‘The Translator’ shares memories of genocide

  “If God must break your leg He will at least teach you to limp” — so it is said in Africa. This book is my poor limping, a modest account that cannot tell every story that deserves telling. I have seen and heard many things in Darfur that have broken my heart. I bring the stories to you because I know most people want others to have good lives, and, when they understand the situation, they will do what they can to steer the world back toward kindness.
  In “The Translator,” now out in trade paperback, Daoud Hari, a Zaghawa tribesman, reflects on his life in Darfur and bears witness to the rape, torture and murder brought upon his people during the genocide in Sudan.
  Daoud works as a translator for journalists in Sudan who are there to report on the conflict. As he leads these writers through some of the most dangerous areas of Darfur, he risks his life, frequently talking himself out of some very desperate situations, until he winds up captured.
  Daoud’s story is one of courage and humility. He balances the brutality recounted in the memoir with subtle humor and a humbleness that the murderous teenage militia members, responsible for burning down villages and raping thousands of girls and women, seem to have lost.
  Daoud sees rape, torture and death everywhere. Soon he finds himself the target of a “crazy commander” who believes Daoud is a spy and hangs the translator upside down from a tree in an effort to extract information.
  “I want to torture you two now and you will tell me everything you have in your minds: who sent you, what is your mission, who you are meeting, everything.”
  Torture was the popular new thing because Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib were everywhere in the news at that time, and crazy men like this were now getting permission to be crazy.
  Daoud is heartbroken by what is happening in his land and to his people, a people who by his description seem extremely focused on family and taking care of each other. It’s with this memoir that Daoud hopes to bring to light the plight of his people and honor the family he already has lost.
  As for the future, the only way that the world can say no to genocide is to make sure that the people of Darfur are returned to their homes and given protection. If the world allows the people of Darfur to be removed forever from their land and their way of life, then genocide will happen elsewhere because it will be seen as something that works. It must not be allowed to work. The people of Darfur need to go home now.