Longest held al-Qaeda hostage Feel like 108 yrs old, can’t relate to friends’ lives: Stephen McGown
On July 21, 2017, a week before his eventual release, he was asked to pack up his things and was told that they were shifting camps.
Stephen McGown at the International Kindness Festival in the city on Saturday
CHENNAI: What set out to be a ‘living the dream’ endeavour soon turned out into a nightmare for South African national, Stephen McGown who was captured by the al-Qaeda while on a bike trip from London to his hometown, Johannesburg.
He was in captivity in Mali for close to 6 years and was released in 2017.
McGown expedition was supposed to last 6 months motoring across the African landmass. Sharing his story with the denizens as part of the International Kindness Festival, he elaborated on the day he, along with a Swedish and a Dutch national, were taken captive at gunpoint by teen militants during a short halt at Timbuktu. It was the evening of November 24, 2011.
While it’s assumed that the trio would have bonded due to shared-trauma, Stephen said that they were never a team at all. “The Swede was individualistic and did not mingle. With the Dutch guy, our relationship strained over time,” McGown said. “The guys holding us captive were teenagers. I thought I could use my charm on them. It didn’t work.” His release was anti-climactic and came at a moment he least expected to.
On July 21, 2017, a week before his eventual release, he was asked to pack up his things and was told that they were shifting camps. On July 29, he was told that he was free to go. “Just like that,” he said.
When the moderator asked whether he would relive the experience, given a chance, McGown said, “In a strange way, it’s a privilege. My mother passed away couple of months before my release. If I could put that and the trauma caused to my family members aside, from a purely selfish perspective, the experiences I had, I wouldn’t change it.”
McGown is not sure if he has reintegrated with ‘normal life’. “I was 36 when I was kidnapped, and released when I was 42. My friends are living a life which I cannot relate to. My mind feels like I am 108 years old,” he stated.
