Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal and Sarah Shourd have been held captive since July 31, 2009. They are 3 friends that share a love for other cultures and religion. They have a love of the outdoors and all graduated from the University of California at Berkley. They were in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, a peaceful region of Iraq that has become popular to western tourists. They were thought to have accidentally crossed an unmarked line in the mountains and were soon captured and taken to captivity.
Shane, Josh, and Sarah have had absolutely zero contact with their family or anybody in the outside world. How scary would that be? To be in a country you know we are in war with and then get captured and not hear from anybody that can help you? Who knows what their living conditions are like? Are they getting fed or not? The big question is, are they even alive or not since no one has heard from them since they disappeared.
I was watching Good Morning America on Wednesday morning and the mothers of all three hikers were on there to make a plea to the president of the Iranian capital, Tehran, which is where they are believed to being held. The mothers stated that all they were doing was hiking the beautiful mountains and living and learning about the culture and that crossing the border was a “regrettable mistake.” Now, I am not sure I would have ventured out in a country that we are not very friendly with at the moment, just to see and hike some beautiful mountains and scenery. I lived in Bozeman, Montana for almost two years and there were some mountains that were pretty enough to look at and hike for my blood. Sure, there would be some culture lacking but if you get deep enough into the woods I am sure it would be just as eventful enough. I am sure this is what the hikers themselves are thinking, If only we would have went some place else?
On the homepage of the website for the hikers called Freethehikers.com, you can follow the updates on the hikers by joining their support either on twitter or on Facebook. They already have 544 fans on their Facebook group and I am sure it will keep growing the more their captivity is publicized. I did not even hear about their capture until I watched Good Morning America on Wednesday and saw what their mothers had to say.
There is also a count of days in captivity down to the minute and this is what it read when I left the website:
48 days, 15 hours, and 30 minutes
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Annie -
ReplyDeleteWow! I had not heard about this story at all. It's extremely scary to think about the countries that are violent or unfriendly towards others. I'm sure that if they don't have any type of communication with anyone that they have had all types of belongings taken away as well as being held captive. No cell phones, email, computers or anything. I can't imagine how the mothers must feel, and I think they have a lot of courage to speak out on Good Morning America. I'm sure many people would have given up by now, but they are pushing for a positive outcome to the situation. Each person has their unique story of what they do, and I wish that I could say that I speak Arabic or that I've traveled to many countries. That would be a privilege to travel to some places.
I had not heard about this until I read your post. Part of what is going through my mind, is what were they thinking? Why would you go hiking there of all places? Why now? 48 days is a long time to be missing, especially in a hostile environment. It has to be just heart wrenching for their families and friends. They have to feel helpless. It is not like they can go searching for their loved ones. I hope that more and more people start noticing this story. This is a story that needs media attention, so that more help can be given.
ReplyDeleteI remember hearing about this at the time it happened but regrettably I had forgotten all about it. What amazes me is that the government has not done more to help these hikers. Is it because of the deteriorated relations between Iran and the United States? It cannot be any worse than relations between the United States and North Korea however former President Clinton went to North Korea to help the journalist who was captured. It seems a bit strange to me. I think more has been done to help the boy in Brazil than the hikers in Iran. I am hoping more has happened than I have heard about.
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