Internationally-known speaker and humanitarian Amanda Lindhout, spoke to students at Community Worship about her 460-day ordeal as a hostage held by Somali kidnappers and the lessons in hope, compassion and forgiveness she learned from that experience. Lindhout says several factors helped her surivive the horrible experience. First, her memories of what she left behind, "memories of home, my family, friends, Canada." Second, her dreams for the future, "the dreams of what I could do with my life if I made it out of that very difficult situation alive."
"I dreamed about what I could do to make Somalia a better place if I made it out," said Lindhout. She said that in spite of her brutal treatment by the militiamen, she was deeply moved by the strength and kindness of the Somali people, especially the women.
Lindhout is the founder of the Global Enrichment Foundation an incorporated non-profit organization that seeks to promote peace and development in Somalia through sustainable educational and community-based empowerment programs, while undertaking humanitarian and life-saving emergency interventions in times of crisis. Lindhout will publish a book about her life and work in September titled A House In the Sky: A Memoir.
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