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South African Stephen McGown travelled to the Gold Coast to share his story of almost six years in captivity by Al Qaeda - the world longest hostage - to almost 3000 Ray White members for Connect 2022.
He knows it's such an unenviable title to hold.
He was kidnapped by Al Qaeda from the Mali tourist town of Timbuktu in 2011 and was held prisoner for five years and eight months.
The South African shared his thoughts on the importance of accepting and adapting to change.
“To be a complete person you’ve got to accept change. Change in the beginning I found very scary, because change would always potentially bring somebody else into the camp, who would be someone who was of seniority and somebody who was coming with the order to chop my head off or something like that,” Mr McGown said.
He’s written a book titled Six Years With Al Qaeda: The Stephen McGown Story.
He was captured while on a motorbike adventure on his way home to South Africa after a stint working in London.
He grew up on a farm in Free State, South Africa. It was where he learnt to ride a motorcycle. Having left his home country for seven years to work as a banker in London, he had decided to come home with his wife.
He said a big part of his survival while trapped in the monotonous and harsh landscape of the desert was accepting the situation and not blaming himself for it.
“I asked myself how do I remain human in this situation? I was seen as the lowest form of life. But you choose your attitude, you own your attitude, I was very concerned this may go wayward. I was terrified I was going to come home a changed person.
“You can’t be angry for six years. Everyone is human and I made some relationships or even ‘friendships’ and I even understood what they were trying to achieve but I was just a pawn to be bartered or negotiated. I should have died, I should have been killed and I went to some incredibly dark places. This was an indefinite prison sentence,” Mr McGown said.
He eventually converted to from Catholicism to Islam, and said that this made his stay easier.
Mr McGowan said he was driven across remote stretches of the Sahara in the back of a utility truck with other hostages, and housed in a grass hut, handcuffed and blindfolded for long periods.
“The world is completely out of control. We think we’re in control, but we’re not. So you’ve got to take it day by day and make your best decision – then operate on that,” he added.
The Johannesburg resident pointed out that even though it doesn’t seem like it at the moment, this crisis will pass.
He lost about 16kgs when he came out of the desert.
“I looked like a skinny fish with a big nose and wrinkles. But what I learned is that we are all the same and we all want to better ourselves.”
“Don’t waste a good crisis as it helps you work out what’s important. This experience has taught me so much about life. No matter what this world throws at us you can cope. The important stuff in life is not the big stuff.
“The importance of self awareness and living that life you want to live.”
