WEBVTT 00:00:07.370 --> 00:00:11.269 Hi all and welcome back to another episode of 00:00:11.269 --> 00:00:16.070 Bloom Talks. I'm your host Tania Bloom. I am 00:00:16.070 --> 00:00:22.109 on day, we're on day 10 of my 100 days of growth 00:00:22.109 --> 00:00:25.649 for my podcast Bloom Talks. This podcast is a 00:00:25.649 --> 00:00:27.829 place where we're going to explore powerful real 00:00:27.829 --> 00:00:31.370 life stories. Each episode dives into true inspirational 00:00:31.370 --> 00:00:34.570 journeys of people who endure extraordinary circumstances 00:00:34.570 --> 00:00:39.549 and come out stronger. Today I am bringing you 00:00:39.549 --> 00:00:43.030 the story of Terry Waits. You may have heard 00:00:43.030 --> 00:00:48.829 of him before, may not. This all starts in a, 00:00:48.829 --> 00:00:52.909 unfortunately in a war zone. So imagine this, 00:00:52.909 --> 00:00:55.210 you've traveled to a war zone, you're not a soldier, 00:00:55.270 --> 00:00:57.570 you're not a spy, but you're a negotiator trying 00:00:57.570 --> 00:01:00.670 to free others. You've gone there unarmed, you've 00:01:00.670 --> 00:01:03.549 gone there without protection. You go because 00:01:03.549 --> 00:01:07.150 you believe trust can save lives. and then you 00:01:07.150 --> 00:01:11.109 disappear. No demands are made, no proof of life, 00:01:11.450 --> 00:01:13.989 no certainty that you'll ever be seen again. 00:01:14.549 --> 00:01:20.489 This was the reality for Terry Waite. For 1763 00:01:20.489 --> 00:01:25.430 days he was held hostage in Lebanon. Much of 00:01:25.430 --> 00:01:29.409 that time in total isolation, chained, blindfolded 00:01:29.409 --> 00:01:33.629 and completely alone. This is his true story. 00:01:34.120 --> 00:01:38.299 Terry Waite was born in 1943 in the North of 00:01:38.299 --> 00:01:40.939 England. Now he grew up in a modest circumstances 00:01:40.939 --> 00:01:48.439 and later he trained for the ministry. He was 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:51.019 thoughtful, he was disciplined and he was deeply 00:01:51.019 --> 00:01:54.900 committed to faith and service. In the 80s, he 00:01:54.900 --> 00:02:00.129 became a special envoy for the Archbishop of 00:02:00.129 --> 00:02:04.689 Canterbury. His role was unusual. He acted as 00:02:04.689 --> 00:02:11.310 a humanitarian negotiator, often working quietly 00:02:11.310 --> 00:02:13.830 behind the scenes to help secure the release 00:02:13.830 --> 00:02:17.870 of hostages held in conflict zones. He had already 00:02:17.870 --> 00:02:20.490 helped negotiate the release of several hostages 00:02:20.490 --> 00:02:24.349 in the Middle East, and he was known for one 00:02:24.349 --> 00:02:28.259 defying trait. He believed in personal trust. 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:32.000 Now he believed that trust could transcend any 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:35.379 violence. To understand Terry Waite's story you 00:02:35.379 --> 00:02:38.039 need to understand Lebanon at the time. In the 00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:43.319 1980s, Lebanon was in the grip of a brutal civil 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:48.000 war. Multiple factions operated simultaneously. 00:02:49.580 --> 00:02:53.780 You had foreign armies and intelligence agencies. 00:02:54.169 --> 00:02:57.409 Westerners were being kidnapped regularly and 00:02:57.409 --> 00:03:00.150 there was armed groups aligned with regional 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:05.310 powers. Journalists were being kidnapped, aid 00:03:05.310 --> 00:03:08.949 workers, diplomats. These hostages became bargaining 00:03:08.949 --> 00:03:12.469 chips in international power struggles. Terry 00:03:12.469 --> 00:03:15.590 Waite entered this environment voluntarily and 00:03:15.590 --> 00:03:17.909 of course he went there because he wanted to 00:03:17.909 --> 00:03:22.550 help free these people. In January 1987, Terry 00:03:22.550 --> 00:03:26.069 Waite traveled to Beirut. His goal was to help 00:03:26.069 --> 00:03:28.849 secure the release of those four Western hostages. 00:03:29.789 --> 00:03:33.930 He believed they were being held by Islamic Jihad, 00:03:34.389 --> 00:03:41.909 a group linked to this ongoing war. Waite believed 00:03:41.909 --> 00:03:44.669 that he had received assurance that his safety 00:03:44.669 --> 00:03:48.289 would be respected. he decided not to obviously 00:03:48.289 --> 00:03:51.389 carry any weapons, he didn't have any security, 00:03:51.830 --> 00:03:56.009 he just relied entirely on that trust. On January 00:03:56.009 --> 00:04:01.229 20th 1987, Terry Waite went to meet them and 00:04:01.229 --> 00:04:05.849 he never returned. He was abducted. Just imagine 00:04:05.849 --> 00:04:08.889 that moment for a second, he's gone out there 00:04:08.889 --> 00:04:12.250 to meet these people, he stepped into a car expecting 00:04:12.250 --> 00:04:17.009 a conversation and instead He's blindfolded, 00:04:17.290 --> 00:04:21.550 hands bound, driven for hours. When the blindfold 00:04:21.550 --> 00:04:25.029 is finally removed, he found himself in a room 00:04:25.029 --> 00:04:28.470 that he did not recognize. And for that moment 00:04:28.470 --> 00:04:31.689 on, Terry Waite ceased to exist as a free man. 00:04:32.550 --> 00:04:35.089 He was held hostage, not for days, not for weeks, 00:04:35.129 --> 00:04:39.029 but for nearly five years. Most of Terry Waite's 00:04:39.029 --> 00:04:42.529 captivity was spent in solitary confinement. 00:04:43.660 --> 00:04:48.339 He was often kept in small rooms or cells, chained 00:04:48.339 --> 00:04:52.540 by the ankles and frequently blindfolded. They 00:04:52.540 --> 00:04:55.439 would move in between locations and he was denied 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:58.279 contact with other hostages for long periods 00:04:58.279 --> 00:05:03.519 of time. At times he was chained up for 24 hours 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:07.379 of the day. He was allowed very minimal movement. 00:05:09.620 --> 00:05:13.800 Food was sparse and monotonous. Medical care 00:05:13.800 --> 00:05:17.480 was almost non -existent, and there was long 00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:22.480 stretches where no one spoke to him. Now, imagine 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:25.500 this. You've got days without sound, weeks without 00:05:25.500 --> 00:05:29.579 human contact, and months without knowing if 00:05:29.579 --> 00:05:33.000 the world remembers you. Psychologically, this 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:36.360 is devastating. Terry Way later said that the 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:41.339 greatest challenges was maintaining sanity. Without 00:05:41.339 --> 00:05:44.420 books, without materials or conversations, Terry 00:05:44.420 --> 00:05:47.199 Waite turned inward and he developed a strict 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:51.079 mental routine. He would recite poetry from memory, 00:05:51.660 --> 00:05:56.579 reconstruct books he had read and create imaginary 00:05:56.579 --> 00:05:59.980 lectures. He would replay memories in detail 00:05:59.980 --> 00:06:03.879 and he could, well, he would do some exercise, 00:06:04.300 --> 00:06:07.139 obviously in the constraint and that confinement 00:06:07.139 --> 00:06:10.129 of that space. This was just to keep his body 00:06:10.129 --> 00:06:14.509 functioning. He prayed and he marked time by 00:06:14.509 --> 00:06:20.910 changing changes of light and sound. He later 00:06:20.910 --> 00:06:24.009 said that faith did not remove fear, but it gave 00:06:24.009 --> 00:06:27.610 him structure. Importantly, Terry Waite did not 00:06:27.610 --> 00:06:31.750 know why he'd even been taken. What was being 00:06:31.750 --> 00:06:35.050 demanded or If he would ever be released he was 00:06:35.050 --> 00:06:37.930 not tortured but the isolation itself was of 00:06:37.930 --> 00:06:41.949 course a form of torture. Outside the cell years 00:06:41.949 --> 00:06:45.269 went by. Terry Wade became one of the longest 00:06:45.269 --> 00:06:49.350 held British hostages in history. His wife and 00:06:49.350 --> 00:06:51.910 children campaigned tirelessly for his release 00:06:51.910 --> 00:06:55.389 and government did try to negotiate but unfortunately 00:06:55.389 --> 00:06:58.990 deals failed. At times it appeared that Terry 00:06:58.990 --> 00:07:02.370 Waite had been forgotten. Inside that cell he 00:07:02.370 --> 00:07:05.629 prepared himself for the possibility of death. 00:07:06.889 --> 00:07:10.750 But he also prepared himself to live on. In November 00:07:10.750 --> 00:07:15.149 1991, after complex international negotiations 00:07:15.149 --> 00:07:19.329 tied to the end of that Lebanese civil war, Terry 00:07:19.329 --> 00:07:25.310 Waite was finally released. He had been held 00:07:25.310 --> 00:07:33.069 captive for 1 ,763 days. He was physically weakened, 00:07:33.069 --> 00:07:36.089 but alive. He returned to Britain to an emotional 00:07:36.089 --> 00:07:39.149 public perception, but freedom did not mean the 00:07:39.149 --> 00:07:43.009 end of captivity. Terry Waite suffered long -term 00:07:43.009 --> 00:07:46.149 physical and psychological effects. Chronical 00:07:46.149 --> 00:07:50.449 pain, difficulty sleeping, lingering trauma from 00:07:50.449 --> 00:07:53.459 isolation. He did not retreat from the world, 00:07:53.579 --> 00:07:56.740 but instead he turned his experience into advocacy. 00:07:59.259 --> 00:08:03.819 He founded Hostage UK, supporting former hostages 00:08:03.819 --> 00:08:07.420 and their families. He wrote his memoirs, Taken 00:08:07.420 --> 00:08:10.819 on Trust, detailing the reality of captivity. 00:08:12.439 --> 00:08:17.480 He continued humanitarian work, visiting prisons, 00:08:18.139 --> 00:08:20.680 conflict zones, and speaking openly about the 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:25.459 human cost of war and he became a powerful voice 00:08:25.459 --> 00:08:29.860 for prisoner prison reform hostage welfare and 00:08:29.860 --> 00:08:34.620 human dignity. Terry Wait's story is not inspirational 00:08:34.620 --> 00:08:37.580 because because of heroism it's inspirational 00:08:37.580 --> 00:08:40.620 because of endurance he survived that five years 00:08:40.620 --> 00:08:46.029 in captivity prolonged solitary confinement physical 00:08:46.029 --> 00:08:49.049 restraint and psychological isolation and he 00:08:49.049 --> 00:08:52.409 emerged without bitterness. He refused revenge, 00:08:52.610 --> 00:08:55.950 instead he chose service. His story reminds us 00:08:55.950 --> 00:09:01.850 that truth is risky but necessary. That isolation 00:09:01.850 --> 00:09:05.690 can be survived and that dignity can endure even 00:09:05.690 --> 00:09:09.940 when freedom is stripped away. This is not a 00:09:09.940 --> 00:09:13.779 tale of politics. This is the true story of Terry 00:09:13.779 --> 00:09:17.980 White. Wait. It is a testament to resilience, 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:20.759 faith and the quiet strength of the human spirit. 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:25.340 Thank you so much for listening and joining us 00:09:25.340 --> 00:09:28.299 again today on Bloom Talks. If you enjoyed this 00:09:28.299 --> 00:09:31.440 episode, be sure to subscribe and join us next 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:35.399 time for another incredible journey. Until then, 00:09:35.700 --> 00:09:38.389 stay safe. Keep growing and take care.