Love of literature helped hostage to survive ordeal

Former Middle East hostage Terry Waite has spoken movingly in Canterbury about how his love of literature helped him survive five years in captivity.

He was talking to clients of the charity Porchlight which is benefiting from a reading initiative created by the educational KM Charity Team to help boost their literacy skills and life prospects.

Mr Waite visited Porchlight in Whitstable Road on Thursday after meeting the KM team behind the project called Bookbinders.

In 1987, he was special envoy of the then Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie who travelled to Lebanon to try to secure the release of four hostages including journalist John Mccarthy.

But he was himself kidnapped and held for almost five years in captivity – the first four in solitary confinement, much of the time blindfolded and chained to a wall.

Speaking to the homeless clients, he revealed how during his incarceration, he was not allowed books or paper to write on.

“I had to use my imagination, and began to write in my head. I could do that because my imagination had been stimulated as a child,” he said.

The book he wrote and committed to memory during his captivity, Taken on Trust, was published after his release in 1991 and is still a best seller.

He is now is president of Emmaus UK, a charity for formerly homeless people, which has a branch in Dover.

Congratulating the KM Charity Team, he said: “Bookbinders is such a good venture because it encourages people to read, develop their imagination and opens up to them a whole new world. It’s is such a creative, innovative and excellent venture.”

Porchlight client Alan Newman said: “Terry’s visit and words were awe-inspiring.

“His words will stay with me forever. The man is truly amaz- ing. It was a privilege and honour for me to sit here and take it all in.”

Porchlight manager Richard Barnard, said: “The visit with Terry was inspirational.

“First his story but also how he battled adversity to turn negatives into positives, which is how we work here at Porchlight, and is especially relevant to Bookbinders.

“I found it really interesting that he talked about writing a book in his head that was because for a lot of the people we work with find reading or writing is difficult – which is why Bookbinders has been invented – and therefore looking at other ways to do this is important.

“Terry was forced to be innovative in his situation and we aim to be creative and imaginative to support literacy.”

Organisations supporting the vulnerable with literacy can find out more about Bookbinders by visiting the website bookbinders. org.uk.

To attend a briefing session on Bookbinders on January 26 at the Abbots Barton Hotel in Canterbury contact Tanya Long on tlong@thekmgroup.co.uk.

Former Middle East hostage Terry Waite meet staff at clients at Porchlight