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Somalia Hostage Survivor Amanda Lindhout Helps Teenage Girl Who Survived Brutal Attack

Hostage Survivor

Freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout has joined a group of Canadians stepping up to help out a Manitoba girl who survived a vicious attack.

Lindhout, who was kidnapped in Somalia and held hostage for 15 months, issued a plea on Facebook asking for Air Mile donations to help Rinelle Harper and her mother fly to St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia to meet with officials concerning the possibility of a scholarship, reports the Edmonton Sun.

https://www.facebook.com/AmandaLindhoutPage/posts/1065873893431308

The teenager was brutally assaulted last year and left to die beside a river. Harper survived her attack and while she continues to recover, she occasionally engages in public speaking events about her ordeal.

Harper’s family home was burned to the ground last month. A Go-Fund-Me campaign raised more than $16,000 to help out the Harper family.

Lindhout, who was held hostage for over a year, wrote a book about her ordeal. “The idea was to spend four weeks in Africa,” she wrote in her memoir A House in the Sky. “That was it. In and out.”

The idea was to spend four weeks in Africa. That was it. In and out.

The National Post reports that a Somali man was arrested last Thursday in Ottawa and now faces criminal allegations for his part in Lindhout’s kidnapping. While her book detailing the accounts of her ordeal in 2008 does not specifically mention Ali Omar Ader, the journalist does write about Ali, one of her kidnappers who seemed to be in command and enjoyed bragging about his influence in the gang.

Lindhout first met the Harper family earlier this summer. She posted her plea for Air Miles on the social media platform over the weekend.

An update was posted around two hours later saying the miles necessary to secure the flights were met thanks to the generosity of Leah Brown and Roseanne Alldis.

https://www.facebook.com/AmandaLindhoutPage/posts/1065974170087947

Rinelle’s mother, Julie, issued a statement the following morning (via Lindhout’s Facebook profile) saying, “Our family has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and kindness,” and thanking “all those who keep us in their prayers.”

https://www.facebook.com/AmandaLindhoutPage/posts/1066377073380990

While Lindhout was lucky enough to escape her captors and survive her ordeal, this is not the case with the majority of terrorist hostages. In February of this year, it was confirmed that Kayla Mueller, an American aid worker and ISIS hostage, was dead. Mueller had been held captive for a year and a half, since August 4, 2013.

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