The same men who are placing all these outrageous restrictions on women’s freedoms in southern Somalia – that type of mentality – that’s what I had to deal with in captivity.
Amanda LindhoutI think it's the human spirit inside of all of us that has an enormous capacity to survive.
Amanda LindhoutChristmas was the one time of year when my brothers surfaced at home, when my parents and grandparents congregated to eat my mother's roast turkey.
Amanda LindhoutI used my captors names every chance I had. It was intentional, a way of reminding them that I saw them, of pegging them, of making them see me in return.
Amanda LindhoutBecause that’s the thing about the exact moment when you get somewhere that has required effort: There’s a freeze-frame instant of total fulfillment, when every expectation has been met and the world is perfect.
Amanda LindhoutI, too, was carrying around my own fate. All the things I couldn't know sat somewhere inside, embroidered into me-maybe not quite fixed to the point of inevitability but waiting, in any event, for a chance to unspool.
Amanda LindhoutThe road to recovery will not always be easy, but I will take it one day at a time, focusing on the moments I've dreamed about for so long.
Amanda LindhoutAfter being in captivity for so long, I can't begin to describe how wonderful it feels to be home in Canada.
Amanda LindhoutI swung from one place to the next, sometimes backward, sometimes forward, capitalizing on my own momentum, knowing that at some point my arms—or, more accurately, my quivering bank balance, accessed through foreign ATMs—would give out, and I’d fall to the ground.
Amanda LindhoutContemplating Christmas when you are isolated and far from home brings its own unique pain.
Amanda LindhoutI don't only long for the thrill of being in the middle of a war, I must understand it; I must make other people understand.
Amanda LindhoutFriendships that don't fit my life anymore have faded away, and new ones have come in.
Amanda Lindhout