A special evening with Gill Hicks

Dated: 2nd October 2007

There she was sitting at the other end of the room as she was being introduced by an elderly lady staff of Initiatives of Change, the organization that hosted the Greencoat Forum with Gill Hicks. I listened with absolute attention as words poured from Gill's mouth telling about the day that completely changed her life's direction. It was 7th July 2005, the day when a terrorist suicide bomber detonated his bomb inside the Piccadilly line tube train between Kings Cross and Russell Square stations.

To my great delight and amazement, Gill was a person with such a radiating positive energy that it was hard to believe she was one of those critically injured who lost both her legs due to the explosion. She narrated how she found great inner strength to fight for her life after the horrifying blast.

In her words, "As I lay waiting, trapped in what resembled a train carriage - but was now a blackened, smoke filled indescribable 'room' of destruction and devastation - I was able to think. This period of time, some 40 minutes, was to prove to be the most insightful and blessed gift that I am yet to receive, apart from the ultimate gift of a second chance at life. As the blood poured from my body (despite the scarf I had tied on each leg as a tourniquet to stem the flow) I felt incredibly weak, fighting to hold on, to survive. There were two voices holding a very powerful, conflicting conversation in my head – one voice willing me to hold on, to remember those who love me and need me here, the other calling me softly to let go, to drift away into a peaceful deep and permanent sleep. Both sides were stating their case – asking me to choose between life and death. I thought about all the things that mattered to me –my then partner and now husband Joe, my brother Graham, my family, my dear friends – I wanted to spare them this pain. They gave me the strength to choose life. I made a decision and the conversation ended. I wasn't going to die in the carriage, not there on that day; I had to wait for a light."

An Australian, Gill was formerly the Head of Curation at the Design Council. Now she is the Ambassador for Peace Direct, a UK based charity supporting local peace builders in conflict zones around the world.

Gill's book, "One Unknown" is sure to touch the hearts and minds of many. She is a person with so much love in her despite of what happened and it is this uncontrolled amazing love inside her that keeps her going. She says “The cycle has to stop – I cannot hate the person who has done this to me".

I went to attend the forum with a hungry stomach and did not know who Gill Hicks was. By the time she started talking, the evening rolled on and I didn't quite want it to end. I left the place after shaking her hand (of love and peace) feeling full...full of strenght in my belief that good things of great magnitude still exits in this world. Things that will shape this world for the better.

Thank you Gill.


Initiatives of Change (IofC) [http://www.uk.initiativesofchange.org/home/] is a diverse, global network committed to building trust across the world's divides. The London office is at 24 Greencoat Place, SW1P 1RD. It was formerly known as Moral Re-armament (MRA) having its branches worldwide, and one in Shillong as well. I got involved with MRA Shillong way back in 1994. The people and personalities I have known in MRA, now IofC, have enriched my experience.