Four months in a dark room, numb legs but hope alive-Kenya woman under 2 years captivity in Somalia

A Kenyan woman held captive by a gang of criminals in central Somalia has described how she and her Kenyan counterpart were held inside a tiny room for four months and subsequently held under inhumane conditions for two years.

Narrating her ordeal under the hands of a gang which at first masqueraded as handlers only to kidnap and hold her incommunicado for two years tucked in a remote area of in Somalia’s Galmudug region, Lois Njoki said her captors subjected her to very dire conditions but she kept alive.

“Once we were captured we were taken and held inside a room. The house was kept closed, no going out. We were not even allowed to bask in the sun. From that November, December, January until March – that’s when we were allowed to move out,” Njoki told the African Union force Amisom in Somalia.

After the four months in a dark room with no sight of the world, Njoki says she developed numbness on her legs, joints and pain in the bones. Despite that, her captors heeded to no call for her to bask in the sun and stretch.

“We were given a small amount of food,” Njoki explains.

Njoki was rescued Saturday in a joint operation between Somali forces and Amisom from a house in Amara area in Mudug region.

Njoki said she was elated to be in Mogadishu and awaiting to be flown to her home country Tuesday. A mother of one, Njoki says she can’t wait to be reunited with her family.

“I have one daughter, the only daughter, I love her very much. The government helped me to make a call to her. It was emotional. She made me cry because she cried. Even today I called her, she still could not believe and she cried very much. I was also moved, even me I cried. I’m dying to see her. I was always thinking of her, about her education, but I could do nothing. I thank God I’m alive,” she said.

Njoki was kidnapped alongside her colleague Gachamba Kuria while in Somalia to sell herbal medicine. Kuria was rescued in February this but attempts to rescue Njoki failed forcing her to hold on under captivity for another eight months.

 This report was developed with quotes from Amisom