Slave: My True Story [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

You may think you don't need to read this book . . . but you really do.

In the back pages of better newspapers and at forums of those looking into human rights abuses, tales of slavery in Africa are told. When you read or hear those stories, it's hard to fathom . . . almost in the same way that tales of Africans brutally uprooted from their families in the 1700s and 1800s to be brought to the United States are hard to fathom. Somehow that sense of psychological distance keeps a person from being as outraged as by exploitation of children in factories in the third world to make athletic shoes that well for $150. If you read Slave, your sense of distance will be removed. And your outrage will be enormous. I hope you will read this book . . . and find ways to help solve the problem it describes.

Slave is the autobiography of Ms. Mende Nazer, a black Moslem from Sudan. She grew up in a typical rural village where cattle and farming provide the livelihood, much as they have done for hundreds of years. Her tribe had only recently stopped using ceremonial scarring to "enhance" the beauty of the men and women. The tribe still practiced witchcraft along with the Moslem religion. Female circumcism is still practiced there (another important subject for human rights supporters).

At around age 12 (for her people keep no track of birth dates), her village was attacked by Arab raiders who slaughtered many people and took away the young people between ages 8 and 12. In the process, the raiders sexually abused the captives before taking them to be sold. After being resold, Ms. Nazer found herself on the way to Khartoum where she was bought to be a domestic slave for a wealthy Arab family.

The abuse continued in the home. Ms. Nazer was treated with contempt and beaten for any reason that the woman in the household chose to employ. One of the beatings was so bad that it was life-threatening. She was denied the ability to practice her religion (which requires prayers five times a day) despite the fact that it was the same religion as her owners follow. She worked from dawn until the week hours of the morning, with no time off. Ms. Nazer feared for her life if she did not follow orders, and was really too young and inexperienced to know what else to do.

At that point, the owners' relatives in London arranged to have Ms. Nazer shipped there to serve as a slave for that family . . . doing the same kind of work for a family of five. Although she was not beaten in the same way, she was worked even harder here. Finally, she was able to spend some time on her own, met a Sudanese man and got help in escaping (while taking out the trash).

At that point, it became very difficult for Ms. Nazer to obtain asylum in the U.K. Officials there felt they could send her back to the Sudan and all would be well. But, there are a few complications. The slavers who took her originally seemed to have some relationship to the army in Sudan. The U.K. family included the press attaché to the Sudanese embassy. So Ms. Nazer's story is an embarrassing one for the Sudanese government, which says that it opposes slavery.

After a storm of protest in the UK and on the Continent, Ms. Nazer received asylum. But although she can talk with those she knows in Sudan, she cannot visit them without grave personal danger.

Ms. Nazer is an intelligent woman who is skilled in languages. She was at the top of her local school before she was abducted. In the process, she developed some skill in speaking Arabic which probably made her ordeal somewhat easier. But she didn't know any English, which made the UK escape all the harder. The book's material reflects her nuanced observations about her life, her captors, her owners and those who befriended her. Mr. Damien Lewis, who was a journalistic witness to her escape, has done a fine job of helping her turn the recollections into first-rate prose.

So how much do slaves go for in Sudan? According to Mr. Lewis, the going rate is about $150. How cheap is our respect for human life and dignity?

I hope that we can all find ways to help eradicate this horrible practice . . . and aid those who have been victimized by it. Taking square aim at making the Sudanese government reform itself sounds like a perfect place to begin. Where can we hold the next protest?

Es ist erschütternd was man in unserer heutigen Zeit noch alles machen kann!!! Ich hätte nie gedacht dass man in unserer Zeit noch Sklaven in so Städten wie London halten kann!!! Das Buch ist sehr gut und auch genau geschriebn und man kann es gar nicht mehr weglegen! Außerdem fand ich auch den ersten Teil in dem Mende über ihre Kindheit bei den Nuba erzählt sehr interressant, da ja viele in ihren Rezensionen schreiben dass sie diesen Teil nicht so gut fanden. Dieses Buch muss man auf jeden Fall lesen, auch wenn es einen sicherlich an einigen Stellen schockiert!!!

slave is a book about a sudanese girl who comes form southern sudan and was taken as a slave from her village....
THe girltells her miserable life journey about how being treated as a slave in this century and not just in Sudan,africa but also in Britain as she was transported to a sudanese family there....it is based on a ture story..i couldn't believe that sth like this could happen now a days......gr8 book