After 106 days as a hostage in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region, Hilda Kawuki was finally able to feel the warm hug of her four-year-old son again upon arrival at Entebbe Airport yesterday.

For a woman described by fellow hostage Sharon Commins from Ireland as "a big talker", Ms Kawuki gave little away during her first public appearance in the country after her ordeal.

The hug between mother and son Amamu, was short, there were no tears of joy or outpouring of emotion, and most of the talking was left to her mother, Anne, who led the Kawuki family to receive their daughter.

"I am so happy. I never anticipated seeing her again even as I am prayerful," said Anne. She then shielded her daughter from a barrage of questions, saying: "She needs to go home to rest. Like you all see, she's tired."

The 41-year-old former hostage on her part looked tired, even sleepy, at the airport. Not even her make-up, meticulously done to conceal a facial rash she probably suffered during captivity when she only bathed twice a week, could hide the strain on her face.

In a brief narration of their ordeal, Ms Kawuki said between 18 and 20 armed men kidnapped her and colleague Commins from their house in Darfur on June 3. They were then moved towards the Sudan-Chad border.

Ms Kawuki, who was flanked at Entebbe Airport by Uganda's Ambassador to Sudan Betty Aketch, Irish Ambassador to Uganda Kevin Kelly, and the Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson, Mr Patrick Guma, said they often slept in the open, with nothing but a blanket to shelter them from the biting cold of night and scorching heat during the day.

"It was hard especially since we had limited communication. For the first 88 days, we didn't know what was happening," said Ms Kawuki, who declined to divulge any more details on their details.

Unlike Ms Kawuki, Ms Commins bared all as soon as she arrived home on an Irish government jet yesterday. In an extensive interview with the Belfast Telegraph, the 32-year-old Commins spoke of how their captors carried out fake executions by firing bullets around the hostages, took away her glasses meaning she has to be led around by Ms Kawuki and hinted that the pair were subjected to physical violence.

"There were several lows. There was a lot of suffering and extreme negativity. Both of us spent our birthdays there," Ms Commins said. "There was a lot of intimidation in the first few days."

Ms Commins said it was Ms Kawuki, with a better command of Arabic, who often communicated with their non-English speaking captors.

According to Ms Commins, the fact that she had a mate to rely on to communicate with their captors and the series of "girly chats" that they engaged in kept their spirits up.

The two women may be oceans apart now, and enjoying the warmth and love of their families, but it is clear that after an ordeal in which they could have lost their lives, the strength of their bond is akin to that of family.