28806: Chamberlain (news) Haiti-Kidnapping (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By CARA ANNA

   ALBANY, N.Y., Aug 1 (AP) -- The 70-year-old aid worker who may have
charmed his kidnappers in Haiti into releasing him two weeks ago is back at
home, still unsure why he was freed without a ransom payment.
   "There are lots of questions, but no answers," Charles Adams said
Tuesday after arriving at Albany International Airport.
   Adams, who doesn't speak French, said he made efforts to bond with his
kidnappers during the brief ordeal that started July 19, even opening his
shirt to show off the bandages from a recent surgery to install a
pacemaker.
   Adams was being driven back from a humanitarian meeting July 19 when a
group of armed men ambushed his vehicle while it was stuck in traffic near
the airport in Port-au-Prince. The retired businessman was in Haiti working
on a water treatment program for Pure Water for the World, a Rutland,
Vt.-based nonprofit organization.
   Not long after Adams' driver escaped early the next morning, kidnappers
told Adams he was free to go. They gave him an armed escort through a
gang-ridden neighborhood.
   "Tell them that we were nice to you," he recounted them telling him.
They had wanted $500,000, he said, but got nothing other than his computer,
key documents and his clothes.
   Adams is among dozens of people kidnapped since President Rene Preval
took power in May, raising fears that street gangs could destabilize the
new government. Violence in Haiti's capital is increasing.
   Saundra Aubin, a friend and colleague who stayed in contact with Adams
after his release, said he continued his work in Haiti before heading to
the Dominican Republic on Friday. Adams, a little thinner and a little
greyer, planned to take a hot shower and get a haircut after arriving back
in the United States.
   He smiled as held up a yellow T-shirt presented to him with the writing,
"I survived a coup de kidnapping."
   But the smile faded as he talked of the results of his experience. In a
twist, the kidnapping has brought more attention to his passion --
providing clean drinking water to the poorest country in the Western
Hemisphere.
   "You'd never want to confuse this with a PR stunt, for sure," Adams
said.
   He plans to return to work in Haiti in September.