Brittney Griner is now part of a small club nobody wants to join, former detainees say. But many have found kinship with each other while readjusting to life back home.
by pirates in Somalia for 93 days a decade ago, is among the few who knew what Griner would be facing: Joyous and overwhelming reunions with loved ones. An onslaught of interview requests. A dawning understanding of the great efforts people back home made to secure her freedom. And, eventually, the lonely realization that captivity leaves an imprint that never fades.
“When you’re watching these things play out and time drags on, you know exactly how that feels,” said Buchanan, 43, who lives in Alexandria, Va. After a person’s release, she added, “what happens is everyone thinks that everything’s going to be fine from now on, because you got through it; you survived. It’s the honeymoon phase. What sets in is what I call ‘surviving survival.
“What links us all together is having your freedom and human rights taken away from you in an instant,” said Sam Goodwin, who wasGoodwin, 34, had lunch recently with Buchanan, whom he considers a friend. He also met in Washington this month with Jorge Toledo,Goodwin was arrested by Syrian forces while near the end of a quest to visit every country in the world — Syria was No. 181 of 193. He spent one month in solitary confinement and was dragged to court four times, he said.
“I feel totally comfortable asking them any questions, because I’m coming at it from a place of having a similar experience: ‘Hey, I get it, I’m just curious: What was your food like?’” Goodwin said. “I get that question a lot, but I ask it coming from a different place.”
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