A year ago, i’ve got a news that one canadian journalist whose name is Amanda Lindhout was kidnapped in Somalia along with one Australian camera man. Being surprised then, as I’ve met Amanda in Afghanistan in 2007. Rather novice-like,friendly (to anyone), energetic (very), she was extremely enthusiastic for a story in Afghanistan as well as war-torn zones in the world.
Once she has illustrated how ‘Green Zone’ in Bagdad, where she’s been for quite long, was functioning as an ‘occupation-privileged world’ in a ‘war-disastered country’. In other discourse, she showed me several pictures that were taken by her local colleagues. In those pictures, ‘bikini’ weared girls were ‘performing’ to ‘comfort’ the battle sickened-US soldiers in southern Afghanistan, where locals are sick and hungry due to decades of war and unreported draught for many years. The performers seemed to be brought directly from the US for that. Not sure whether such a performance was routine practice or not, nor how much naive we were being outraged with those pictures then.
A year after, I’m stunned again to learn that she’s still in captive. To be honest, I’ve ‘neglected’ the case, only coming across my mind on and off what’s afterwards but lazy to move fingers on keyboards to search out any news on it.
Yes, she was ready to willingly take riskes for such stories as many other journos were. That doesn’t ‘ever’ mean that she (or whosoever) ‘deserves’ to face what she’s been facing now. Dead hope she will be free asap.
– Penseur21 –
Another WORD is Possible 