Amsterdam

After returning to Amsterdam Ted stayed with his brother Hans for a couple of weeks to recuperate. Hans and his wife Marja own and operate the restaurant pictured here while they lived in the apartment above.

Film Clip - Amereki Kum

Amereki Kum Film Clip

After being arrested and thrown into the Dubai jail a guard approached the holding cell that housed dozens of prisoners and yelled, "Amereki Kum!" A visitor from the US embassy wanted to speak to the American.

Film Clip - Amereki Kum

Scene from Amerike Kum, Escape From Dubai

Civil Air Patrol

In 1982 Ted became a licensed pilot and purchased this Piper aircraft. He later joined the Civil Air Patrol and rose through the ranks to Squadron Commander.

His flying experience allowed him to devise an escape plan where he would steal a small aircraft and fly out of the country at night. Unable to secure a plane with enough fuel capacity to make the trip to safety, he abandon the plan and considered other options for escape.

Film Clip: Amerike Kum Intro

The Tulip Farm

Ted was born in Holland during the German occupation in WWII. His family owned a tulip farm and was fairly well off. During the occupation a company of more than 100 German soldiers was stationed on the family property.

In 1943 A large greenhouse on the farm was mistaken for a train station and bombed by allied forces.

The family was offered an opportunity to emigrate to the United States in 1957 as a result of the War Damage Act. They settled in St. Louis and pursued lives in the US.  Ted would later marry and  become a US citizen while his brother Hans returned to Holland to pursue a career and raise a family.

Film Clip: Amerike Kum Intro

The Belize Project

In the summer of 1989 Ted joined a real estate development team who had purchased land and had secured rights to build an all-inclusive resort in Belize. The country was primitive at the time but conditions were right for it to becoming a booming travel destination. 

As a CPA with international business experience, Ted's role with the group was to secure financing from for the resort. For a host of reasons financing was not available from US lending institutions so the group was forced to look internationally.

The search eventually led Ted and the group to pursue money from wealthy oil families in the middle east.

Film Clip: Amerike Kum Intro

The Crate

Ted's escape crate is 48 inches in height, 37 inches wide and 60 inches long. A shelf runs through the middle of the crate creating an upper and lower compartment. Small panels were built into the crate allowing him access to fresh air. The box was engineered so that he could unlatch it from the inside if necessary.

The upper compartment held suitcases and other baggage while Ted occupied the lower compartment. With him, he had the following items during his 28 hour journey:

• 8 - 2 liter bottles of water
• 2 - 1 liter bottles of juice
• 2 - empty 1-liter bottles
• 4 - ice packs
• Small fan
• Thermometer
• Flashlight
• Extra batteries

Film Clip: Amerike Kum Intro
 

Amerike Kum Escape From Dubai

Amereki Kum, Escape From Dubai is the story of Chicago CPA, Ted Van Der Zalm, who escaped from the middle east by mailing himself to Amsterdam in a wooden crate. 

Caught between a handful of unscrupulous businessmen and an unpredictable legal system, he relied on the trust of a handful of individuals to devise and execute a plan for escape. His chosen course of action tested him physically, mentally and spiritually. Ted survived the ordeal but not without a few close calls.

Film Clip: Amerike Kum Intro 

Amerike Kum - A Documentary Film

In 1992 Ted J. Van Der Zalm, a Chicago CPA with international accounting experience, joined a team of real estate developers on the Belize Project. The team was in pursuit of a plan to build an exclusive all-inclusive vacation resort in the country of Belize. Ted’s role was to secure financing from wealthy individuals outside of the U.S. Their tumultuous search for financiers eventually led them to partner with a family that had strong ties to individuals with oil money in the middle east.

In June of ’93 the team set up a corporation with an office in Dubai. Once situated in Dubai, Ted’s business partners began to rack up debts of their own and eventually fled the country to avoid their own troubles. This left Ted responsible for the corporate debts as well as the initial investment made in Belize. In Dubai, the individual whose signature appears on a check is held responsible for payment even if it is on a corporate account. Ted is arrested and jailed in December ’95.

Ted spent the next 3-1/2 years in and out of the Dubai prison system as additional cases pile up against him. The Van Der Zalm family provide bail money initially but eventually Ted is overwhelmed with debt and has to serve long prison sentence.

While imprisoned Ted learns from an Afghan prisoner that there are attacks planned on a foreign embassy in Kenya. Ted tells the US embassy about what he has learned and they tell him to ignore the rumor. Ted is then interrogated and told he will never be allowed to leave.

In June of 1997 a judge takes pity on him he is allowed to leave and take care of his debts. While out of jail for a brief 30 days, he builds a wooden crate under the cover of darkness and with the help of a few friends, mails himself via air cargo to Amsterdam where he is picked up by his brother, Hans. After enduring extreme conditions and some very close calls along the way Ted lived to tell his story.

 Amerike Kum Trailer