A California man who was kidnapped, sold and held hostage for almost seven years has revealed how his captors locked him inside a tiny box for two months in a brutal attempt to break him psychologically.
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captors → kidnap → him
Jeff Woodke, a missionary worker who was abducted from his home in Abalak, Niger, on October 14, 2016, is speaking out about his ordeal three years after he was finally freed.
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he → abduct → ordeal
He hopes that his experience can help others to move forward from trauma.
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others → hop → trauma
Woodke recalled the moment his ordeal began in an interview with The Christian Post: 'They just beat the stuffing out of me and drugged me, threw me in their vehicle,' he said, adding he still has indentations in his skull from the beating.
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he → recall → beating
He spent much of his captivity in solitude, chained by his ankles and sleeping on the ground in the West African desert, where temperatures could reach 120F.
During the rainy season, he was forced to sleep outside during floods.
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he → spend → floods
His meals rarely varied, consisting largely of rice or a dough-like staple with red sauce and, occasionally, dried goat meat.
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meals → vary → sauce
But some of his worst moments came during a two-month period when his captors confined him during the day inside a box measuring roughly four feet wide, four feet long and four feet high.
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captors → come → box
Woodke could not stand upright inside it and his captors refused to speak to him.
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captors → stand → him
'They would not even speak with me just to try and break me,' he told the outlet.
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he → speak → outlet
I basically went nuts for a while.
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I → go → while
Woodke was finally released in March 2023, more than six years after his abduction.
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Woodke → release → abduction
He says he was able to rebuild his life thanks to love and support from his family
Woodke, right, arrives at Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey, Niger, on March 20, 2023 as he emerged from captivity for the first time in almost seven years
Woodke's home in Abalak, Niger, just days after he was kidnapped in October 2016
Originally from McKinleyville, California, Woodke had spent decades working among vulnerable communities in Niger and was about a year from retirement when armed militants stormed his home.
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militants → say → home
He had stepped outside to speak with guards before preparing to sleep in the cooler night air when one guard noticed a suspicious vehicle.
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guard → step → vehicle
He saw the muzzle of a gun before gunfire erupted.
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gunfire → see → gun
Woodke tried to escape but was chased and beaten with rifle butts.
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Woodke → try → butts
His robe came off as he ran into a nearby courtyard, before a blow to his leg severed his Achilles tendon and sent him crashing to the ground.
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blow → come → ground
His captors then stripped him naked and drove him into the desert.
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captors → strip → desert
'I was trafficked,' he said.
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he → traffic → ?
'That’s what I was.
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I → ’ → ?
I was kidnapped, and I was sold, and I was the property of another human being, or at least they thought I was.
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I → kidnap → being
Woodke was eventually held by different brigades operating under JNIM, an al-Qaida-linked coalition active across West Africa.
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Woodke → hold → Africa
He said his treatment varied between groups, with his initial captors being particularly cruel.
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captors → say → groups
The prolonged isolation and physical abuse took a severe toll.
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isolation → prolong → toll
Woodke eventually became so weak that he could no longer walk and began experiencing suicidal thoughts.
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he → become → thoughts
California native Woodke was pictured in a head scarf during a ceremony to introduce his NGO in Abalak just two days before he was captured
Woodke describes feeling so hopeless in captivity it drove him to partake in a hunger strike
At one point, he began a hunger strike and prayed for God to kill him.
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God → picture → him
Reflecting on the ordeal, he said: 'I kind of lost my religion, but I gained my faith.'
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I → reflect → faith
Before his kidnapping, Woodke said he could spend as many as eight hours a day praying.
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he → say → hours
By the end, he could manage perhaps 20 minutes but in that time continued praying for his family.
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he → manage → family
Woodke was finally released in March 2023, more than six years after his abduction.
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Woodke → release → abduction
The White House said the United States did not pay a ransom or make any other concessions and described his release as a 'collaborative effort.'
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States → say → effort
But returning home did not end the trauma.
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returning → return → trauma
Woodke said he feared his family might have died during the COVID-19 pandemic because he had received so little information from the outside world.
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he → say → world
He also wondered how he could possibly return to normal life after years as a hostage and explained that he had to relearn 'what it meant to be a human being again, rather than an animal.'
His ordeal has also shaped his views on the growing extremist threat across the Sahel, the arid region that stretches between the Sahara Desert and tropical savannas to the south.
He believes poverty, lack of education, neglect, foreign influence and radicalization have helped militant groups recruit young men by offering money, weapons, phones, motorcycles and status.
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groups → wonder → money
Woodke warned Western missionaries against entering some of the region’s most dangerous areas.
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Woodke → warn → areas
'If they go in there right now, they’re just going to get taken hostage again.
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they → go → ?
And after experiencing what he described as 'the worst and the best' of humanity, Woodke said he believes hatred cannot defeat hatred.
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hatred → experience → hatred
'The only way we’re going to conquer it is not through politics and rhetoric and dogma and exclusion, but through love.'
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we → go → love
The Daily Mail has reached out to Woodke for comment.
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Mail → reach → comment
The Aporia
