she was a traveler, adventurer, reporter. then she became a prisoner. >> tonight they have brought me out to kill me. >> taken hostage in one of the most dangerous places on earth. >> i was hanging on by a thread. >> her best hope for freedom? >> amanda, i love you. >> her mother, an ocean away. she would turn investigator. then negotiator. >> we are not playing games.

>> it was heartache. >> could she save her only daughter? >> i just felt like i had to. >> here's kate snow with kidnapped. >> amanda, amanda, i love you. >> it's hard to imagine being the mother on the other end of this call. >> if you guys don't pay $1 million for me, by one week, they will kill me. >> okay. >> her daughter was on the phone a world away. she'd been kidnapped in one of the most dangerous places on earth. >> i feel so awful. i can't believe they're doing this. i hate doing this to you guys.

>> this mother negotiated with kidnappers, with her daughter's life on the line. >> i understand. >> did you keep it together? >> i did. i had to be strong for her. >> and the daughter faced unimaginable fears. >> my head is pulled back. and then there was a serrated knife. >> their stories are intertwined, amanda and her mother larin da, both women driven by strength, courage, and most of all, endurance, a story amanda told in detail in the book she's written and here on dateline. it all begins here in western canada in the small town of sylvan lake, a place that looks and sounds idyllic. but her childhood wasn't. her parents divorced when she was 8. her mother worked mostly cashier

jobs to raise three children. the family always seemed to be on the move. life wasn't easy for mother and daughter. amanda yearned even at an early age for a world beyond her hometown. >> one constant was that i wanted to be a world traveler. i wanted to go to every country in the world. >> you're a kid. how old are you? >> 8 years old. >> and you had stacks of national geographic. >> the images that i saw on the pages were everything that my hometown wasn't, like something out of a dream, really. >> amanda realized her dreams of seeing the world in the 1990s when she was 19. she saved up enough tips working as a waitress for her first big trip to venezuela. >> we're driving in the back of a pickup truck from a village. >> the whole world was wide open to me at that time. >> so wide open she traveled to guatemala, thailand, even the middle east. then on a trip to africa in 2006 she found not only adventure,

but something else -- love. >> i see an attractive man sitting on the porch out in front of the hotel, and that was nigel brennan. >> an australian photo journalist was drawn to her as well. >> i felt inspired by what i saw him doing, capturing images and telling stories that he felt really passionate about. >> but the passion and adventure that amanda experienced with nigel was short-lived. there he told her he had a girlfriend. that wasn't true. he had a wife. >> i received a phone call from a tearful nigel telling me he had something to disclose. i felt sort of devastated by that news. >> amanda and nigel went their separate ways. she moved on, all the way to india. >> it's the interesting thing about pushing boundaries. you cross one and go into another one. going from india to pakistan was

a big deal. it was something i really wanted to do. andy it. and afghanistan is right next door. >> mom, larin da wasn't thrilled as her daughter trekked into active war zones. she tried to talk her daughter out of that trip but her daughter was headstrong. and the more amanda traveled the more she began to see a path to a career. >> at first she was traveling just for the sake of traveling, seeing the world. then she thought, wow, i would love to write about the people that i'm meeting. >> amanda sold her first story and photos about the remote kuchi people. shortly thereafter she got a call from the government of iran. she hoped it was a steppingstone to a better job. >> this is amanda, press tv, baghdad. >> to be paid to live somewhere exotic must have been really attractive. >> yeah, absolutely. >> but war reporting was more dauptsing than she expected. amanda wanted to get more experience but also cover stories she cared about.

>> you need to go out there and go somewhere where you can get a break. >> i'm also starting to look further out onto the horizon. at the top of my list was somalia. >> somalia, one of the most dangerous countries on the planet. so much so few reporters traveled there. there's been no national government for more than 20 years. islamic rebels rule much of the country, but amanda on her own as a freelance journalist wanted to make a name for herself. >> she didn't tell me she was going to somalia. >> kelly was her amanda's best friend. they'd traveled the world together. she remembers her desire to go to somalia. >> she felt that it was really

important that she go there. that there were hundreds of thousands of refugees starving in the refugee camps and no one was telling their story. >> as amanda was launching this new phase of her professional life her personal life intruded. she unexpectedly heard from nigel, now divorced. >> i got an e-mail out of the blue. >> you tell him where you're going. >> i tell him where i'm going. he's still interested in pursuing journalism. why not invite him to come with me. >> amanda e-mailed her mother about the risky trip. >> and you're thinking what? >> i would really rather she didn't go. >> do you think you were to use your mom's word a little headstrong? >> yeah. i was headstrong. and i was even a touch naïve. i don't think that i had spent enough time throughout my 20s thinking about what would happen

if something did go wrong. >> it was on the flight into somalia that another passenger warned amanda and nigel just how wrong things could go. >> he said to me, your head, your head alone is worth half a million dollars in mogadishu, be careful. >> coming up, a single, terrifying moment that transformed amanda's life. >> a den armed men were emerging, all of them with ak-47s. i went into shock.

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it looked peaceful from aabove, as amanda lindhout and her friend nigel brennan descended into somalia in 2008. >> i get my first glimpse of somalia out the airplane window. just untouched paradise from the sky of the but as soon as our plane touched down and we got off i knew what many had told me about somalia was true. >> capital city seemed lawless. this was, after all, the city where 18 u.s. army rangers died in the battle for mogadishu depicted in the movie "black hawk down." it was more frenzied than any other place she'd been. >> it was very palpable in the airport. very chaotic environment. >> the pair went to their hotel and met their local staff and

security team, the people they hired to protect their lives. those first few days they moved around somalia with ees. >> i feel like i kind of settled into the mogadishu experience. >> back at home, la rin da was worried about her daughter. >> i just made sure every time i talked to her i told her i loved her. i couldn't say it enough. >> amanda tamped down and looked for stories. that's what she was doing in the car with nigel on the day that would change their lives. >> as you're going down the road, what are you doing? >> looking out the window and lost in thought. the vehicle started to slow down, and i looked up. about a dozen armed men were emerging from where they had been hidden behind that vehicle, all of them with ak-47s pointed at ours. i went into shock. next thing i knew, my door was pulled open.

and then i found myself lying face down in the dirt, spread eagle with a gun held to the back of my head. >> terrifying. >> that was a line in the sand of my life. there was my life before that moment, and there is my life after that moment. >> in that moment, she feared her life might end. but instead, she was picked up and shoved back into a car with nigel, three gunmen crowded into the front seat. several more in the back. she didn't know who they were or why they were being taken. >> we went on this wild desert drive, off road. and one of the leaders of this whole kidnapping operation was in the front seat. i asked is this about money? and he said to me, ah, it might be something like that. >> 9,000 miles away from mogadishu, here in sylvan lake, canada, amanda's father was sitting on his back porch in the sun when his phone rang. it was a radio journalist on the

line. he'd seen a report amanda had been kidnapped. amanda's father called her mother in a panic. >> you still remember john's voice on the phone? >> yeah. yeah. he was just in a complete panic and saying i don't know what to do. >> you must have felt so helpless. >> i felt like we were so far apart. and we didn't know where our daughter was. >> la rin da was still in shock when she arrived at her ex-husband's house. she was desperate to figure out what to do next. >> i just knew from the minute i walked through the door that i needed to snap myself together. >> i think i would have been a collapsed puddle on the floor. >> well, i knew i couldn't. i couldn't. because if i did, who would she have? >> canadian officials suspected this was a kidnapping. they scrambled to set up a recording system. they told la rin da amanda was likely taken by islamic rebels. >> the phone kept ringing. it was the kidnappers.

>> the ransom, 1.5 million for each of them. every time she answered the phone she had to stay calm. >> the next morning right before noon, actually, my cell phone rang. and it was adam, who was negotiator for the kidnappers. >> hello. >> hello. >> when he called on day four, he had a surprise for la rin da. >> okay, la rin da. >> yes. >> talk to your daughter. >> amanda? >> mom? >> amanda? i love you sweetheart. p. >> that call was the first proof that amanda was still alive. la rin da being coached by investigators told her mother how much the captors demanded for each life they held. >> what's the amount? i have no idea. >> okay. well, he has asked for 1.5

million. >> oh, my god. >> and -- >> oh, mom. >> amanda begged her captors to understand that the ransom might never be paid. >> my family is trying to make money. i come from a poor family. >> hello? >> then the call disconnected. >> did you have that kind of money? >> no. i was a single mom, raising, you know, raising my children. and her dad certainly wasn't in, you know, in a position to pay that kind of money. >> by then, canadian officials had routed la rin da's phone to an operations center they set up and kept covert. she lived there, always ready for the next call. >> after the first couple weeks we realized that this might, might go on for longer than we hoped. >> on the other side of the globe, amanda and nigel couldn't know how long they had abbe held, but amanda feared the worst. >> i was the only female in a group of about 16 men. so there was a lot of scary thoughts.

>> coming up. a mother springs into action. >> you're playing detective. >> i learned to analyze everything. >> as the stakes for her daughter rise dramatically. >> tonight they have brought me out to kill me. >> i had to be strong. we knew that things had taken a change. >> when dateline continues.

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amanda lindhout and nigel brennan were kidnapped on a dusty road in somalia by islamic rebels and taken to a compound somewhere in mogadishu, she had no idea where. >> we were in a room together. there were thin foam mattresses on the floor and a sheet on each one. >> that was amanda's new reality. her mother lorinda's new reality, lead negotiator. familiarly members don't normally participate in negotiations, it's too emotionally draining, but because she had developed a rapport with the negotiator they asked her to keep going. >> we were trying to find out as much information as we could. >> did you have this in front of you when you were on the phone?

>> yeah. and i would also have a negotiate erbe side me. >> can you read some of these to us? >> i have to know if amanda and nigel are alive. >> you are playing detective. >> i have to analyze everything. i was scared to leave the phone at all. >> nearly a month after amanda was taken there had been dozens of nerve wracking calls. she was constantly trying to lower the ransom all the while knowing that aid workers and journalists had not only been kidnapped but killed in somalia. lorinda feared her daughter might be next. desperate support she reached out to amanda's good friend kelly. >> she really didn't have a choice. i'm not sure that i could do

that. i have a whole new respect for lorinda and what she went through and how strong she is. she literally worked around the clock, 24/7. >> by the third week of captivity, amanda and nigel's existence was reduced to one room. her body was soar from the hard floor. the thing she missed the most was seeing the sky. some of their captors were nicer than others. some threatening. she says abdullah was the worst. >> almost as soon as we were taken abdullah seemed to lay some claim on me. >> during their ordeal, amanda and nigel were moved house to house, many times. some worse than others. mold on the walls, cockroaches and rats on the floors. they were always trapped indoors. but all that changed nearly a month after they were taken. they were roused out of their room and taken outside. >> we were terrified and a small individual yes camera was brought out and sat down on the ground before us, and we were told to beg for our lives. >> it was a pivotal moment. on september 17, 2008, lorinda turned on the tv and saw this, a hostage video on al jazeera. she was crushed. it was the first time she'd seen amanda and nigel, and it didn't look good.

>> we just analyzed her, how shy looks, how she's holding herself. >> you take your negotiator cap off and put your mom hat on. >> it was terrifying, but to be honest, i couldn't keep my mom hat on very often, because i couldn't function. >> the video was broadcast without sound so lorinda couldn't hear her daughter, but the image of the masked, heavily armed captors made the situation very real. >> what are you feeling as you watch it? >> i just want to bring her home. never, never let her go. >> weeks passed, and each day grew longer and more desperate for both mother and daughter. then after two months, their captors moved amanda and nigel into separate rooms and kept them apart. >> why was that so important? >> that day and the days that followed were among the very, very worst, because suddenly, i'm alone, with my own thoughts and my mind.

>> amanda's mind ran wild, the only woman in a house with 16 men. she feared she would be raped. >> it turns out your fears were justified. abdullah starts coming to your room. >> yeah. this is very hard to talk about. he, he did cross that line, and my worst fears were realized. and my whole experience in captivity really changed. >> locked in that room, a simple act gave amanda strength. >> i would just walk in circles in this room that i was held in. i would walk with the dreams of the life that i hoped one day i would be able to go on and live. and that's what helped pull my out of the slump that i went into immediately after abdullah started paying those first this is very hard to talk about. he, he did cross that line, and my worst fears were realized. and my whole experience in captivity really changed.

>> locked in that room, a simple act gave amanda strength. >> i would just walk in circles in this room that i was held in. i would walk with the dreams of the life that i hoped one day i would be able to go on and live. and that's what helped pull my out of the slump that i went into immediately after abdullah started paying those first visits to my room. >> then one night in the fourth month of captivity she was jostled awake and driven out to the desert alone. what happened next was terrifying. >> they had brought me over to an acacia tree. they had me kneel. my hid is pulled back. and then there was a serrated knife. >> i can't imagine the horror you must have been feeling. >> so many times in those first months, i had feared that my

head would be cut off, because it was something that they threatened us with a lot. i was sure that that was it. that they were going to kill me. >> must have felt like an eternity. >> it did. i felt despair, because i, i didn't want to be the end. >> and then they hand you a phone? and who's on the phone? >> my mom. >> desperate, amanda had only three minutes to beg for her life. >> mom? >> amanda? amanda, i love you. amanda, amanda, how are you? >> mom, listen, listen to me, okay? >> okay, okay. >> closely. if you guys don't pay $1 million for me by one week, they will kill me. okay? tonight they have brought me out to kill me. but they've, they've given me one more chance to call you guys.

>> amanda, amanda, stay strong, stay strong, hon. >> that phone call definitely made it harder, not to let my imagination go. >> did you keep it together? >> i did. i did. >> how? >> i just felt like i had to. that i had to be strong for her. but after the call, we just sat there and cried. things had taken a change. they weren't going to be nice anymore, if you could call anything they did nice. >> coming up, a daring new plan. >> we might have a chance to escape. >> armed with nail clippers and courage, the hostages make a dash for freedom.

amanda and nigel had been in captivity for five months, but it wasn't until she was taken to the desert, a knife held to her throat that she actually believed she was going to die in somalia. the kidnappers had given an ultimatum. your family pays up in a week or

you'll be killed. >> as the day grew closer and then came and went, i realized that, yeah, it's possible that that was a fear tactic, but more importantly, i just could not continue to let myself live in that dark place in my mind. i had to become stronger. >> amanda and nigel, in separate rooms, each with a window had discovered if they stood in just the right spots, they could hear each other. they began to talk about getting out. >> nigel had done some investigating in the bathroom and discovered we might have a chance to escape out that bathroom window, which at first seemed like an impossible idea. >> they plotted an escape straight out of a movie.

>> that window, it was sealed. there had been bricks cemented across the front of it. but as nigel discovered, the mortar that held the bricks in place was crumbling of the and we had a pair of nail clippers that our captors had given us. >> you used that? >> yeah. to carve away at that mortar until enough bricks disintegrated and mortar crumbled. >> they hid their work by stacking the bricks up again. they were that much closer to freedom. until one day the hole was big enough. they'd heard the daily calls to prayer, so they knew a mosque was nearby. their plan was to jump down and head there for safety. that was the plan at least. >> from the moment that i dropped down out of that bathroom window and hit the sound below, i knew it was bad.

>> nothing outside looked like they thought it would. worse, a neighbor spotted them. they had to get out of there. >> we just ran, and nigel started screaming for help. we did find the mosque. and right before we stepped in, i looked back, and i saw one of our young captors standing about 20 feet away. >> weak and winded from running for the first time in five months, amanda and nigel dashed into the mosque, clinging to the hope that someone there would help. >> you see abdullah's coming? >> abdullah chases me around, chases me outside the mosque again. >> the kidnappers were desperate to seize their val you know prisoners. they'd stop at nothing to get them back. >> people running and shouting and screaming. more people coming into the mosque can guns. >> amanda struggled to make sense of the chaotic scene.

the men finishing their prayers were concerned as well. then it was the unlikeliest person who stepped forward to try and help amanda, someone she'll never forget. >> she came directly over to me, and she embraced me. and she called me her sister in english. it was the first woman that i had seen in about five months. and when she hugged me and held onto me, it was the first time in those five months that i felt something akin to being safe. i just clung onto her, and i started pouring out my heart to this woman, telling her about abdullah's sexual assaults. and she began pleading with my captors to let me go. >> the captors circled amanda, guns drawn. they grabbed her and began dragging her out of the mosque. just then, the somali woman made her boldest move. >> that woman threw herself on top of me and was drug partway across the floor with me. until she couldn't hang on anymore.

and right before they pulled me out the door of the mosque, i looked back and i saw her on the floor. she had tears pouring down her face, and she still had her hands outstretched to help me. >> you don't know whatever happened to that woman? >> no, i don't. >> after such a brazen attempt, her kidnappers would make sure she would never again have the chance to escape. >> coming up, negotiations get tough. >> we are not playing games. >> and for amanda, the darkest days are still ahead. >> i made a very calm decision to end my life. >> when dateline continues. i'll never find a safe used car.

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amanda and nigel tasted freedom for a brief moment, but they were violently recaptured and amanda plunged into the darkest depths of her captivity. >> we had crossed a line with our kidnappers. and it was like everything that followed was punishment. i was alone and locked up in a room that i named the dark house. it was a room that was

pitch-black. >> no light. >> no light. >> no windows? >> no. >> that's enough to drive somebody crazy. >> it was terrifying. >> amanda was sexually assaulted that day by her captors. some acted. some watched. there was no one to help. nigel was still held separately. >> it feels like that's a pivotal point where they do pretty terrible things, but they're all in it together now. >> the abuse that happened to me after the escape united them in my suffering. it prevented any one from judging the other. >> severe beatings followed. they kicked and punched her, leaving her with bruised ribs and broken teeth. amanda was not allowed to move off the mat, let alone walk around the room, something that had once given her solace. >> my prison was now the size of the mat, and i was in chains. >> what are you saying to yourself in the dark to get through every hour, every minute, every second. >> in the dark house, it was very often minute by minute. i felt like i was hanging on by

a thread. but the dark house is also where i found my house in the sky. which is the place that i would go to a safe place that was in my own mind, where i could escape my reality, this brutal, violent existence. >> amanda didn't suffer in the house in the sky. the hardest part was knowing it wasn't real. but this imaginary place was a tool she used to make it through the darkest days. back in canada, her mother lorinda searched for strength too. ten months had passed since the kidnapping. all that time, lorinda had the canadian officials to guide her through the negotiations. but now, feeling they'd reached a stalemate they shut down the

operations center. >> and you're all by yourself now, no negotiators sitting next to you. just you on the phone. that's an unbelievable amount of pressure. >> you do what you have to do, and i had to do it. i didn't have a choice. >> are you healthy at that point? >> well, i wasn't eating. wasn't sleeping. i was just running on adrenaline. >> amanda and nigel's families realized they needed help and hired a private security company with expertise in getting hostages out. lorinda held secret fund-raisers to raise the ransom money. ananda and nigel's health deteriorated. she also saw how frustrated their captors were getting. >> they felt like if only my family could come up with this money they would have their lives back. and they took their growing frustration out on me.

>> at home in the canadian rocky mountains, the private security company suggested that lorinda who remained the point of contact for the kidnappers be firmer. amanda's friend kelly agreed. >> we felt like this would be a good decision. this would get us one step closer to helping secure amanda and nigel's release. so lorinda went ahead and was a little bit firmer. >> if i had the money, i would pay you. we are not playing games. it's you that are playing games. >> things got much worse for amanda after that phone call. >> they tied your arms and legs and pulled your body up by ropes and leave you? >> yeah. it's very hard for me to go back to that and think about what happened to me during those three days that i was tied up in that room. yeah. the three longest days of my life.

>> after three days, they let her down, but told her they'd be back. >> when they left the room and i laid there on my mat alone, every single part of my body screaming and throbbing and absolute agony. i made a very calm decision to end my life. >> amanda had a small razor blade allowed for hygiene. she was going to use it. >> at the moment where i was going to slit my wrists, out of the corner of my eye i noticed some movement in the room, and there was a small brown bird hopping around in this little square of sunlight, curious, looking at the room, looking at me. and then he flew out. and what i felt next was this almost overwhelming desire to live and to be part of the world. >> amanda couldn't know how close her mother was to making that a reality. >> coming up.

a mother, a daughter. a moment 15 months in the making. were they prepared for what was about to happen? >> it was heartache to see her like that. almost a year and a half into captivity, amanda's desperate captors began to talk about other options, the one amanda feared the most, being sold off to a more violent islamic group called al shabaab. my friend susie cracks me up. but one laugh, and hello sensitive bladder. ring a bell? then you have to try always discreet. i didn't think protection this thin could work. but the super absorbent core turns liquid to gel. for incredible protection... ...that's surprisingly thin. so it's out of sight...

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borrow up to $100,000 with low rates and no hidden fees. find your rate in just two minutes, and take on your debt at sofi.com. almost a year and a half into captivity, amanda's desperate captors began to talk about other options, the one amanda feared the most, being sold off to a more violent islamic group called al shabaab. the one responsible for the mall attack in kenya. >> my fear was being turned over to a new group and that unpredictability of what might happen to me was so terrifying. >> one night they came to her room guns drawn. she thought that was it. she and nigel would be passed off to the more dangerous group. >> they marched me outside and had me sit down on the cement and produced a small saw and began sawing through the chains that had been on my ankles for ten months. >> nigel and amanda were thrown into the back seat of a car and driven into the dark somali night. the car stopped and they were

forced into yet another car. >> we're both crying. we're both certain that this is our new group. and then that car drives for five minutes, and it stops. and then about 40 men with guns surround this car that we're in. and i think this is it. >> what they couldn't know was what had been engineered back in canada. for more than a year, amanda's mother had negotiated the ransom. the families continued to hold those secret fund-raisers. finally adam, the leader of the kidnappers said they'd accept $680,000 for both amanda and nigel. >> he phoned me and said the gang has agreed. oh, my god, i think i started screaming.

i said yes. and i was thanking him. >> lorinda and nigel's family flew to kenya to coordinate the release. the private security company sent try former special forces operatives into mogadishu with bags full of cash. >> three days later, they're still there. it's dangerous for them. they've got all this money. >> at the last minute, the deal had hit a snag. the kidnappers wanted more money than they agreed to. the families made a difficult decision, call off the plan and bring the security team back to kenya. >> we wanted the kidnappers to know that we were serious. >> from nairobi, she was forced to renegotiate with the kidnappers. >> we keep negotiating, come to an agreement again, send our team back in with the money. >> that was the very same night amanda and nigel found themselves crying in that car with to idea what was happening. >> and then i smell cigarette smoke.

>> why does that register with you? >> because al shabaab is a group of extremists. i'm pretty certain none of them would be smoking. >> tobacco's forbidden. >> you're smart enough to go, wait a second. maybe it's not what i think. >> yeah. and then a man appears at the window. >> what amanda didn't know was that this man was a somali middleman sent in to broker their release. >> he says to me, why are you crying? here, talk to your mother. and then he hands me his phone. and my mother was on the other end. and he said to me, amanda, you're free. >> amanda and nigel flew out of somalia and landed in nairobi, kenya. they were whisked away to a hospital and lorinda finally got to see her daughter after 15 and a half months. >> people often ask me what that was like the first time when i saw her.

and i know what they're envisioning, you know, like us running in slow motion, and, you know, laughing and crying and whatnot, but i barely recognized her. it was relief. it was joy, and it was hard, heartache. to see her like that. >> we took a moment to just look at each other. she's never looked more beautiful to me than she did in that moment. >> amanda and lorinda went home to western canada. she took time to heal her body and mind and to reconnect with friends and family. >> i feel like i had a long time to re-evaluate the life that i had lived and to think about what really matters to me in life. >> amanda still struggles to forgive herself for the pain the

kidnapping caused her mother. >> one of my big regrets was i was always wanting to be out in the world and maybe not taking care of my family. could i have given more thought to who would be affected by the choices that i was making? absolutely. >> in her darkest hours in captivity, she made a promise to herself, if freed, she wanted to help others, to fulfill that promise, amanda started the global enrichment foundation, an organization which focuses on educating somali women and children. her best friend kelly is proud. >> amanda has gone on to do incredible things since she was released. i think that's a key part of her healing. what happened to amanda, being raped and not having a voice, she's that much better able to help the women of somalia. >> and amazingly, just a year and a half after her release, she did the one thing no one thought she would. she went back to somalia on a relief mission. >> what are you feeling? >> honestly, i'm, i feel ready, i feel ready for this. >> we met up with her on her way over the border. somalia was still a dangerous

place in august of 2011. we saw men with guns on every corner. >> you look at the little kids here. and that's, that's the whole reason. >> as difficult as it was going back, it's been part of her healing. >> when you were in captivity, you said you always thought about the sky. this is the sky. >> yeah, this is the sky. >> amanda still travels, but she no longer feels the pull to get away. in fact, she now lives just a stroll away from her mom. >> i would not be here now if it was not for my mother. she devoted her entire life for those 460 days to bringing me back home. so there's a really special and new bond that we have because of that. my mom gave me life and she saved my life. >> what would you say about her? >> she is the strongest person that i've ever met in my life.

her strength is inspiring. >> amanda is sharing her inspiring story with the world. she's written a book, a house in the sky. the title a reference to how she survived. >> there's been this theme in my life, it seems, of, of houses and moving houses. i moved around so much as a child. and then as a captive in somalia. now i have found my house. my place. my place in the world. this is my house in the sky. >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. she was a mom looking for her baby, and her baby hadn't come home. >> reporter: cathy's week had been nothing but trouble. >> she couldn't tell me what happened. >> she was so upset. >> reporter: it was about to get much worse.

>> my mom would say "if you find . >> that's all for now. thanks for joining us. she was a mom looking for