EGN NEWS DESK
A Christian missionary who was held captive by an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group has shared particulars of his ordeal, the place he was stored in brutal situations that noticed him face extremes of warmth and chilly, scorpions, and scurvy.
Incredibly, Dr Ken Elliott, who was 82 when taken hostage, can be compelled to endure all this for seven years earlier than he can be launched. But, when requested how might an octogenarian probably handle to outlive all this, and for thus lengthy, he has a easy reply—God.
They served for many years in medical missions within the West African nation of Burkina Faso and had been recognized for his or her dedication to making sure that each affected person who got here by way of the door obtained the identical high quality of remedy as everybody else, regardless of their religion or color, or what they might pay.
This earned them the respect of the Muslim majority making up their sufferers, and noticed them accepted as belonging to their group, fairly than outsiders from the West attempting to impose their concepts. Hence, after they had been kidnapped locals of each faiths had been outraged.
Jocelyn was launched after just a few weeks, leaving Ken to bond along with his lone fellow hostage, Julian Ghergut, a Romanian.
“When I met him,” Ken instructed the information community, ABC, “he had been a captive for 9 months. ‘How can anybody stand this for 9 months?’ I requested myself. I ended up being there for seven years and 4 months.”
As effectively because the risk posed by his captors and the brutal desert situations, Ken’s well being deteriorated because of the poor weight-reduction plan. With no supply of Vitamin C, his legs started to swell, leaving him unable to stroll and in fixed ache.
“I’d solely seen one case of [scurvy] in my medical profession and that was me,” Elliott instructed the UK’s Keswick Convention.
Despite his pleas, his kidnappers mentioned they did not have any dietary supplements they might give him, and it was solely when their chief returned to find Ken’s situation that he lastly obtained sufficient tablets to revive his well being.
His captors additionally made makes an attempt to transform Ken to Islam over the course of his captivity, however Ken remained steadfast in his religion, and by no means let his lengthy, lonely time within the desert trigger him to lose hope.
“The Lord has been good to me. There’s no method I used to be going to dishonour Him by changing to Islam,” he instructed the ABC. “Or even pretending to transform.”
When requested by his interviewer whether or not he ever thought God had deserted him, Ken’s response summed up precisely how been in a position to emerge from seven years of brutal situations and isolation unbroken in spirit and along with his religion in God intact.
“Never. No. He was at all times there,” he mentioned.
There is uncertainty across the circumstances that led to his launch in May 2023 and whether or not a deal was made, however Ken does not see any thriller in any respect.
“We consider that the one purpose why we had been launched,” he mentioned, “was as a result of there have been just a few a whole bunch, if not 1000’s of individuals praying for it. And we consider in prayer.”
