Amanda Lindhout

The same men who are placing all these outrageous restrictions on women's freedoms in southern Somalia - that type of mentality - that's what I had to deal with in captivity.

It was a slow understanding that the lack of education in a country like Somalia creates these huge social problems.

I know firsthand how critical support systems are.

It was a slow understanding that my kidnappers really are a product of their environment.

I'm afraid of elevators, because they are an enclosed space, but I get in.

For a while, the world for me was like a set of monkey bars. I swung from one place to the next, sometimes backward, sometimes forward, capitalizing on my own momentum, knowing that at some point my arms... would give out, and I'd fall to the ground.

I went through an extremely trying ordeal, but I never forgot the world outside was a beautiful place.

I think it's the human spirit inside of all of us that has an enormous capacity to survive.

Maintaining my dignity is so important for me.

I must thank my good friend Nigel Brennan. His strength of character in the midst of extreme hardship inspired me during the darkest days. Despite our separation, he always managed to find small ways to remind me that there are gentlemen in the world, even when I was surrounded by just the opposite.

Because travel has always been such a vital part of myself and so essential to who I am, I have made the decision to continue to put myself back out into the world. And that's not an easy decision to make.

It's difficult to put into words what freedom feels like. You only know what freedom feels like if you know what it feels like to not be free.