“It was disheartening, I become sick, it was a very painful experience, I called for God but it was like he had travelled far away.

“I picked the knife to stab myself then I heard a voice that said …..” Jewel Ahiable shared on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Thursday.

He was recounting the experience of his 1000 days captivity in the hands of Somali Pirates which happened on 29^th March 2010.

Ahiable’s story comes on the back of recent kidnappings in Ghana.  Thursday’s ‘I survived,’ a segment on the SMS, was to give an inside story of what pertains when one is under captivity. 

God is always ready and wants to direct our path, he said of the moments he felt God was trying to sway him from accepting a job which led to his prolonged misery on the sea. 

Ahiable who now works as an evangelist had returned from all-night prayers when he had an offer to work as an electrical engineer on the ship, MV Iceber1.

He saw the offer as God’s blessings following the vigil prayers. But it was not. Later events proved that.

The pain that followed that innocuous action, he remarks, was “excruciating.”

It was all bliss and smooth sailing until the ship he was on, was hijacked by Somali Pirates.

The condition for their freedom was ransom payment of $10miliion. That did not happen as the owner of the ship, who lived in Dubai, was adamant to pay.  

The hijacker who took offence with this exacerbated their plight to stampede the vessel owner to pay them. 

During that period he saw and witnessed ears being split into two, teeth broken, they went days without food and when they had food, it was cooked with seawater mixed with engine oil.

That was not all, they drunk water which leaked from air conditioners and were housed in a compartment of the ship with little ventilation.

They were objects of mockery for their captors on many occasions. 

They were brought out on days their masters were bored to entertain themselves. 

They will ask them to say their last prayers. With a simulation process of being shot, bullets would be fired just above their heads into the sea.

This was being done amidst their responsibility of working on the ship to keep it afloat. 

As an electrical engineer, he was constantly called upon to fix the many electrical challenges that affected the ship.

He is not bitter about his experience. Ahiable believes God allowed this to happen to him for a purpose.

“God has a purpose for everything. That is why I am here sharing my story,” he said.  

He thanked God for making a way for their escape when they least expected. 

According to him, there was no sign that ‘we were going to be rescued. No negotiations were going on, all human efforts had ceased but I kept trusted in God.

He says rescue came after 13 days of that letter after writing a letter to God. It was the 33 rd month of his captivity on his 33^rd birthday when finally saw freedom.