A book and movie deal are on the cards for Durban couple Bruno Pellizari and Debbie Calitz, who returned this week after spending more than 20 months as hostages in war-torn Somalia.
The couple was freed almost three weeks ago but returned to Durban only on Saturday.
They described their first few days in the city as “hectic and full of interviews”.
Pellizari and Calitz said they would return to East Africa in about a month or two to bring back Pellizari’s yacht, which is in the Tanzanian capital, Dar-es-Salaam.
A book and movie deal are on the cards for Durban couple Bruno Pellizari and Debbie Calitz, who returned this week after spending more than 20 months as hostages in war-torn Somalia.
The couple was freed almost three weeks ago but returned to Durban only on Saturday.
They described their first few days in the city as “hectic and full of interviews”.
Pellizari and Calitz said they would return to East Africa in about a month or two to bring back Pellizari’s yacht, which is in the Tanzanian capital, Dar-es-Salaam.
The last few days have also been characterised by the couple trying to rebuild their lives by getting back to the basics, like applying for their IDs, passports and driving licences, and sorting out their banking and other personal details, all of which were displaced after their capture by the Somali pirates.
Pellizari said they have had several offers from publishers to write a book.
“The book will be about how we were captured, transferred from one location to another.
“It will be about our feelings and our spiritual revelations during this period,” he said.
He said after the book, they would also look at the possibility of doing a movie about the hostage ordeal “but it will all depend on how well the book does”.
Calitz said they have been taking each day as it comes since their release.
“After spending so much time in captivity, you learn to appreciate the little things in life,” Calitz said. “At the moment, I enjoy spending my time with my children. We don’t know what the future holds but for now it’s good that we are free and back home with people we love,” she said.
After arriving in Durban late on Saturday, she said they spent the following day meeting the whole family on Monday, relaxing behind closed doors. Tuesday saw them being interviewed by a regional radio station.
They told the station that they have forgiven their captors and the guards who kept watch over them for months on end because “they were only taking instructions”.
The couple said other offers that had come their way is for them to use their experience during the gruelling period of captivity to do motivational talks.
Pellizari, who worked as a lift mechanic in Dar-es-Salaam before their capture on the notorious East African sea, said it is still too early to decide whether he would opt to go back to his old job, which is still open to him if he wants it.
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