"My name is Yolande Korkie." "My husband and I are from South Africa." "My husband is a teacher." "We came to Yemen in 2009 to teach Yemeni people English language." "They're on their way." "Do you have the hostages?" "Have they been delivered to you?" "Taiz is dangerous now." "It's crawling with police looking for them." "Pierre Korkie was a volunteer teacher." "He taught a group of students in the afternoon." "Pierre was a really awesome person and very nice, too." "His way of teaching was unique." "An anonymous gang has kidnapped two foreigners." "Nobody knows why they were kidnapped." "I just couldn't ignore this story." "I decided I had to do something if I could." "It was something I felt very deeply about." "I saw how corruption and poverty contributed to the destruction of my country." "I used to be a journalist, so I knew every aspect of the situation in Yemen." "I knew that if I didn't try to help release them, then no one would." "Our organization, Gift of the Givers, began in Yemen in 2012, and we still have many projects there." "Our aim is to provide food and clean water." "These are the things most lacking in Yemen." "I rang Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman." "I told him the news about the kidnapping of two South Africans in Yemen, and I asked him if there was anything we could do." "In 2009, I got married and started my family." "I had simple dreams to have normal life and to make a happy family." "My wife Fadia is very patient." "She always encourages me to do the right thing." "But she was not aware of just how risky this might be." "I had no skills at all in tracking or negotiation." "I visited the places where Yolande and Pierre used to work." "I visited their friends and met their work colleagues." "I kept asking them whether they had heard anything." "I also met the local tribesmen." "These tribes have a strong relationship with al-Qaeda even though they are not part of the organization." "Every person I met," "I gave him my business card." "Seven months after the kidnapping of Yolande and Pierre," "I received a phone call from Abyan Province." "They said, "We have Yolande and her husband and if you want to negotiate, come and visit us in Abyan." "Call us on this number."" "I didn't know if they were tribesmen or al-Qaeda." "I told him, "If anything bad happens to me, please take care of my family, because I don't know what these people want."" "The first meeting was on the side of the road." "Some men arrived armed to the teeth." "They weren't tribesmen." "When I met them, I knew they were al-Qaeda." "I felt the troubles had just begun." "Their first words were, "We want $100,000 just to start talking."" "It was a quick meeting." "All they demanded was the money." "You must be patient and honest when you're dealing with al-Qaeda." "If they have any doubt about you, they will assassinate you without hesitation." "Three days later, I received a call." "We started negotiation, and they said they can free the hostages now... but they need the ransom amount of $3 million." "I knew from the beginning that this amount of money was exaggerated, especially as they are South Africans and not Americans." "Then..." "I had an idea." "I said, "If you give me Yolande, we will raise the money, and I will deliver it to you." "You have my guarantee." "I am sure that whenever you need me, you know how to get me."" "They started looking at each other, which meant they were thinking about my words." "My heart was beating very fast, and I was afraid that they will accept my offer." "Where are we going to get $3 million?" "I received a call at 11 a.m. on the 9th of January." "They said, "Yolande will be released, and we will call after a short while."" "I rang my wife and told her that I am going on a very dangerous trip to release a hostage in Abyan in a dangerous place." "I told her, "These could be my last words to you, but I'm not backing down."" "Driving through those areas, you are very likely to come across people who might start shooting at you." "They might stop you, hijack your car, rob or kill you." "Anything is possible." "The risk was enormous, and I couldn't think about anything." "I sat in silence wondering, "What will happen next?"" "As soon as we arrived at the place where we were supposed to receive Yolande," "I put on the foundation T-shirt which had the flag of South Africa on it." "I got out of the car and was met by some armed men." "We went into a room, and they said to us," ""Yolande is here, safe and sound, and she is coming out to you now."" "So the moment I saw her blue eyes, I knew that this was Yolande, because there are rarely any blue eyes in Yemen." "Yolande got in the car." "I placed her in the front seat and as soon as she got in, she put the seat belt on." "I found it strange that a kidnapped person was still conscious of road safety procedures." "On behalf of my husband, my children and me," "I'm telling the kidnappers" "I forgive you from my heart." "We thank God, who helped us to release Yolande, and we hope that we release her husband very soon." "Please." "Let him go." "I was worried now that Yolande was free." "What will happen if we can't get the money?" "Straight after that, I got a message from Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman saying, "Gather your stuff, you will be on the first flight out of Yemen."" "I love Yemen." "I've lived there all my life." "It was hard to think that I couldn't return to Yemen." "It was a nightmare." "I thought, whatever happens, I need to return." "When I returned to Yemen," "I decided to make contact with the tribes that were within the al-Qaeda area through another tribe that I belonged to." "We began the negotiations through the tribesmen and my contact was with the tribe's sheikh." "To reach the leaders of al-Qaeda, they had to go deep into areas under the control of al-Qaeda." "These areas are very remote, and the US drones are very active there." "In Yemen they call them "the blind"" "because they strike without any hesitation." "When you hear the sound of drones, that's the sound of death for many Yemenis." "The tribesmen were risking their lives with every visit." "The negotiations were extremely difficult because I was not negotiating directly." "I was relaying information from one person to another person, which is very complicated." "We warn Obama and the US government against proceeding with any other follies." "We were worried that al-Qaeda might change their mind after the American raid, and that's why we needed to have the money immediately, to close the deal as soon as possible before another American attack and before al-Qaeda could change their mind." "At that time, we received approval from al-Qaeda to release Pierre." "We only needed to hand the money to the tribesmen." "My job was to make a call to release the money as soon as I received Pierre." "The tribesmen would receive it immediately." "The handover would be performed in a house." "All the delegates would be armed, but we had no other option." "We would get Pierre, and they would get the money, then we'd each go our separate ways." "I arrived in Aden." "Everything was ready as planned." "I was also in contact with Yolande, and I was messaging her through WhatsApp." "She told me she was happy that her husband was getting out and that she wanted to thank me." "I told her, "Don't thank me now." "Thank me when we are done."" "I got a message from the tribesmen asking me, "Are you with the Americans?"" "I was confused by this message." "What had happened?" "After that, I got a message from the leader of the tribe who was with me in the same hotel." "He was also waiting for the tribesmen." "He told me, "It's a catastrophe!"" "I looked at the message, but I didn't believe my eyes." "Pierre has been killed?" "I didn't believe it." "It was impossible." "I was just a matter of hours away from setting him free." "A person's life could have been saved." "Pierre's life was in my hands, and I could have saved him." "I needed to build a new life outside of Yemen." "In August 2015, I arrived in South Africa and began my life anew." "It was my only choice." "Going home is not an option." "If I could go back in time, I wouldn't have done anything differently." "I have no regrets." "I'm sure I did the right thing."