Blairgowrie resident’s tale of resilience in captivity

Blairgowrie resident Stephen McGown’s new book, Six Years with Al Qaeda: The Stephen McGown Story, is one of overcoming hardship in the face of the harshest of adversity.

Living in a home in the leafy Johannesburg suburb with his beloved wife is a stark contrast to the trials that befell him on 25 November 2011.

“I thought, this does not make sense. When I was taken, everything felt as if it were a dream. You start to think ‘Can I get out of here?’, but your brain runs a mile a minute through all the different scenarios as to what the outcomes of your actions may be. At the end of it, there is very little you can do when you are constantly staring down the barrel of a gun,” he explained.

While embarking on a cross-continent motorbike journey from London to Johannesburg across Africa, McGown was captured and held by Al Qaeda militants for six years, giving him the title of the group’s longest-held surviving captive. “I was a tourist that wanted to experience the ride of a lifetime, and it had been one of my dreams to do it since I was a youngster. I would never have guessed I would eventually be telling this story.”

McGown had been living in the United Kingdom, where he met his wife Catherine. The couple decided to move back to South Africa in 2011, and as he was between jobs, he felt this was the perfect opportunity for him to embark on his dream journey.
“I met up with a riding partner from the Netherlands, as I was wise enough to know that this journey could not be completed on one’s own, and my biggest fear was not being kidnapped, rather the dangers posed such as breakdowns, punctures, injuries and such on the trip.”

McGown packed provisions, supplies and started his motorbike to set off on the journey that aimed to see him travel through Europe and North Africa. He described the journey as simply amazing.

During a rest stop in Timbuktu, Mali, McGown, his riding mate and a few other travellers from Europe who had joined them along the way, encountered three armed militants who walked into the area they were staying in, dragged them into the street before bundling their victims into a Toyota Land Cruiser.

“It all happened very quickly. Five of us in total were captured. It was absolutely terrifying, and I felt that this was the start of my new life.”
The captives were taken to an unknown location far in the Sahara Desert.

McGown was handcuffed and blindfolded most of the time and lived in a camp that was mostly outdoors far from civilisation.
“The Sahara has a thousand different faces, and is beautiful and daunting at the same. I had no idea where I was, how I could escape, who would rescue me, and after several years, no idea how my family was doing and how they were coping. I was blacked-out from the rest of the world.”

His family never ceased in their efforts to help bring McGown home safely and worked tirelessly with the police and government.
Eventually, Stephen’s father Malcolm got in contact with local NGO Gift of the Givers, who went to extremes in helping to secure his son’s release.

The NGO obtained the services of a Malian negotiator to work on their behalf in tracking McGown down and negotiating his release from his captors by establishing a good rapport in the region.
Community leaders agreed to negotiate with the Al Qaeda cell, but to no avail.

More time had passed, and back home, McGown’s mother had now been found to be suffering from a serious lung disease and was not in good physical health. Even though this was an issue, his family continued to fight for his freedom.
A letter was eventually sent by the South African government to Mali, which was eventually received by his captors. The letter pleaded for McGown’s release on compassionate grounds.

In the interim, he found out that fellow captives had been released elsewhere, and things started to look positive, as he was the last in captivity.
In July of 2017, he was told that he would be freed, and in a scene that could be taken out of a blockbuster movie, he was driven for miles to an unknown location where they were met by another vehicle.

He was told to leave and he was free, which at the time McGown did not believe. He walked across to the other vehicle, and at that point, he realised he was indeed free.
“Unless you were there, you will never fully understand the ordeal of something like that. I was incredibly happy to be going home.”
Upon his return, McGown had to seek medical treatment.

When returning home, he lived in Hurlingham and now in Blairgowrie, and has been a part of the local community for years. “My wife and I are very much a part of the local community, we cycle and walk our dogs along the spruit and have many friends in our neighbourhood.”

He now heads many talks as a motivational speaker, telling his story of resilience to audiences around the world. Recently, many corporate companies have shown interest in showcasing his story to their staff as motivation on how to cope with Covid-19 and the lockdowns following it.

“It is incredibly difficult to discuss my ordeal in its entirety, but I hope to inspire others with my story to help with their own resilience in whatever trials they may be facing. In six years, I saw the evolution of my self, from an investment banker in London to literally putting my life back together from the dirt. My talks are attitude and emotionally directive talks about what is important in life, how to maintain your body and your mind in a lockdown situation.”

His story has now been put to paper so that anyone who is unfamiliar or who have followed his story over the years, can find out the intense details about it to get a deeper sense of the events surrounding it.

“I was able to work with the fantastic writer Tudor Caradoc-Davies who helped to put my story on to paper, in the very typical lockdown style that we have all come to know, with meetings over Zoom over the course of a few weeks to help get the story written.”
The compelling new book, Six Years with Al Qaeda: The Stephen McGown Story, has been published by the Daily Maverick’s Maverick 451, and is available to purchase at all major bookstores and online.

Details: www.stephenmcgown.com