Canadian Journalist Establishes Scholarship Program - May 26, 2010

Even though she is only 28 years old, Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout is an experienced journalist, having covered some of the world’s most dangerous events in the past few years.  She has reported from war zones in Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan.  She has worked for Iran’s Press TV and reported for the Red Deer (Alberta) Advocate newspaper. It was as an independent journalist that she traveled to Mogadishu, Somalia in August 2008 to report on the famine and violence faced by refugees in Sudan.

Three days after arriving in Somalia, on August 23, she and a fellow journalist, along with their driver and translator were stopped by gunmen as they were traveling to a refugee camp. She and Australian journalist Nigel Brennan would be held hostage for 15 months, until family members paid the $600,000 ransom. 

Since her release last November, Lindhout has stayed out of the public eye.  The Alberta native returned to her family in Sylvan Lake near Red Deer.  On Sunday, May 16 she made her first public appearance choosing to do in the supportive atmosphere of the church she attended as a child, First Christian Reformed Church in Red Deer.  The warm reception from the congregation was very moving for Lindhout, who took some time to compose herself.  When she did, she thanked the congregation for their prayers during her captivity. She said that they “brought light into the darkness of my captivity.”

Amanda shared about some of the torture and beatings she received while in captivity and in response announced that she was launching a scholarship program for Somali women.

The idea for the foundation, which hopes to be able to send 100 women from Somalia to university in the next four years, came to her during the long days spent in a small, windowless cell.  In Lindhout’s words “When you are being kept in an utterly dark room, with no freedom to move because you’re in chains . . . I started thinking that if somehow I make it out, I have to do something great with my life.”

She has decided to give up journalism and has been accepted into St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia where this fall she will study how to establish sustainable development programs in developing countries.  The brutal treatment she received during her confinement has reshaped her priorities from publicizing the plight of people in Third World countries as a journalist to giving hands on assistance as a humanitarian.  While she has no plans to return to Somalia, the plight of women in Somalia has deeply affected her. She told the congregation “I cannot be completely free as long as my sisters in Somalia are being oppressed.”

Lindhout said that she was treated far worse than her fellow captive, because she was a woman. She didn’t go into details of her ordeal but said the kidnappers “treated me and abused me in very specific ways that Nigel never had to experience” — because of their narrow interpretation of certain parts of the Koran, pertaining to women.  “I was abused in many ways that were justified in accordance with a very strict interpretation of Islamic law and I feel a great deal of empathy and compassion for the women who continue to suffer there," said Lindhout.

All females in Somalia are subject to “draconian” restrictions, with their rights to education and work threatened. Lindhout is planning to use word-of-mouth notification about her scholarships in more repressive parts of the country where candidates could face repercussions. In some regions, women must cover their faces and entire bodies while in public and have male escorts. And females accused of a rumoured infidelity can be stoned to death.

At one point during her captivity, the young men who had kidnapped her, each 18 years old, returned from observing such a stoning and at first seemed “euphoric.”  But after observing their ongoing discussions about the brutality, she realized they had been traumatized.  Amanda saw this as a hopeful sign that those who have grown up knowing nothing but abuse can still have a certain amount of empathy. 

She told the congregation that she wondered what might have happened if these young men, children of war and poverty, had been raised instead by mothers who could have given them a wider world view. Her hope is that educated women will pass on what they have learned to their parents, sibling and children.  She also sees the day when they will impact their communities by helping others and starting businesses.

Each $1000 scholarship provided by her publicly funded foundation will provide enough for university tuition and a living stipend. Her organization is in the planning stages and will be named the Global Enrichment Foundation.

Several leaders of the Somali community were in attendance at the church service on Sunday to give Lindhout their support. Halima Ali, executive-director of the Central Alberta Immigrant Women’s Association, was impressed that instead of being “vengeful,” Lindhout is reaching out to Somali people. “I am so proud of her and her foundation.”

Hussein Warsame, chair of accounting at the University of Calgary business school, believes his impoverished homeland, which was devastated by a 20-year war and droughts, will be immeasurably improved if more women are educated. Currently fewer than one in four women finish elementary school.

Lindhout exemplifies “that kindness, empathy and forgiveness are the strongest weapons against evil,” said Warsame.

Amanda was interviewed following the service and was asked if she had forgiven her captors.  She replied “I work on forgiveness every single day.”

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