A California missionary worker kidnapped and tortured in Africa for six years has released fresh details about his experience in a new book.
“All the Way Home”— released last week — recounts Jeff Woodke’s kidnapping, harrowing captivity and his struggle to rebuild his life after returning home.
The 65-year-old from McKinleyville, Northern California, who was held hostage by a West African Al Qaida-linked terror group, is warning others to be wary of the region.
Woodke described being beaten, drugged and dragged into captivity after armed men stormed his home in Niger in October 2016.
“They just beat the stuffing out of me and drugged me, threw me in their vehicle,” Woodke said, recalling the attack in an interview with The Christian Post.
He said the assault left indentations in his skull.
Woodke had spent decades working with vulnerable communities in Niger and was nearing retirement when militants arrived at his home in the town of Abalak.
He said the attackers chased him as he tried to flee, striking him with rifle butts before a blow to his leg severed his Achilles tendon.
Woodke was then stripped and driven into the desert, where he said he was eventually sold between militant groups.
“I was trafficked,” he said. “That’s what I was. I was kidnapped, and I was sold, and I was the property of another human being, or at least they thought I was.”
Woodke was released on March 20, 2023, after more than six years in captivity, the Biden administration said at the time.
He was taken from Niger to neighboring Mali, where he was believed to have been held by a terrorist network.
A senior administration official said Woodke was released near the Mali-Burkina Faso area and that there had been “no quid pro quo” with his captors.
The official said the US government did not directly negotiate with a terrorist organization, pay a ransom or make a concession in exchange for Woodke’s freedom.
He was handed over to special forces from a third-party nation before being transferred to US diplomatic personnel in Niamey, Niger.
Much of his captivity was spent in brutal conditions, including periods when his ankles were shackled and he was forced to sleep on the ground in the scorching West African desert.
During rainy periods, he said he was left outside as floodwaters swept through the area. His food was largely limited to basic staples such as rice, dough, red sauce and occasional dried goat meat.
The book recounts his return to his wife, adult children and grandchildren, while confronting memories of captivity and the psychological consequences of what he had endured.
He recalled his captors confining him inside a cramped box for about two months. The enclosure measured roughly 4ft by 4ft — leaving Woodke unable to stand upright.
“They would not even speak with me just to try and break me,” he told the outlet. “There was a psychological dissociation, complete dissociation. I basically went nuts for a while. Lost time. Lost a lot.”
His prolonged isolation and abuse eventually left him so physically weak that he could no longer walk. At one point, Woodke said he went on a hunger strike and said he prayed for God to kill him.
“I kind of lost my religion, but I gained my faith,” he said.
That struggle with faith is a central theme of “All the Way Home.” The book describes Woodke’s experience as one of profound suffering, but also as a testimony to the faith and hope he says sustained him through captivity, according to the description of his book.
Woodke said he feared his family could have died during the COVID-19 pandemic because he had received so little information from the outside world. He also had to relearn how to function after years as a hostage.
In his memoir, Woodke describes coming home after six and a half years away and confronting the lasting effects of his captivity, including PTSD and the challenge of rebuilding his life after years of isolation and uncertainty.
His experience has since shaped his warnings to Western missionaries considering work in dangerous parts of the Sahel.
“If they go in there right now, they’re just going to get taken hostage again.”
Woodke said he ultimately believes the cycle of extremism and hatred cannot be defeated through rhetoric alone.
“The only way we’re going to conquer it is not through politics and rhetoric and dogma and exclusion, but through love.”
The response to Woodke’s book has been very emotional.
“I could not help but have tears in my eyes,” one reader online wrote. “This is not a light read and the author wrestles with heavy life and death questions. I recommend anyone of faith or curious about surviving challenging times in extreme circumstance, to read and/or listen to this book.”
“What impacted me most was Jeff’s choice to forgive his captors. In the midst of circumstances most of us could never even imagine surviving, he chose forgiveness,” another said.
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