Hope, prayers saw me through, says Fr Tom

BENGALURU: Kerala priest Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who was released by ISIS after over a year in captivity, said that even as loneliness and uncertainty were remained his constant companions ever since he was kidnapped, he did not lose hope.On Saturday, Fr Tom, who returned to India recently, spoke to the media in Bengaluru about his kidnap and his ordeal as a captive. Hailing from Kottayam district in Kerala, he became a priest with the Don Bosco congregation in 1990. In 1973, the government of Yemen had officially invited St Mother Theresa’s Sisters of Charity in Kolkata to open some centres in Yemen to look after the destitute and abandoned people there. 

“In the morning on Friday, March 4, 2016 after the mass, I was praying in the chapel. On hearing some gunshots, I came out. I found the security guards lying in a pool of blood. As soon as the captors saw me, one of them asked for my identity.”When Tom said that he was Indian, the captors made him wait on a chair by the side of the security room. “I saw the deaths of four sisters, the gardener, security man and a boy. I said a prayer in my mind. I thought my turn would be the next. But they tied me and put me in the boot of a car,” he added. 

He explained that following his abduction, he was handed over to another group. “They did not torture me or ill-treat me. They gave me food. They also gave me medicines on two occasions when I fell sick,” he added, “Initially, I fell sick as they did not give me medication. I was on insulin for diabetes. This was unavailable. After consultation with a doctor, they gave me insulin only for three days. After that, I took pills,” he explained. It was no easy for him to communicate with his captors either. “They spoke only in Arabic which I could not understand and it seemed they could not understand my English,” he said. 

Fr Tom added that throughout his days in captivity, he had faith that prayers would help. “I was confined to a room that had ventilation. I had a small sponge-like mattress on which I would sit and sleep. I had fever twice but it did not persist. On another occasion, I had severe shoulder pain. I weighed 82 kg when I was abducted and I weigh 55 kg now,” he said. “As I was alone in the room, I used to sing, reflect and say as many prayers as I could. I was sure there would be a lot of people in the world praying for me,” he explained.