answered most of the questions Amanda asked, but there were many more that he could not answer because they related to dangerous areas in Somalia and they did not dare to go too far into them.
But Amanda was very excited, she kept asking Robert where these dangerous places were, and was ready to enter these forbidden areas to explore, Robert remembered that Amanda asked him where the bombs were most dense, where she was going to interview, and where to see the living conditions of local women.
Robert's fledgling drive made Robert admire, but Robert was also very worried that the impulsive Amanda would encounter danger and even harm the people around him, Robert's concern was not unreasonable, because not long after, the news came that Amanda was kidnapped by kidnappers.
It turned out that Amanda and her boyfriend were targeted by Somali kidnappers not long after they entered the dangerous area, and these people were originally targeting Robert and his party, but Robert and his party acted very cautiously and rarely set foot in dangerous areas, and even if they entered, the protective measures were well done, and they would soon be withdrawn, so the kidnappers had to find another target.
In fact, Amanda's boyfriend has always been disapproving of Amanda's interview with entering the dangerous area of Somalia, and he is even a little scared, because before this, they had hired several bodyguards, but when they heard that they were going to enter the "forbidden area", even the bodyguards were unwilling, and her boyfriend was a little worried, for fear of an accident, but Amanda insisted on going in to have a look.
Not surprisingly, Amanda paid the price for this move, and the kidnappers, who had been waiting for a long time, took immediate action after seeing Amanda and her boyfriend appear, and on the third day of Amanda and her boyfriend's entry into Somalia, the local kidnappers suddenly rushed over with AK47s, and the two were abducted on the spot.
Hijackings like this are a common occurrence in Somalia, where the kidnappers demanded ransom from their families after they kidnapped Amanda and her boyfriend, but the ransom process did not go well, leaving Amanda with a torturous life as a captivity.
Amanda and her boyfriend
Amanda's family is not wealthy, her father is incapacitated, and her mother is on minimum wage, so the $3 million ransom offered by the Somali kidnappers is simply sky-high for Amanda's family.
In order to rescue Amanda and her boyfriend, the family had to ask the Canadian government for help in the case of insufficient funds, hoping that the government would help pay the ransom, or negotiate for the Somali kidnappers to release Amanda, but even though the Canadian government sent negotiators to Somalia to negotiate, the other party still said that they would not release the ransom until they did not see it.
This made the rescue operation stalemate for a while, and during this period, the kidnapped Amanda and her boyfriend were tortured inhumanely, at first, the kidnappers just locked the two in a completely closed dark room, and came to threaten the two from time to time, so that the ransom could be delivered as soon as possible, although the threat was not pleasant, but Amanda and her boyfriend were acceptable.
But they couldn't wait for the ransom, and the kidnappers were no longer "friendly", and the beating began to become a routine for the two, and what made Amanda even more desperate was that a few days later, Amanda was dragged to another room, where four or five kidnappers were already waiting inside, and on the same day, several kidnappers worked together to control Amanda and carry out a horrific gang rape on her.
And Amanda didn't realize at the time that this was just the beginning, for the next few hundred days, kidnappers would enter the room almost every day, and Amanda was chained in the room, unable to move, and could only be slaughtered, at most one day, 12 kidnappers entered the room at once, and sometimes they would humiliate her in front of Amanda's boyfriend.
In order to protect themselves, Amanda and her boyfriend joined Islam, because according to the rules of Islam, Muslims are not allowed to do evil to other believers of the same kind, but the kidnappers did not pay much attention to this, and after learning that Amanda and her boyfriend joined Islam, the kidnappers continued to torture the two inhumanely on the grounds of "special circumstances".
After that, due to the failure of the Canadian government's negotiations, the government abandoned the rescue operation, and the angry kidnappers even played the Russian wheel game with Amanda, Amanda walked on the edge of the end of her life again and again, looking at the kidnappers who were holding guns and laughing at her, Amanda was full of anger and despair.
Amanda thought about finding a chance to escape, and also tried to escape by jumping from a 4-meter-high window sill, after jumping out of the window to escape, Amanda ran to a nearby mosque, trying to get the people there to save her life, but the locals knew the kidnappers' methods, no one was willing to help her, Amanda was quickly arrested again, and continued to be tortured.
This lasted for more than four hundred days, during which time Amanda lived in fear and despair every day, and she thought countless times that it would be better to kill herself than to live in such humiliation, but Amanda finally survived.
In those difficult days, Amanda built a "spiritual pavilion" for herself, and all the humiliations of the outside world no longer exist in this "spiritual pavilion", Amanda can live happily here, and can also get together with her family, relying on this way, Amanda survived day after day.
On November 25, 2009, Amanda finally received the good news that her family had raised $1.2 million to send her, and Amanda was finally released, 460 days after Amanda was kidnapped, and during those 460 days, Amanda was tortured even to her own mind.
When she was just released, Amanda was full of anger and resentment in her heart, because of the torture of the kidnappers, her body organs were seriously damaged, and there were countless fungi on her body, and her family went bankrupt in order to save her, and her future life became more and more difficult, because of these, Amanda almost suffered from depression and couldn't get out for a long time.
However, Amanda eventually came out, and in order to continue her life, Amanda tried to convince herself not to hate, but to look at it with an understanding attitude, realizing that they were just the product of an endless war, and for this, Amanda would do a "forgiveness ritual" every day, forgive those who had hurt her, and forgive herself, not to think about the past, but to move on.
In 2010, Amanda also founded a non-profit "Global Abundance Foundation" to help Somali women and girls get education, and provide psychological counseling and treatment for struggling Somali women, hoping to change the status quo in Somalia and bring peace to Somalia as soon as possible.
Later, Amanda also wrote her own experience into an autobiography to the public, reminding more people to pay attention to the chaos in Somalia, and she hoped that the international community could pay attention to the Somali issue to avoid things like her from happening again.