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Nun who had been kidnapped in Africa details her captivity

Sister Suellen Tennyson, 83, arrived back in New Orleans on August 31.

NEW ORLEANS — The video above is from the night it was announced that Sister Suellen Tennyson had been rescued. 

Sister Suellen Tennyson, the nun that had been kidnapped in West Africa in April and held in captivity until August, detailed her experiences during her captivity in an interview with the Clarion Herald, the newspaper of the New Orleans Archdiocese.

Tennyson arrived back in New Orleans on August 31 after spending five months in captivity. She was taken from her bed by armed men at a missionary home in Burkina Faso. She had been blindfolded, gagged, put on the back of a motorcycle and driven through the forest in the late hours of the night and early morning.

“I thought maybe they were going to leave me sitting on the porch, but all of a sudden they wrapped me up and took me,” Sister Suellen said.

Tennyson was turned over to another Muslim group, and said that during her captivity, her captors treated her somewhat reasonably, washing her feet, feeding her, and allowing her to track the days she spent captured. Tennyson had no access to her glasses, medication, and was barefoot during her captivity. She says she slept on the ground outside or on the floor, and contracted malaria, and lost 20 pounds.

The Marianites of Holy Cross, a group Sister Suellen used to lead, worked with the FBI and other federal agencies to locate her but never had information on her whereabouts. Tennyson told the Clarion Herald she didn't even know where she was.

“I told my caretaker, ‘I can’t run away – I can’t run, and I don’t know the way!’”, she said.

Sister Suellen was released on August 29 in the country of Niger, about 200 miles east of the commune of Yalgo, where she was captured. The details of her release are not clear, as she signed a privacy agreement with the FBI, according to the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Sister Suellen says prayer helped her get through her captivity, and thanks all those who prayed for her. 

“That’s what I want to say – ‘Thank you to all these people,’” Sister Suellen said. “I am truly humbled by all of this. And the only way I can say thank you is ‘thank you.’ My heart is filled with gratitude.”

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