Book Review
Hari, Daoud. The Translator New York: Random House Publishing Group, 2008.
“I bring the stories to you because I know that 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 to kindness” writes Daoud Hari at the beginning of his new memoir The Translator. Most of us in North America have only a vague idea about the troubles in the western Sudanese region known as Dafur, and even those of us who are reasonably knowledgeable about the situation there cannot even begin to imagine the levels of the atrocities there. This allows Americans to be complacent about the situation in Dafur and fail to respond with the help that is so clearly needed.
The deterioration of the climate in Sudan and subsequent famines during the eighties and nineties led to a worsening of relations between Arabs and the indigenous Fur and Zaghawa. In April of 2003, thirty three rebel land cruisers attacked a government military base. In retaliation President Bashir began a program of systemic genocide by the Arab government forces against the Zaghawa majority. Daoud Hari watched the harrowing destruction of his own village. Heartbroken at the deaths of friends and family members and armed with high school English and some key telephone numbers, Hari offered his services to western journalists so that they would have no reason not to come and get the story out about what is happening in Dafur. In the process he put his life on the line over and over again so that western journalists could get a realistic picture of how the people of Dafur have suffered. In the end he was imprisoned and tortured along with American journalist Paul Salopek, with his life being spared only through the intervention of Americans who were helped by him in the past.
Hari's description of the violence is harrowing and heartbreaking. This makes it impossible for the reader to look away and ignore what they have read. His courage and determination that one person can make a difference should be and inspiration to everyone. This is an important book that should be read and talked about as much as possible. I will definitely recommend this book to my friends.
