CHENNAI : After spending six years in captivity under the militants of Al Qaeda when Stephen McGown came back and gave an interview for BBC, he said, “I hope I don’t stomp my way through life and not see what’s around me. I don’t want to get thick-skinned. I am more understanding and compassionate now if people have problems.”
Over the years, Stephen opened up about his experiences and even wrote the book Six Years a Hostage: The Extraordinary Story of the Longest-Held Al Qaeda Captive in the World. When Mahima Poddar Agarwal, the founder of The Kindness Foundation, searched for people who can inspire and share lessons on resilience, Stephen was by default the right person to be called to speak. For the second edition of the International Kindness Festival 2023, Stephen will be in the city for a pre-event fundraiser, share his stories and meet Chennaiites.
Tale of survival
Stephen worked as an investment banker in Johannesburg, South Africa, before spending seven years doing similar work in London. He was abducted when he was on his motorbike ride in Timbuktu, along with a Dutch and a Swedish national and held as a hostage, due to his British passport. “Amid all the extreme conditions, he managed to survive by keeping his mind intact. He used empathy as a tool to understand his captors who were mostly 18- year-old boys who wielded AK- 47 guns,” says Mahima, adding that his resilience will inspire a lot of people to fight their own struggles.
How can we find the inspiration to go on and keep our minds and check? How should one survive when there seems to be no hope? How did he manage to reintegrate with his family, with the community, with his friends? How to be kind and how to extend kindness to everyone? Stephen answers all these questions from his perspective and hopes to help people in need through his stories. “He lost the prime years of interaction, career, growth, and almost everything when he was kept isolated. He was taken to different deserts and there was constant shifting.
He used to say that whenever he looked at the moon, he thought that it had the freedom to be anywhere and not him,” says Mahima. The Kindness Foundation, a non-profit organisation, works for people’s personal growth and helps them thrive in the world, not just survive.
The International Kindness Festival 2023 to be held in December will include a series of events, talks and activities that aim to celebrate and discuss the science, politics, ethics, practicality and beauty of kindness. The series of events from October will be a prelude to the festival to be held on December 9-10 at Sir Mutha Venkata Subba Rao Hall, Chennai. The conversation with Stephen is a fundraiser event for an interactive session free for all the students on Monday, October 9, at the Music Academy. At the event, the audience will also get a chance to interact with Stephen and get a signed copy of his book.
Non-profit fundraiser open to the general public
Date: Saturday, October 7
Time: 10.30 am - 1.00 pm
Venue: Hyatt Regency
Admission: Rs 2,500
(Inclusive of refreshments. Discounts for group pricing)
Tickets: https://www. townscript.com/e/stephenmcgown- Oct7-hyattregency
For further information, visit @thekindnessprojectinyou on Instagram. For queries, WhatsApp on 9344502996 or email hello@ thekindnessfoundation.in