I vividly remember watching a breaking news shot of Ingrid Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate, and her fellow hostages stepping out of the helicopter that rescued them from hell. A hell that she had been in for almost seven years by the terrorist group FARC, The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a Colombian Marxist-Leninst revolutionary guerilla organization involved in the continuing Colombian armed conflict since 1964.
At that time I had never heard of FARC. I just saw a woman who had been held as a hostage and rejoiced in her freedom. Then I heard about how the Colombian Army pulled off the rescue and that made it even better! If you don’t already know then I won’t spoil it for you in case you want to read the book.
It was a long and emotionally wrenching read. Ingrid as well as the other hostages endured a horrible and depraved existence often times in heavy chains that would have quickly sent me over the edge. I was so impressed with her immense bravery and cunning fortitude. She was able to put aside great fear of all of the unknowns that the Amazon Jungle held in planning escapes. One hostage was able to use information and advice that she gave him to escape. She would make the best Girl Scout leader of all time!
This is the first book that I have read on my Kindle and the battery gave out just as I realized that she was about to be rescued! I was exasperated. The battery was so low that it took a very long time to regain enough juice for me to continue reading. I felt as if I were looking down into a little world where the people below couldn’t see me but I knew what was going to happen next, almost like a puppeteer. I was so excited for them!
It pains me to think there are still others held in the jungle by the FARC. It is such a grueling, heartbreaking life. Please remember to pray for them.
Ingrid learned to be ever so grateful for the simplest things in life and to voice that gratefulness to God. Things that we take for granted such as writing paper and pen. A dictionary and Bible. These treasures brought her great joy and sustained her on this most dreadful journey through hell.
Every Silence Has an End: My six years of captivity in the Colombian Jungle by Ingrid Betancourt is a heart stopping, gut wrenching, highly inspiring book and I would love to meet Ingrid some day.
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