ST. LOUIS – Sam Goodwin’s roots are in St. Louis.
“I’ll just answer the question before everyone asks; I went to DeSmet High School,” he said.
He branched out after college, moving to Singapore to work for a tech startup. While he was there, he was bitten by the travel bug.
“I had flexibility in my work schedule, the world’s best airport in my backyard, and I just took advantage of the opportunity to explore as much of the region and beyond as possible,” Goodwin said.
By the spring of 2019, Sam had traveled to 180 countries and some dangerous places: Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, and North Korea.
“One of the most significant things that I had learned through my travels is that places that are negatively perceived or that Western media tells us we’re not supposed to like these were the same places where I had had many of my best experiences and where my perspectives were most meaningfully impacted,” he said.
But on May 25, 2019, while traveling in Syria, Goodwin found himself in danger.
“I was walking through a roundabout on the way to meet up with my guide when, all of a sudden, a black pickup truck abruptly pulled up next to me. Two armed men jumped out of the back seat and instructed me to get inside,” he said.
Sam’s captors were loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. They accused him of being an American spy and collaborating with terrorists. He was driven to an airfield and flown to a prison in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
“I was handcuffed, blindfolded, interrogated, put in some pretty uncomfortable situations, and at one point, the interrogator told me that if I didn’t start telling the truth, he would do a 180 with my life and hand me over to ISIS,” Goodwin replied.
In St. Louis, Sam’s family sensed trouble. They reported his disappearance to the US government. Authorities shared instructions and a grim outlook.
“(They said) ‘Don’t let the press get ahold of this, because if they do, and Sam’s captors, depending on who they are, feel that type of pressure. They might just kill him.’ The second thing they said was, ‘You should really manage your expectations.’” he said.
After 27 days, he was transferred to a different prison. He befriended a fellow inmate there who smuggled a note out on Sam’s behalf.
“A note that successfully navigated this game of geopolitical telephone and made it to my father in St Louis. It served as the first time I managed to communicate that I was alive,” Goodwin said.
The message was good news, but it was good fortune that ultimately saved Sam. His sister’s former college roommate had an unbelievably important connection.
“Her uncle is good friends with the head of Lebanon’s internal security, kind of like the head of the FBI or the CIA here in the U.S., and his name’s Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, and he was able to mediate my release with his counterparts within the Syrian government,” Goodwin said. “As he escorted me out front, he stopped, and he said, ‘Sam, you’re very lucky. President Assad has agreed to release you,’” Goodwin added.
On July 26, 2019, after 62 days in Syrian prisons, Sam learned he was going home.
Still in disbelief, Sam says he was loaded into an SUV, destination unknown.
“We came up to a checkpoint that seemed to be some kind of significant border. As we passed through, the officer in the vehicle tapped me on the leg, and he said, ‘Sam, you’re in Lebanon. You’re safe now,’” he said. “It was this culmination of a moment that was indescribably emotional, one that many people thought would never happen, and frankly, a breathtaking display of God answering prayers.”
Lebanese Special Forces had secured his release and taken him to Beirut. Waiting inside an office there were Sam’s parents.
Five years later, Sam shares his message of embracing uncertainty with crowds around the world. Now he’s telling his story in the book “Saving Sam” out now, wherever books are sold.
“I don’t want to be known for the things that happened to me. I want to be known for the way I’ve responded to them, and I hope that the readers of this book will adopt a similar mindset and implement it into their own life,” Goodwin said.
