CTV News
Published Sunday, Jul. 8, 2012 11:55AM EDT
Last Updated Sunday, Jul. 8, 2012 12:23PM EDT
An aid worker who was kidnapped just a week ago is urging continued efforts in the Kenyan refugee camp from which he and three colleagues were snatched at gunpoint.
Speaking to reporters for the first time since his ordeal, Steve Dennis called his kidnapping “a very bad weekend,” but said the 150,000 people who arrived in Kenya’s Dadabb refugee camp near the Somali border last year are still without the necessities of life.
“We had a horrible weekend and they still have horrible, uncertain futures,” Dennis said. “There’s no rescue party for any of them.”
Dennis recalled his harrowing ordeal, remembering how he and three other aid workers, were travelling in a three-car convoy when attackers surrounded them.
“There was a lot of shooting and some yelling,” Dennis said.
As the bullets flew, one grazed Dennis’ leg, stopped short by the wallet he kept in his front pocket.
“I got shot in my wallet in my leg, thank goodness,” Dennis said, explaining that his captors subsequently stole the life-saving accessory.
The attackers pulled Dennis from his car to another car containing his three fellow aid workers: Canadian, Qurat-Ul-Ain Sadazai, 38, of Gatineau, Que.; Astrid Sehl, 33, of Norway; and Glenn Costes, 40, a Filipino.
The driver in one car and one passenger were shot. Another driver was killed, Dennis remembered.
The driver sped away with the four aid workers inside. That, said Dennis, is when the reality of the kidnapping settled in.
“Fortunately, that was the most stressful time and it was over quickly,” Dennis said.
From there, Dennis’ captors moved them towards the Somali border, eventually abandoning the cars and making the group walk by night and hide under bushes during the day.
In total, the group walked 80 kilometres over three days, eventually crossing the border into Somalia.
Dennis said there was a language barrier between the kidnappers and the aid workers and they didn’t know who their kidnappers were, or where they were going.
In spite of that, Dennis said the group of hostages tried to stay positive. And they were treated with respect by their captors.
“I don’t think we broke down completely,” he said. “We were still very optimistic.”
On the third day, Dennis said he and the other aid workers were lying under bushes when they heard some running. They lay as flat as they could as gun fire rang out.
Dennis said he knew there were various militia groups operating in the area, but didn’t know if they were friend or foe.
“We didn’t know who this group was,” he said. “And then they started speaking English and one of us said, ‘Ransom?’ and they said. ‘No ransom, rescue.’”
Their rescuers were a pro-Somali militia.
Though Dennis was adamant that relief work needs to continue in the Dadaab refugee camp, he isn’t making any plans to go back immediately, saying that he is thinking about his options.
“I think now is a good time to take a break,” Dennis said.
