Tortured Guantanamo Survivor on Living with Trauma

A terrible yet inspiring story from a man cruelly mistreated by the US government

As a teenager, Mansoor Adayfi was kidnapped by the US government and tortured in Guantanamo for fourteen years. When they finally realized he wasn’t a terrorist, they sent him to away Serbia. He was not given an apology. He was not compensated. He wasn’t allowed to see his family. He was ignored.

Even today, there is a stigma following Mansoor. He can’t get a job, he can’t get a car, he can’t have a life. Just the fact that he was in Guantanamo turns him into a pariah.

And yet, Mansoor Adayfi is one of the most hopeful, inspiring people we’ve ever had the honor to interview.

He shares his story to expose a hidden cruelty and to save future innocent people from his own fate. And his message on learning to live with trauma is useful to us all, no matter how great or small our own difficulties may be.

He learned to just keep moving forward and live his life. It’s the one thing he knows for sure how to do.

Plus, we discuss his paintings from inside Guantanamo and how “art was our window to the outside world,” his excellent book Don’t Forget Us Here: Lost and Found in Guantanmo, and so much more in this inspiring interview.

Listen to it here.