{"id":514219,"date":"2016-05-03T12:09:23","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T10:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.varesenews.it\/?p=514219"},"modified":"2016-05-03T12:09:23","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T10:09:23","slug":"del-torchio-free-with-a-life-to-rebuild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.varesenews.it\/2016\/05\/del-torchio-free-with-a-life-to-rebuild\/514219\/","title":{"rendered":"Del Torchio: \u201cFree, with a life to rebuild\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMy life ended on 7 October. Now I have to restart and rebuild, and it\u2019s not easy.\u201d<\/strong> Kidnapping is one of the cruellest and most heinous crimes a man can suffer. Rolando Del Torchio,<\/strong> who was kidnapped by Islamic terrorists of the Abu Sayyaf Group<\/strong>, and released on 8 April,<\/strong> after six months of captivity in the Philippine jungle, can speak from experience.<\/p>\n

When he was released, he was physically and emotionally exhausted.<\/strong> What separates the all skin and bone figure of today from the photograph of last year is almost 40 kg,<\/strong> and even Rolando hardly recognises himself in the mirror. But he is still the same strong person, who has had to face changes, threats and difficulties in his life. He is strong, but frail, at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u00abI\u2019m reasonably well \u2026 I\u2019m trying to overcome the trauma caused by what I went through. I can\u2019t sleep, but when I wake up at dawn, I can still see the tent in the jungle where I was held. I\u2019m also trying to change the habits I was forced to adopt. I\u2019m safe, but it isn\u2019t all over.<\/strong> The thought for the people who are still in rebel hands is constant. It makes me suffer a lot to think about them, about the conditions they\u2019re being held in, and the psychological mechanisms used to keep the fear threshold high\u00bb.<\/p>\n

Rolando made it out, but the burden of suffering, fear and despair that he suffered is an invisible presence. \u201cI always said told myself, \u2018Rolando, don\u2019t give up, you have to make it, don\u2019t give up,\u2019 even in the most difficult moments.<\/strong> Near the end, a few days before I was released, I was exhausted and resigned, I would have died in order to be free. My faith? It helped me a lot, my type of faith,<\/strong>\u201d he smiled. \u201cI cried, prayed, talked to God, and even argued. I told him, \u2018You can\u2019t stand by in silence, you have to do something, you can\u2019t let me die here.\u2019 I was desperate, but I also felt that behind all that was happening to me, there was a great director. Now I\u2019m free, and I\u2019m even more convinced\u00bb.<\/p>\n

The former missionary, who had recently become a restaurant owner in Dipolog, Ur Choice Caf\u00e9, is not like anyone else. Undoubtedly, he was chosen for this reason. \u00abThey still thought of me as a priest and thought I had gone there to fight Islam. They had come to this idea about me, and I think this is the reason that led them to kidnap me\u00bb. \u00a0Rolando did a lot for the people he met in the Philippines, and not only as a priest.<\/p>\n

In Angera, those who knew him described him as unselfish, courageous and a good man.<\/strong> So, it is no coincidence that he is remembered like this in the places he has lived. During the kidnapping, on one wall of the cathedral in the Philippine city, there was a sign that read \u201cRolando is our son\u201d<\/strong>. This strong message, and the courage of his employees, who, after two days, reopened his restaurant, awaiting his return, says a lot about the affection the local people have for this westerner, who did not hesitate to help them and give work to unmarried mothers and to women in difficulty.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the world, in Italy, people prayed, and Rolando is moved when he thinks about the love and the closeness of the people of his hometown. \u00abThank you is not enough to express how I feel about the community of Angera.<\/strong> I appreciated the messages of closeness, but also the discretion and the respect for my desire to spend these days with my family. I missed them a lot and now I need to be with them\u00bb.<\/p>\n

Rolando never raises his voice,<\/strong> even when he speaks about his kidnappers. \u00abThey\u2019re intoxicated by their religion, and they live in an environment of death. I spent six months in that environment of death. There were weapons around me, there was an arrogant way to fight war, to use them and to shoot. My kidnappers were of all ages, even children.\u00a0<\/strong>When they\u2019re eleven years old, they already have weapons in their hands. <\/strong>It\u2019s frightening to see what I saw. The older ones spent their time telling each other about their guerrilla activities and watching ISIS videos. I felt a lot of anger inside. I wondered, \u201cWhat right have you got to keep me here, and decide on my life. No God can ask this of you, can want this. I thought a lot about the prisoners of Nazism, even when I was back home. I think they must have asked themselves the same things\u00bb.<\/p>\n

Listening to Rolando, to his choice of memories and his measured words, you get the impression that even a tragedy like this cannot change the \u201cgood man\u201d<\/strong> that relatives and acquaintances described during his days of imprisonment. Neither anger nor rancour has a prominent role in his tales. \u00abBefore putting me on the bus that brought me to freedom, one of my kidnappers said to me, \u2018You are a good man. Sorry if I offended you and used cruel words with you”<\/strong>\u00bb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rolando\u2019s return home. \u201cI saw terrible things in the jungle. Now I\u2019m safe, and I think about those who are still down there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1026,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDel Torchio: \u201cFree, with a life to rebuild\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rolando\u2019s return home. \u201cI saw terrible things in the jungle. 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