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12-04-2006, 08:38 PM
Warne recalls fear, then peace
As voodoo drums pounded, Greenville man kidnapped in Haiti says he felt God's presence
Published: Monday, December 4, 2006 - 6:00 am
By Ron Barnett
STAFF WRITER
rbarnett@greenvillenews.com
What's your view? Click here to add your comment to this story.
He had a gun jammed in his face. He was kicked and jabbed and shackled by a gang that had just killed two police officers.
Yet as Greenville businessman Charles Warne listened to the voodoo drums pounding through the night and faced the possibility of his own death, he felt a great sense of peace come over him.
Warne, who was held captive for 48 hours in the scrub forests of Haiti by a violent band of kidnappers, returned home Thursday night unharmed -- and unwavering in his conviction God was with him throughout the ordeal.
"I think I had a direct relationship with him," he said. "He talked to me and helped me and sustained me.
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"I didn't have a fear of dying."
The 68-year-old native of Australia, who was in the impoverished Caribbean nation on a mission with Christ Episcopal Church, went through a wide range of emotions during the traumatic hours leading up to that moment of truth.
"To say I wasn't scared would be a lie," he said at his office Friday.
The joy he felt when he heard the church bells ringing upon his arrival on Thanksgiving Day at the Episcopal mission in the village of Cange left him with a firm resolve to return to continue the work among the poor.
"This will not diminish our commitment to the village," said his wife, Gillaine, who was already there helping with the food-production part of the mission when her husband was abducted.
For her husband, it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Warne had arrived in Port-au-Prince late in the afternoon on Nov. 21, and it was near dusk when he and several Haitians who worked at the mission began the trip toward Cange by car. Although it's only 45 miles, the road up the mountain is so bad, it takes 31/2 hours.
Things were going along normally until his car rounded a bend in the road into a village.
"All of a sudden, there was a battle on," Warne said.
An armed gang was engaged in a shootout with police. Warne was in the lead car in a convoy, and there was no way to turn back. His group was trapped.
During the melee, one of the outlaws opened a door of Warne's car and pulled the driver out. He took the wheel, and the vehicle was soon "kangarooing" down the road into the forest, Warne said.
Warne and his companions were blindfolded, bound hand and foot, and forced to march for what "seemed like forever" through the forest, he said. Eventually, they were herded together to sit shoulder to shoulder under a large tree.
Late that night, another hostage arrived. It was a Catholic deacon from a nearby village who had refused to cooperate with the bandits.
The next morning, before dawn, the group was forced to march again, about five miles to another camp. Later, they were marched back to the first camp.
All the while, Warne could hear helicopters whirling in the distance -- authorities were looking for them. But he had no hope of catching their attention in the dense scrub.
Once, he considered trying to make an escape but quickly thought better of it.
"I don't think I could have gotten more than a few yards," he said. And then there would likely be repercussions for the attempt -- possibly on his companions, he thought.
While her husband was going through this nightmare, Gillaine was sending out word on a worldwide prayer chain. The village "went into absolute shock" at the news.
She first realized her husband had been abducted when a call to his cell phone was answered by one of the kidnappers. Marie Flore Chipps, the daughter of the Episcopal priest in Cange, was able to communicate with the men in Creole. She acted as a go-between, with the FBI, the American Embassy and a United Nations hostage negotiations team helping her work out a deal with the kidnappers.
Warne doesn't want to discuss details of the negotiations.
When he was released, his first nourishment was a glass of white wine. "It was very good," he said. The bandits gave him nothing to eat the first day and only a little bread and cheese the second day.
Now that he's back home safely, Warne says the episode gave him a perspective on life he never knew before. His peace at the prospect of death made him aware his faith in eternal life could sustain him.
"I think I know myself better," he said.
The church will probably take measures to improve the security of its members on future trips, but the trips will continue. The needs -- for food, medicine and education -- are great. The fight against the most severe poverty in the Western Hemisphere, which the Warnes believe to be at the root of the kidnappers' motivation, must go on, the Warnes say.
For them, it will come in February.
Charles Warne
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As voodoo drums pounded, Greenville man kidnapped in Haiti says he felt God's presence
Published: Monday, December 4, 2006 - 6:00 am
By Ron Barnett
STAFF WRITER
rbarnett@greenvillenews.com
What's your view? Click here to add your comment to this story.
He had a gun jammed in his face. He was kicked and jabbed and shackled by a gang that had just killed two police officers.
Yet as Greenville businessman Charles Warne listened to the voodoo drums pounding through the night and faced the possibility of his own death, he felt a great sense of peace come over him.
Warne, who was held captive for 48 hours in the scrub forests of Haiti by a violent band of kidnappers, returned home Thursday night unharmed -- and unwavering in his conviction God was with him throughout the ordeal.
"I think I had a direct relationship with him," he said. "He talked to me and helped me and sustained me.
Advertisement
"I didn't have a fear of dying."
The 68-year-old native of Australia, who was in the impoverished Caribbean nation on a mission with Christ Episcopal Church, went through a wide range of emotions during the traumatic hours leading up to that moment of truth.
"To say I wasn't scared would be a lie," he said at his office Friday.
The joy he felt when he heard the church bells ringing upon his arrival on Thanksgiving Day at the Episcopal mission in the village of Cange left him with a firm resolve to return to continue the work among the poor.
"This will not diminish our commitment to the village," said his wife, Gillaine, who was already there helping with the food-production part of the mission when her husband was abducted.
For her husband, it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Warne had arrived in Port-au-Prince late in the afternoon on Nov. 21, and it was near dusk when he and several Haitians who worked at the mission began the trip toward Cange by car. Although it's only 45 miles, the road up the mountain is so bad, it takes 31/2 hours.
Things were going along normally until his car rounded a bend in the road into a village.
"All of a sudden, there was a battle on," Warne said.
An armed gang was engaged in a shootout with police. Warne was in the lead car in a convoy, and there was no way to turn back. His group was trapped.
During the melee, one of the outlaws opened a door of Warne's car and pulled the driver out. He took the wheel, and the vehicle was soon "kangarooing" down the road into the forest, Warne said.
Warne and his companions were blindfolded, bound hand and foot, and forced to march for what "seemed like forever" through the forest, he said. Eventually, they were herded together to sit shoulder to shoulder under a large tree.
Late that night, another hostage arrived. It was a Catholic deacon from a nearby village who had refused to cooperate with the bandits.
The next morning, before dawn, the group was forced to march again, about five miles to another camp. Later, they were marched back to the first camp.
All the while, Warne could hear helicopters whirling in the distance -- authorities were looking for them. But he had no hope of catching their attention in the dense scrub.
Once, he considered trying to make an escape but quickly thought better of it.
"I don't think I could have gotten more than a few yards," he said. And then there would likely be repercussions for the attempt -- possibly on his companions, he thought.
While her husband was going through this nightmare, Gillaine was sending out word on a worldwide prayer chain. The village "went into absolute shock" at the news.
She first realized her husband had been abducted when a call to his cell phone was answered by one of the kidnappers. Marie Flore Chipps, the daughter of the Episcopal priest in Cange, was able to communicate with the men in Creole. She acted as a go-between, with the FBI, the American Embassy and a United Nations hostage negotiations team helping her work out a deal with the kidnappers.
Warne doesn't want to discuss details of the negotiations.
When he was released, his first nourishment was a glass of white wine. "It was very good," he said. The bandits gave him nothing to eat the first day and only a little bread and cheese the second day.
Now that he's back home safely, Warne says the episode gave him a perspective on life he never knew before. His peace at the prospect of death made him aware his faith in eternal life could sustain him.
"I think I know myself better," he said.
The church will probably take measures to improve the security of its members on future trips, but the trips will continue. The needs -- for food, medicine and education -- are great. The fight against the most severe poverty in the Western Hemisphere, which the Warnes believe to be at the root of the kidnappers' motivation, must go on, the Warnes say.
For them, it will come in February.
Charles Warne
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------