Kidnapped Irish missionary Gena Heraty has spoken of how she was constantly “petrified” during her 27-day incarceration in Haiti.
The Mayo born humanitarian, who was abducted last month along with seven others from the Sainte-Helene orphanage in Kenscoff, Port-au-Prince, spoke at length today for the first time about the group’s ordeal.
She told Tommy Marren on his Midwest Radio current affairs show she had been “walloped” by her captors on two occasions. On another occasion two of the other woman captives were “roughed up”, Ms Heraty said.
She went on to explain that a lot of the criminal gangs associated with abductions in Haiti claim they “are working for the devil” and hold voodoo ceremonies.
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“I was petrified that any one of us could be used in a sacrifice (ceremony),” she said.
Throughout their imprisonment, the captives, who included a four-year-old boy with special needs, were kept in cramped, dirty conditions and had to cope with sparse amounts of food and drinking water.
“For the first time in my life I knew what it was like to be hungry ... we had no drinking water ... they didn’t seem to care.”
Revealing the group’s coping mechanism, Ms Heraty said “we prayed for everybody that was worse than us, the people in Gaza, the people in Haiti, the people who are hungry all over the world.”
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Ms Heraty said that upon release she was devastated to learn of the death of Yvonne, one of the oldest residents of her rehab centre.
“I am convinced she would not have died if she did not have the added trauma of what happened on top of her illness”.
She added that she was angry when she learned their former home in the mountains had to be evacuated because of the continuing unrest.
“I am a peace and love person in general but I am really angry that the whole community in Kenscoff have been pushed out. People have lost their homes, their animals.
“I am so angry they (kidnappers) came with their big guns to a home for civilian disabled children and adults and put everybody through this in such an aggressive way.
“I am angry with the leaders, not angry with the foot soldiers. They are just puppets. They do what they are told.”
Asked about her state of health post release, Ms Heraty replied: “I am great. I truly am very well, all things considered. Not back at my (full) strength yet but considering what we were through I have nothing to complain about.
“I am thankful, most grateful for all the support I and the others have received from all over the world.”
Ms Heraty ruled out the possibility of an immediate visit to her home in west Mayo, stating she is committed to supporting those who have been kidnapped and the Haitian residents who have lost everything, their homes, their animals.
“I am so blessed by my wonderful family, I am dying to see them. But I know this is my place. If I had wings I would be flying in and out to all of them every day but for now there is no way of going anywhere.
“These gangs took a month of my life, they are not getting one second more of it.”
