Pierre Korkie
Yolande Korkie, wife of Pierre Korkie, the 57 year-old South African who was killed in a failed rescue attempt by US forces this weekend, says she has chosen to forgive his killers and accept God’s will.
The Daily Mail is reporting on the tragic story of Korkie’s death, which occurred just a day before he was to be released in exchange for a $200,000 ransom. He was killed during a raid on an Al Qaeda compound in Yemen just after midnight on Saturday where Korkie was being held with American photojournalist, Luke Somers.
Both men were shot by their captors when a barking dog alerted militants to the approach of 40 U.S. Navy Seals. A firefight broke out between the Seals and the militants which left 16 people dead – 6 militants and the rest civilians.
Korkie and Somers were both found bleeding from gunshot wounds. Medical teams waiting on nearby Osprey helicopters attempted to save the lives of the men, but they both died on the operating table.
Meanwhile, Yolande Korkie had gone to bed in her home near Johannesburg, South Africa thinking her husband was about to be released. The charity organization, Gift of the Givers, had told her that after months of negotiations, final arrangements had been made to bring Mr. Korkie home on Sunday. Sadly, she was awakened during the night with the news that her husband had just been killed in a failed rescue attempt.
“Three days ago we told her (Yolande), ‘Pierre will be home for Christmas’,” the charity said in a statement. “We certainly did not mean it in the manner it has unfolded.”
Yolande who, like her late husband, is a devout Christian, was at first too overwhelmed with grief to appear before cameras and issued a statement saying she and her two children had chosen to approach the tragic loss of Pierre with love and forgiveness rather than hatred and bitterness.
“ . . . (T)oday we choose to forgive. We choose to love. We choose to rejoice in the memories of Pierre and keep him alive in our hearts. We honor Pierre’s legacy and give glory to God for his life and death,” she said in a statement.
“We resolve to live in the embrace of God — until our time comes to be reunited. Even though this pain is overwhelming us right now, we choose to believe that this too will pass.”
It was not until today, shortly after the plane carrying her husband’s body landed in Waterkloof Airforce base in Johannesburg, that Yolande spoke to the media for the first time.
“I visualised something different, him holding me in his arms, hearing his soft voice,” she told reporters. “This morning, there was intense emotions of longing. We will never have him physically again but in our hearts he will never die.”
Pierre Korkie, was a teacher who was abducted with Yolande in the Yemeni city of Taiz in May, 2013. Yolande was released in January after Gift of the Givers managed to convince her captors that she and Pierre were not Americans.
A spokesman for the family told the Mail that while Yolande is extremely distressed over the loss of her husband, “She does not hold anyone to blame, she has never even said a bad word about Al-Qaeda, she is an extremely strong woman, guided by her faith.”
We pray for the repose of the souls of Pierre Korkie and Luke Somers and comfort for their families.
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