Escape from Slavery, by Francis Bok, with Edward Tivnan

Retrieved from: the library
(0312306237)

This is how this book begins: "I have told the story many times about that day in 1986, when my mother sent me to the market to sell eggs and peanuts: the day I became a slave."

This is how it ends: "Finally, I want to thank God for blessing me and guiding me in the worst of times and the best of times." (Acknowledgements)

Here is a boy, age 7, who was suddenly and brutally removed from his family, his town and his culture, kidnaped by northern Sudanese raiders and enslaved for 10 years. He escaped three times, was recaptured twice and was lucky enough, not to mention strong and brave enough, to succeed when he ran away at age 17.

Read this book. It could be a companion to Frederick Douglass' works, or Harriet Tubman's. Except it happened in places that are currently in the news--Darfur, for instance--and clarifies exactly why Darfur is in the news now, why people are starving and why the refugee camps exist in the first place.

And, if you don't want to read a book, check out this website: iAbolish.com

As for the book itself, the story of course is compelling and eminently readable. There are a couple of 'a-ha' moments--"Yes, he really stopped learning as a child at age 7," moments when he shows himself to be kind of stuck there. But he has overcome that 'redirection' of his childhood (to euphemize horribly) in ways that are astounding. His memories of his parents are so clear, and the games he played in his village are so real that they seem to be taken from yesterday.

Amazing book, quick read, horrifying subject, and hopeful at the end. Wow.