Okongo Samson: Abducted but Not Forsaken (Part 3)

John Farrell: Why did you decide to turn your story into the book Abducted but Not Forsaken?

Okongo Samson: After traveling to 92 countries, ministering and loving people and sharing the good news, I have come to realize that so many people are in the same situation where I was and probably still fumbling out there from time to time. What that means is that not many people have necessarily been thrown into prison many times like I have or been tortured like I have, but as a result of the wicked things that were done to me—raped multiple times, sexually and physically tortured—I found myself emotionally poor. I found myself mentally poor. I wanted to die, commit suicide. Mental nightmares. Daymares.

I didn’t have good social relationships. I was wishing the worst for other people. So, as I traveled, I came to realize that there are so many people around the world who might not have been abducted by a rebel or any military or thrown in prison, but somehow they are struggling emotionally with emotional pain, mental pain, as a result of a bad thing that happened to them.

Since this is not necessarily my story, but it’s also God’s story, sharing this story of Abducted but Not Forsaken gives people hope that God has not forsaken us. God has not abandoned us. Most of the people were not necessarily abducted the way I was. Most people are abducted by pain, anger, bitterness, or rage, as a result of divorce, family issues, betrayal in the church, betrayal by family, or suicide. All these things are there. So, I decided to write a book to share the story because there are people out there who have similar stories and are seeking healing. Healing that only God can provide through forgiveness. The ability to forgive people who have hurt them. The ability for people to forgive themselves even when they make bad choices or they are angry. I had to deal with that. I had to learn how to forgive myself when I didn’t value myself. I wanted to commit suicide. I was angry with God and yet God was loving me gratefully through this painful situation. I wrote it so that many people would also find that they have a story they can share to give other people hope.

JF: Would you say that’s the overall message you hope people take from your book?

Okongo: Yes. God is in the business of healing. When we forgive—even when it is difficult as an act of obedience—God will honor that and heal us emotionally, mentally, and relationally. When we forgive people who have hurt us in a bad relationship, we experience this total healing and freedom that only God can provide when we learn how to forgive. This is a tool that people can get back to come to God that he has not forsaken us. He has not abandoned us, even though a situation might have made us feel that way. God is still able to restore and heal and have us have an abundant life.

Part of the overall message is the message of Jesus. He came for the poor. That was me. I grew up in a poor family economically. A large family like I mentioned, 16. We had animals and children living with us. Then as a result of what happened to me at age 16, I was now emotionally poor. I was mentally poor and all I made were wicked, poor decisions and put myself in hurtful situations. I was poor even spiritually because I was questioning God’s Word. Wrestling with it yet hanging onto that hope because He had just delivered me. I was poor all around.

When I read that Jesus came for the poor, even though some people have not gone to prison, they might find themselves poor socially, mentally, economically, and relationally. But there is hope when we turn to God and live this abundant life like He intended. That’s basically the message. He came for us in our deep poverty, whatever poverty that is because poverty comes in many forms and shapes. At its heart, it’ll be that healing that only God can do.

JF: During the writing process, were there any sections or chapters that were more difficult to write than others?

Okongo: Absolutely, yes. Before even writing this book, I had trouble speaking about my story. As I counsel people—take couples and individuals who are struggling in one way or another through healing therapy—I put myself in their situation with the pain. I had to relive some of them.

The difference that I had when I was writing the book … I could put it this way: my wounds I had in my legs and my back, which were real, you can see that those wounds turned into scars. Now, I can allow people to put their finger on them, touch them, and rub them. It’s okay. But when they were wounds, when someone was trying to touch them, I would move away. What happened is that the wounds I had (emotional, social, and mental), when God healed me, He turned those wounds into scars, which now I can easily talk about and rub. That’s why I encourage people when they are healed to talk about it. So many people cannot talk about their wounds and their pain because they’re so raw and they’re not healed, and they have not turned into scars.

God has enabled me to go through that, receive the freedom and healing that I can easily tell my story. I can’t leave it because I can’t forget, but I can forgive. Then I can easily write, but I had to go through that moment of reliving it.

One of the other difficult parts of writing this book was involving the families of some of the captors, the people who raped me or hurt me as I was forgiving them. Apparently, some of them never really reconciled, which is okay. Some of them never really accepted the responsibility. That’s okay. A majority of them did. I’m now working with them through the organization Unite 4 Africa, working in different countries worldwide.

To be able to write the book and interview some of the families and people who threw me into prison and now have become friends was also difficult because I had to go into their lenses to hear their side of the story. To hear the wickedness that got them to do what they did. Also, the obligation. Some of it was because they were hired to do that. It was part of their job and they would face consequences if they didn’t do it. It took me to a place of listening to their story and that was really hard.

I realized we were all wounded, we’re all broken and that was really a tough place to be in their shoes as well, but He made me live this story and go through it.

JF: Could you please tell me a little bit about your ministry, Unite 4 Africa, and how it began, its mission, and some of its achievements since 2003?

Okongo: Prior to us incorporating as a 501(c)(3) the vision was the same: to unite and equip individual communities and organizations, to come alongside them to transform themselves spiritually, emotionally, physically, and, in all aspects, a holistic bringing up of another life in Christ.

In any community we go to, there is some depth of poverty we can see. What we try to do is come alongside the individual, community, or nation to identify the areas where they need help from God and then walk them through that path and equip them in a way where they can heal. If someone is wounded emotionally, we can equip them with the power of the principle of going through forgiveness that could ultimately empower them to take the action and steps to forgive and ultimately receive freedom and healing like I have done.

We have all that along the lines. We train people in churches, in our communities, regardless of who they are. And along the line, we are doing things that are also tangible to meet the needs and help poverty like water. One of the things we do is give people water projects and stuff like that. Orphans to families. Many orphans are out there and we don’t want them to be on the streets so we try to equip them, empower them, and equip families to have them and adopt them or foster them so they can be socially brought up in a healthy environment despite their loss. Medicine to the sick. The gospel to the people who are spiritually poor and wounded so they can have an abundant life in Christ that will be eternal.

That is the vision of Unite 4 Africa. Our mission is to work with anyone who has identified the areas where they need help. We can come alongside them with the tools that can help them.

JF: Where can people connect with you online?

Okongo: They can connect with us through our website, www.Unite4Africa.org. That’s where people can connect with us, send us messages. They can also find us on our social media: Unite 4 Africa on Facebook and Twitter (now X). All those avenues. YouTube and stuff like that.

JF: Is there anything else that you want to add or something that you’d like to reemphasize?

Okongo: There is hope in situations where there’s hopelessness. Everywhere around the world there is something going on. There’s division, but we know that the power of forgiveness can heal a nation, heal a people group, heal our world. When we come to realize the brokenness we are, there is an answer.

Our God is still in control even when wicked things are happening around us. So, the message I have for someone who is struggling is that there is help out there. God has not forsaken you, nor abandoned you, and He’s there when we come to Him. The things that have happened to us that were meant for evil, God can turn them around and use them for good. He did it for me. He can do it to anyone. I believe in that, and I trust in that and I witnessed that. That’s the message I have: God has not abandoned us, nor forsaken us, despite what we are going through today.

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Order your copy of Abducted but Not Forsaken: How One Man’s Escape from a Notorious Terrorist Brought Hope to Africa by Okongo Samson