Heather Bellamy spoke with Terry Waite about his years in captivity, how he survived, his understanding of suffering and the creative redemption and forgiveness that has come out of what he experienced in Beruit.

Terry Waite

Y Care, which I founded 30 years ago that gives support to young people around the world, to enable them to have their own employment and not to be drawn into terrorist gangs. Emmaus, for the homeless, which gives support to homeless people. I opened the first community when I came out of captivity. We've got 29 communities now, caring for over 800 people who were formerly on the streets. Hostage UK, which gives support to hostage families and has seminars for those professionally engaged in that field. We're now just about to develop that into Hostage International; we've set up in America and we're setting up in Rome. All my time I give to those organisations, and I earn my living by writing and by lecturing. That provides me with an income. Before I was captured, I would never have had the courage to do that, because I've always depended on a regular income. Captivity enabled me to have the courage to say, "Let that go, and do what you believe to be right and what you want to do" and I've never looked back on that.

Heather: Was there a process of recovery, or were you so strong in the way you'd gone through it that you were able to just come out and go straight into those things?

Terry: No, not a bit. I took good advice, which was, when you come out of a situation like that, come out as though you're coming up from the seabed. You come up too quickly and you get the bends. So take it step-by-step. Don't do things too quickly.

I was in the very fortunate position of being elected to a fellowship in Trinity Hall, Cambridge. So I went to Trinity Hall and I lived in college for the middle part of the week and I went home at weekends.

During that time, I put down on paper what was my first book, Taken on Trust, the book I'd written in my head. That in itself, over a period of about 12 months, was a therapeutic exercise. It enabled me to objectify the experience. As you objectify it, you come to terms with it, rather than it coming to terms with you inwardly.

After a period at Trinity Hall, I left residence there and took up new work with the organisations. I got down to more writing and I've written, in all now, six books, and have been lecturing and engaged with the charities I mentioned a few moments ago.

Heather: Have you forgiven those who tortured you and held you hostage?

Terry: Certainly I have. I've been back to see them.

I believe that it's very important to be able to forgive. It doesn't mean to say you agree with what has been done, but if you can understand why people behave as they behave, at least you can be on the road to forgiveness.

Many of the young people who captured me were at the bottom of the pile. They were at the bottom of the pile religiously, economically and politically; in every way you could think of. They were persuaded by charismatic leaders to join a group and to engage in terrorist activities in order to fight for what they believe. I believe they chose the wrong way to do that, but nevertheless they did that, and if you can understand why it is they behaved in that way, you're at least part of the way to understanding and to be able to forgive.

Years later, I went back to Beirut. I met my captors. They were surprised to see me. I sat down with them and I said, "I'd like to put the past in the past and I'd like to make something creative from what happened all those years ago." So they said, "What can we do?" I said, "I've just come back from the Syrian border, where I've seen people who are cold and hungry, and are refugees from warfare, can you let me have heating oil for them?" They said, "Yes, we will do it".

Now that's only a small gesture, a very small gesture. I don't believe that's going to bring about enormous political change, but I believe passionately, that if say ten thousand people from Israel, and ten thousand people from the occupied territories were to sit down and agree to put the past in the past, and agree to build a new future together, we'd have the basis for a political settlement.

What we need to be encouraging, is people to explore their differences, and not necessarily to agree with everything, but to be able to work together and put the past in the past and build a new future.

It's a difficult process, but constantly, constantly, constantly, I am reinforced by the fact that at the heart of the Christian faith, at the heart of the Christian religion is the message of love and compassion. Somehow through thick and thin we have to stick by that and say that is our message, not a message of cruelty, not a message of hate, not a message of shunning other people, but embracing people and enabling the love of God to be known more widely and fully.