Tuesday 29 October 2024
Event: Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini
20:00 AEDT (Sydney, UTC +11) / 18:00 KST/JST (Seoul, Tokyo, UTC +9) / 17:00 SGT (Singapore, UTC +8) / 11:00 EET (Bucharest, UTC +2) / 10:00 CET (Berlin, UTC +1) / 09:00 GMT (London, UTC +0) / 05:00 EDT (New York, UTC -4).
This is a story of poverty, pain, suffering, forgiveness and healing.
An African child who grew up in times of loss and drought lost his father at the tender age of 11.
He tasted pain and suffering and grieved over his loss by throwing himself into school as the first generation of his family to ever attend the modern European school system. He excelled at school as a child, in the total absence of external encouragement. His drive was the words of his father when they lost all the camels, who encouraged him to pursue learning and do everything the father hadn’t had time to do because the camels consumed his life.
The African child won a scholarship to study in Germany and after graduation he went back to help his people with the tools he’d learned in Europe. As the main provider of a big family, he needed to work overtime in order to make ends meet at the end of every month. This wasn’t a happily-ever-after life as it is related in books but it was satisfying nonetheless.
Or, so he thought. The horrific attacks of 9/11 happened and the young engineer was immediately and wrongfully identified and put on the radar of the most powerful spy agencies of the world; CIA and FBI. He was kidnapped and taken to different secret prisons in Africa, the Middle East, Afghanistan, and finally he landed in the infamous prison of Guantanamo Bay. He was subjected to torture and it took him 15 years to prove his innocence and be set free.
He realized that the only way to get his revenge on those who destroyed his life and deprived him of seeing his mother ever again was to thoroughly forgive every single person who was involved. And with that honest and total act of forgiveness, he found peace in his heart and around him.
Speaker
Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini
Welcome by
Ása Richardsdóttir, IETM, Belgium
Jeffrey Meulman, Verkadefabriek, Netherlands
