the translator…
…is a book about a man, dauod hari, born and raised in darfur, a region of west sudan, who cheated death many times risking his life to tell the world about the atrocities the sudanese government is committing against his people in darfur, by acting as a translator for english speaking reporters, also willing to risk their lives to tell these stories of unspeakable suffering. dauod, speaking english as a second, even third language, writes his story well, painting an eye-opening picture of the political condition in sudan, and the anguish of the loss experienced by the victims of this genocide, telling the story of his own village as it is attacked and burned to the ground, losing his brother in a hopeless last stand against the janjaweed. (whats hard for me is to imagine that i am just typing a word “janjaweed” and its not meaning much more than that for me. its just a word that represents an idea far away from me or anything i’ve experienced, and truly its only ever really been a conversation piece. but for those in darfur, living this hell, its men riding on horseback, shooting, hacking, burning, killing, torturing, destroying life. just speaking, typing, reading that word seems to be worth nothing less than a moment of silence out of respect for those living under its oppression.)
if you are looking for a new understanding on the genocide in sudan, or need a fresh perspective to realign your heart and identify with those suffering on the other side of the world, or both, this book will certainly help in that quest. i have to warn you though, it is not an easy read, due to the heavy subject matter and often required me to stop and think. reading through the horrors that hundreds of thousands endured, i often had to remind myself that this was not fiction, but real peoples real experiences, and i can still hardly wrap my head and heart around it. beautifully, it is also filled with encouragement as dauod hari and others worked and still continue to work for peace to end the violence and devastation by engaging the rest of the world with it.
to learn more about the conflict in darfur go to www.savedarfur.org
if you read this book or check it out, than please let me know by leaving a comment. thanks all!
joelkrogman
joelkrogman.wordpress.com
