Amanda Lindhout
Amanda Lindhout is a Canada-based public speaker and philanthropist who talks about humanity, after being released from15 months long captivity.
Facts of Amanda Lindhout
| Full Name | Amanda Lindhout |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Canada |
| Date of Birth | 1981/6/12 |
| Birth Country | Canada |
| Birth Place | Red Deer, Alberta |
Amanda Lindhout is a Canada-based public speaker and philanthropist who talks about humanity. She is widely known for her book A House in the sky: A Memoir, where she has written the experience and torture she felt when a Somalian terrorist group took her as well as her friends hostage.
Lindhout is serving as the executive director of the Global Enrichment foundation which she founded in 2010. Its main objective is to provide university scholarships to females in Somalia. Recently, Amanda has also shared her story in the episode of Date Line.
Net Worth
Amanda Lindhout is estimated to have a net worth of $1.5 Million which she accumulated from her reporting career. Additionally, she also generates some money from her book A House in the sky: A Memoir.
She is serving as the executive producer of a non-profit organization Global Enrichment Foundation which helped many people.
Earlier Life
Lindhout was born on the 12th of June 1981 in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. She did not have the luxury to grow up in a normal and comfortable environment.
source: Wikipedia
When she was still a child, her parents split causing her to stay with her mother in Sylvan Lake, Alberta. Lindhout grew up reading the National Geographic News.
As per modern astrologers, Lindhout was born under the zodiac sign Gemini. She wanted to become a model when she was a child and therefore had done some modeling work. Similarly, before joining the reporting career, she worked as a waitress.
Family Background
Lindhout’s family consists of her parents and siblings. Due to her parent’s split, she was raised by her mother alongside her siblings Mark and Nathaniel.
source: Global News
Her mother Lorinda Lindhout, even though having a minimum-wage job raised her three children properly. Lindhout’s father, on the other hand, had a chronic health problem and needed to depend on his disability payments.
In addition to this, Lindhout thanks her mother for her release and said she would be dead if her mother did not help her.
Was Kidnapped By A Group Of Somali Armed People
Amanda was kidnapped by Somalian armed people after two days after their arrival in Mogadishu. The people who got caught along with her are her partner in the mission Nigel Brennan and some Somalian men that were with them. This incident took place on the 23rd of August, 2008
Lindhout was in Somalia for the freelance project of France 24 and was on the way to the Internally Displaced Problem (IDP) to conduct some interviews when a group of insurgents from the Hizbul Islam fundamentalist group with weapons stopped and abducted them.
Lindhout and her friend were kept hostage for fifteen months where they experienced a lot of torture and abuse. The kidnapper posted the hostage video on Al Jazeera and had asked for $2.5 Million as ransom money.
Later the amount decreased to $1 Million. Their parents received a lot of threats from the assault group. They had to sell their assets to raise the ransom money.
After the transaction was done through an organization that specializes in the payment of ransom money, she as well as her friend were released. After their release, she was kept for two weeks in Nairobi Hospital to treat acute malnutrition.
Her teeth were all messed up and her digestive system needed two years to function properly.
Torture And Abuse That Lindhout Experienced During Her Captive
During the days that Lindhout spent being a hostage, she was assaulted physically as well as mentally. Every day she would feel like committing suicide.
She was brutally raped and beaten repeatedly and was left with little or no food. She was malnourished and had to drink the water that contained mosquito larvae.
Lindhout was chained on her ankle and was isolated in a windowless dark room. She was sick and was not provided any medication.
Rumored To Be Married With Her Kidnapper
While Amanda was held captive for more than a year by the kidnapper, it was rumored that she married one of the kidnappers, Adam.
Maybe, they were just a rumor which was spread by Adam, thinking one day he will marry her. However, Amanda has not shed light on this topic and neither considers Adam to be her husband.
Rumored To Have Conceived A Baby While Was Held, Hostage
Lindhout was brutally assaulted while she was held hostage by a gang of Somali Terrorists. She was tortured both mentally and physically.
She was raped a lot by the kidnappers and was rumored to have conceived a baby while she was in the prison of the terrorist.
However, it is still not clear if the rumor is true or not. She has only said that she experiences a lot of unspeakable atrocities.
Converted To Islamic Religion
Amanda and her friend Nigel converted their religion to Islamic religion which could save them from dying at the hands of their kidnapper.
source: Sowetan live
An English version of the Quran was given to them which helped them to spend time in an isolated environment. Also, it served as a means of communication for Amanda and Nigel. They would underline certain words which collectively give some meaning. The page number is written on the reference to locate the words.
Arrest Of Ali Omar Ader
Ali Omar Ader acted as the main mediator and was charged with threatening Lindhout’s parents and abducting Lindhout. Ader who has introduced as Adam messaged Amanda writing Hello. It terrified her and contacted the Royal Canadian police.
source: BBC
According to them, it took six years to capture Adam through a string operation. Ader pleaded for forgiveness and said that he was not the same bad guy anymore.
He asked for freedom and forgiveness. As per him, his family was suffering and there was no one to support them.
It was revealed that there was no criminal history of him and had done this cruel deed for $10k. On June 12, 2015, Ader was sentenced to 15 years of jail.
Is Nigel Brennan And Amanda Lindhout Still Friends?
According to Brennan, the harsh experience has made their life disturbing, and has not been contacted with each other for more than seven years. He gave testimony against Ader in court.
They are not seen communicating together in the public. Brennan said he was forced to listen to his friend getting beaten up and raped while was held captive.
A House in the sky: A Memoir
A House in the sky: A Memoir is a book written by Amanda and her co-author Journalist Sara Corbett. In this book, she has shared the experience of her abduction. It was a 2013 New York Best Selling book and was awarded CBC Bookie Award for Best Canadian Nonfiction and was nominated for the 2014 Libris Award for best non-fiction book of 2013
source: Amazon
The book has a rating of 4.7 on Amazon and is being sold for $9.74 on kindle, $17.50 for cover, and $10.25 for paperback. Likewise, the book was also selected to make a screen adaptation of the work where Roonie Mara will act as Lindhout.
Philanthropic Work
Amanda became a humanitarian and public speaker after her release. She addressed the United Nations Association in Ottawa about women’s rights. Likewise, she shared her ideas, opinion, and awareness on different platforms including Google idea, One Billion Rising Event in Calgary, and so on.
Also, she founded the Global enrichment foundation which helped to provide education to Somali women and also help the refugee. This caused her to go back to Somalia. It also helped her to remove the fear that she had due to harsh experiences.
Awards And Accolades
The Red Deer & District Community Foundation presented Lindhout with the Red Deer Women of Excellence Award in Human Services in June 2012.
In March 2012, she presented at the annual Clinton Global Initiative about her humanitarian efforts in the Horn of Africa with the Global Enrichment Foundation. On May 30, 2014, Lindhout received an honoris causa doctor of law degree from the University of Lethbridge.
Social Media Presence
Amanda does not like to reveal her personal information to the public and does not want any attention. She has maintained her social media profile private.
This could be the result of her receiving many harsh, threatening, and abusive messages relating to her physique. Lindhout has her accounts activated on Facebook and Twitter.
Her Facebook account has more than 5.6k followers. Likewise, she uses a private Twitter account under the username @AmandaLindhout in which she has amassed more than 15k followers.
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