It is amazing that Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan are still alive and now free. I am very happy for them and desire for their health to recover. They will never be the same and the scars and aftermath is untold.
Though their physical suffering has ended, their emotional and mental suffering continues at the present time.
Unfortunately many people on blogs are blaming them for the situation they were in.
It is never the victim’s fault for violent crime to be perpetrated against them.
There were five of them who were ambushed. Three were Somalia citizens and of the group, there were four men. Some people are saying it was Lindhout’s fault because she was a woman.
It is wrong to blame a victim for “being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or because of their gender, or they should know better.”
The outrage should be against the kidnappers alone. These kidnappers chose to plan and act out a horrific crime against innocent victims just for money.
I know a lady that was kidnapped at a C-Train station in Calgary a few years ago.
Kidnapping happens right here in Canada. So do many other crimes.
For Amanda and Nigel, this has opened the world’s eyes to the plight of the Somali people and situation in that country.
It is reported that kidnappings of Somalis by their own people happen frequently there. It is now up to the organizations and governments of the world to do something to help bring order to a nation that needs it.
May Amanda and Nigel’s suffering not be in vain. May conditions improve in that nation. May the three Somalis and both journalists find healing and peace.
My prayers are with you.
Jessica Fischer
Red Deer