Laura Archer, the Montreal nurse who was kidnapped in Darfur, Sudan, last Wednesday, returned home Saturday evening, looking tired but healthy.
Archer's plane landed at Trudeau Airport around 6 p.m. She spoke briefly to the media, expressing gratitude to Canadians for their outpouring of concern and support throughout her ordeal.
But she added that her thoughts are with the thousands of Sudanese she left behind, who are still in desperate need of aid.
After her statement, she was escorted out of the airport with the RCMP and her boyfriend by her side.
Her parents were not present.
The kidnapping
Archer, an international aid worker with M�decins Sans Fronti�res (MSF), was taken hostage with two MSF colleagues and a Sudanese watchman.
They were kidnapped in Serif Umra, a rural area in Northern Darfur.
The four hostages were freed three days after the ordeal began. Following their release, they were all flown to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.
Archer's background
Though she currently resides in Montreal, Archer is originally from P.E.I. She obtained her nursing degree at the University of Prince Edward Island.
In a 2007 article she wrote for her alumni magazine, Archer said her decision to do charity work abroad was cemented when she worked with survivors of the massive tsunami of 2004.
"Through this experience, the difference between being a tourist and a humanitarian became apparent to me -- and I knew which I wanted to be," Archer wrote.
"Working with M�decins Sans Fronti�res has proven to be the most difficult and rewarding experience of my life."
With files from The Canadian Press
