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Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur
Like the single white eyelash that graces her row of dark lashes--seen by her people as a mark of good fortune--Halima Bashir's story stands out. Tears of the Desert is the first memoir ever written by a woman caught up in the war in Darfur. It is a survivor's tale of a conflicted country, a resilient people, and the uncompromising spirit of a young woman who refused to be silenced.
Born into the Zaghawa tribe in the Sudanese desert, Halima was doted on by her father, a cattle herder, and kept in line by her formidable grandmother. A politically astute man, Halima's father saw to it that his daughter received a good education away from their rural surroundings. Halima excelled in her studies and exams, surpassing even the privileged Arab girls who looked down their noses at the black Africans. With her love of learning and her father's support, Halima went on to study medicine, and at twenty-four became her village's first formal doctor.
Yet not even the symbol of good luck that dotted her eye could protect her from the encroaching conflict that would consume her land. Janjaweed Arab militias started savagely assaulting the Zaghawa, often with the backing of the Sudanese military. Then, in early 2004, the Janjaweed attacked Bashir's village and surrounding areas, raping forty-two schoolgirls and their teachers. Bashir, who treated the traumatized victims, some as young as eight years old, could no longer remain quiet. But breaking her silence ignited a horrifying turn of events.
In this harrowing and heartbreaking account, Halima Bashir sheds light on the hundreds of thousands of innocent lives being eradicated by what is fast becoming one of the most terrifying genocides of the twenty-first century. Raw and riveting, Tears of the Desert is more than just a memoir--it is Halima Bashir's global call to action.
Born into the Zaghawa tribe in the Sudanese desert, Halima was doted on by her father, a cattle herder, and kept in line by her formidable grandmother. A politically astute man, Halima's father saw to it that his daughter received a good education away from their rural surroundings. Halima excelled in her studies and exams, surpassing even the privileged Arab girls who looked down their noses at the black Africans. With her love of learning and her father's support, Halima went on to study medicine, and at twenty-four became her village's first formal doctor.
Yet not even the symbol of good luck that dotted her eye could protect her from the encroaching conflict that would consume her land. Janjaweed Arab militias started savagely assaulting the Zaghawa, often with the backing of the Sudanese military. Then, in early 2004, the Janjaweed attacked Bashir's village and surrounding areas, raping forty-two schoolgirls and their teachers. Bashir, who treated the traumatized victims, some as young as eight years old, could no longer remain quiet. But breaking her silence ignited a horrifying turn of events.
In this harrowing and heartbreaking account, Halima Bashir sheds light on the hundreds of thousands of innocent lives being eradicated by what is fast becoming one of the most terrifying genocides of the twenty-first century. Raw and riveting, Tears of the Desert is more than just a memoir--it is Halima Bashir's global call to action.
316 pages, Hardcover
First published September 9, 2008
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April 24, 2022
A joke: When I went through the TSA in the US Virgin Islands, 2018 afair, four of us were picked out to be searched. What did we have in common? We were all 45+ white women, two of us were in wheelchairs (I had ripped the nail off my big toe that got caught under a kitchen cabinet). The other wheelchair user was about 80. Was this to show they definitely weren't racially profiling anyone who might have a bomb? Or just reverse racism (if you live in the Caribbean, it's a fact of life)? It was ridiculous.
No nation or religious group is allowed to be blamed for anything its members might do unless the national or religious designation is qualified with the words, "fundamentalist", "extremist" or similar, so that we all may know that the other nationals or co-religionists are not themselves terrorists and do not support such actions.
This applies even when we know they do by their attendance at rallies, their votes for politicians who do support terrorism and hatred and singling out of religious or cultural groups or the refusal to endorse international definitions of hatred against particular religions, and their vast donations to 'the cause' whatever that might be. No, we want to be seen as fair, even if that will cause us to be mocked, that attitude exploited and will ultimately be to our own detriment. There is a Communist saying, When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they will sell us the rope. We will be bend over backwards to be seen as fair, not to racially profile, even when they hate us, overtly or covertly and see us as targets.
I had a flat in London, NW6 for years, Brondesbury, on the borders of Kilburn. Kilburn is a mix of theatres and boutique restaurants and alcoholic tramps and cheap supermarkets. There were a lot of Irish people in the area. People from Eire, and Northern Ireland. Catholics and Protestants. There is a pub, Biddy Mulligans, a big, really great pub and Catholic Irish ie. IRA. No one supported the terrorism of course, no one but everyone gave when the hat was passed round nightly. But listening to people, they did support the IRA very strongly, but usually qualified their words that they didn't support the bombing. And they knew who the IRA operatives in the area were surely, how could they not?
There has been an ongoing scandal in Manchester that for 20 or more years, there have been gangs of men, Pakistani or Pakistani descent, mostly, that have groomed young, vulnerable girls and used them for sex, whored them out, raped them, and called them white trash. Their own girls of course would have been at risk of an honour killing should they even have kissed a man. No one in their communities ever came forward, they couldn't possibly have been entirely ignorantor else how could they have recruited more and more young men to these gangs? They were protected.
The inference for other kinds of terrorism is obvious. It's easy to deny it in words, it's easy to donate secretly, it's easy to protect people if all the people agree to not go to the authorities.
Everyone in the book is a Muslim. It's the Arab Government and its supporters versus the Black Africans who are the victims. There are other victims in Sudan and Chad, especially in Darfur, who are Christians or Animists who suffer equally but they do not figure in Tears in the Desert. It does prove however that this civil war, this policy of enslavement and removal from ancestral lands is an entirely racially-based aggression.
For those who think that pc-doublespeak, being woke, does us any favours at all, a rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but calling shit, 'excreta', 'night soil', 'waste products' or even 'stool' might take the offence away of the unacceptable word SHIT, but it doesn't stop it stinking or - uncontained - spreading disease. And Halima Bashir has no hesitation in saying it is the Arabs who are ordering the rape of children, the burning of babies, the destruction of villages of the Black Africans, purely because they are Africans and in possession of the land and livestock the Arabs want.
Financing this serious attempt at genocide are the Chinese. They are quite impartial ignorers of human rights at home and abroad and in the Caribbean. The Chinese want to uy the oil and sell weapons and this gives the Arab government of Sudan the ability to ignore international and UN censure. The British Government do support the UN on this in theory, but the book is very scathing about their policy towards Black Sudanese asylum seekers (see Mende Nazer's Slave for more on that) Even today, the Janjaweed, Arabs on horseback armed by the Muslim North Sudan, attack and desecrate the areas of Darfur where the Black Christian and animist Sudanese live, according to the book.
The book doesn't deserve five-stars for writing, it does rather go on in parts about the idyllic childhood existence of pastoral life, but this is common to almost all the books on this subject - the aforementioned book, Slave, or the model Alek Wek's autobiography Alek: From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel as well as Francis Bok's Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity. What is does deserve 5 stars for is content. Its not an intellectual or political book but one of an educated woman (the author is a doctor) who has sadly, lived through the most terrible circumstances that could befall anyone, genital mutilations, gang rape, torture, murder, loss of her entire family and right until the end, no safe place of asylum.
Its a book worth reading, at times it's too gripping to put down, its not at all heavy, but could never be described as 'enjoyable'. A book to learn from. It is an unforgettable book. I've rewritten 50% of this review 12 years later, it's April 2022 now.
No nation or religious group is allowed to be blamed for anything its members might do unless the national or religious designation is qualified with the words, "fundamentalist", "extremist" or similar, so that we all may know that the other nationals or co-religionists are not themselves terrorists and do not support such actions.
This applies even when we know they do by their attendance at rallies, their votes for politicians who do support terrorism and hatred and singling out of religious or cultural groups or the refusal to endorse international definitions of hatred against particular religions, and their vast donations to 'the cause' whatever that might be. No, we want to be seen as fair, even if that will cause us to be mocked, that attitude exploited and will ultimately be to our own detriment. There is a Communist saying, When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they will sell us the rope. We will be bend over backwards to be seen as fair, not to racially profile, even when they hate us, overtly or covertly and see us as targets.
I had a flat in London, NW6 for years, Brondesbury, on the borders of Kilburn. Kilburn is a mix of theatres and boutique restaurants and alcoholic tramps and cheap supermarkets. There were a lot of Irish people in the area. People from Eire, and Northern Ireland. Catholics and Protestants. There is a pub, Biddy Mulligans, a big, really great pub and Catholic Irish ie. IRA. No one supported the terrorism of course, no one but everyone gave when the hat was passed round nightly. But listening to people, they did support the IRA very strongly, but usually qualified their words that they didn't support the bombing. And they knew who the IRA operatives in the area were surely, how could they not?
There has been an ongoing scandal in Manchester that for 20 or more years, there have been gangs of men, Pakistani or Pakistani descent, mostly, that have groomed young, vulnerable girls and used them for sex, whored them out, raped them, and called them white trash. Their own girls of course would have been at risk of an honour killing should they even have kissed a man. No one in their communities ever came forward, they couldn't possibly have been entirely ignorantor else how could they have recruited more and more young men to these gangs? They were protected.
The inference for other kinds of terrorism is obvious. It's easy to deny it in words, it's easy to donate secretly, it's easy to protect people if all the people agree to not go to the authorities.
Everyone in the book is a Muslim. It's the Arab Government and its supporters versus the Black Africans who are the victims. There are other victims in Sudan and Chad, especially in Darfur, who are Christians or Animists who suffer equally but they do not figure in Tears in the Desert. It does prove however that this civil war, this policy of enslavement and removal from ancestral lands is an entirely racially-based aggression.
For those who think that pc-doublespeak, being woke, does us any favours at all, a rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but calling shit, 'excreta', 'night soil', 'waste products' or even 'stool' might take the offence away of the unacceptable word SHIT, but it doesn't stop it stinking or - uncontained - spreading disease. And Halima Bashir has no hesitation in saying it is the Arabs who are ordering the rape of children, the burning of babies, the destruction of villages of the Black Africans, purely because they are Africans and in possession of the land and livestock the Arabs want.
Financing this serious attempt at genocide are the Chinese. They are quite impartial ignorers of human rights at home and abroad and in the Caribbean. The Chinese want to uy the oil and sell weapons and this gives the Arab government of Sudan the ability to ignore international and UN censure. The British Government do support the UN on this in theory, but the book is very scathing about their policy towards Black Sudanese asylum seekers (see Mende Nazer's Slave for more on that) Even today, the Janjaweed, Arabs on horseback armed by the Muslim North Sudan, attack and desecrate the areas of Darfur where the Black Christian and animist Sudanese live, according to the book.
The book doesn't deserve five-stars for writing, it does rather go on in parts about the idyllic childhood existence of pastoral life, but this is common to almost all the books on this subject - the aforementioned book, Slave, or the model Alek Wek's autobiography Alek: From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel as well as Francis Bok's Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity. What is does deserve 5 stars for is content. Its not an intellectual or political book but one of an educated woman (the author is a doctor) who has sadly, lived through the most terrible circumstances that could befall anyone, genital mutilations, gang rape, torture, murder, loss of her entire family and right until the end, no safe place of asylum.
Its a book worth reading, at times it's too gripping to put down, its not at all heavy, but could never be described as 'enjoyable'. A book to learn from. It is an unforgettable book. I've rewritten 50% of this review 12 years later, it's April 2022 now.
July 3, 2013
This is not for the faint-hearted.
An autobiographical account of the war in the Darfur region of Sudan, seen through the eyes of a woman who becomes a doctor. The book starts very gently, depicting the beautiful community in which Halima grows up. Her village is filled with characters and steeped in her Zaghawa culture. The community collectively raise children, neighbours and relatives are all closely involved in everyone's life. Perhaps in the west we would find this intrusive but it is portrayed clearly showing both the good and the negative - ie Halima is disapproved of by some, as she is at medical school rather than married. Yet each family is watched over and given food and assistance as needed.
As the war comes closer Halima is drawn into caring for fighters who come down to her village to have their injuries tended to - this places her in the firing line with the government forces.
Without giving away the main parts of the story, Halima has to flee following terrible events and makes her way to London, where she has to battle not to be sent back.
An eye-opening read on yet not another confllict where the world failed to act on behalf of innocent people.
An autobiographical account of the war in the Darfur region of Sudan, seen through the eyes of a woman who becomes a doctor. The book starts very gently, depicting the beautiful community in which Halima grows up. Her village is filled with characters and steeped in her Zaghawa culture. The community collectively raise children, neighbours and relatives are all closely involved in everyone's life. Perhaps in the west we would find this intrusive but it is portrayed clearly showing both the good and the negative - ie Halima is disapproved of by some, as she is at medical school rather than married. Yet each family is watched over and given food and assistance as needed.
As the war comes closer Halima is drawn into caring for fighters who come down to her village to have their injuries tended to - this places her in the firing line with the government forces.
Without giving away the main parts of the story, Halima has to flee following terrible events and makes her way to London, where she has to battle not to be sent back.
An eye-opening read on yet not another confllict where the world failed to act on behalf of innocent people.
April 9, 2015
When I really enjoy a book I will add a passage into my little review as I will do here.
"The war continued on during my final year at university (she is studying to become a medical doctor -- rare for a black African "from the bush" in her country) and war seemed to have overridden everything, making years of study seem somehow so irrelevant. My final-year tutor tried to encourage me. I had attended each and every one of my lectures and he knew that I stood to do well. Those students who skipped lectures used to rely on me to copy their lecture notes from. The three weeks of final examinations were hell but I felt confident that I had done well. All that remained now was for me to pass my oral exam -- my viva.
The viva is a one-on-one interview, and I knew it could make all the difference in getting a top mark. As I stood before my tutor and the outside examiner, I felt confident that they would back me with a strong recommendation. The external examiner asked me a few easily answered questions and then turned to my tutor to ask how my attendance had been at lectures. "I'm afraid that's the one area wherein this pupil has failed to excel," he remarked. "If truth be told, there were many times where she failed to attend. As her tutor I have looked into this, and I understand that she had a similarly poor record with all lectures."
I stood there in shock, refusing to believe what I had just heard. Barely a month ago my tutor had been congratulating me on my perfect attendance. Yet here he was telling the external examiner a pack of lies. The examiner fixed me with a stern eye but I could detect just a hint of an amused sneer. "Failure to attend lectures is a serious matter. Your studies are about saving a human life. I cannot think of another degree qualification that carries such onerous responsibility."
"I did attend. I attended everything...all of my studies. In fact, I can't think of a single lecture that I missed..." I saw the examiner scribble a note onto my viva. "Your duty as a doctor is not only to uphold life," he remarked, without glancing up at me. "It is also to be truthful...your viva is over. You may go now." I turned to leave the room and as I reached for the door handle I felt hot tears of rage prickling my eyes. Just as soon as I stepped out of my room my friends were asking me what had happened. Rania wiped my tears from my face, as she tried to comfort me. "The tutor is a coward," she told me as she gave me a reassuring hug."A coward and a liar. No one has a better attendance than you and everyone knows it. You know what this is all about? It's their way to make sure that you don't get a top mark. The examiner's been put there by the government and the tutor is scared of him."
Several of the other students agreed. With Darfuris rebelling across the country, how could they let me, a Darfuri, come in at the top of the year? I had been marked down as a shirker and a liar in my viva -- that's how they got me in the end. I felt so cheated and betrayed, as if the system and the country itself were against me. (Can you imagine this happening to someone where you live and all just because of the color of their skin?)
I'm not even done reading this book but for some reason I had to stop and get this down. It's an interesting look at the life of Halima Bashir who is lucky to belong to a family full of love (and reading about them has made me laugh out loud several times) and happiness. The war is just starting though so I am scared to find out what may happen in the end. So far, I think it will be a 5-star-rating but I still have the second half to read.
"The war continued on during my final year at university (she is studying to become a medical doctor -- rare for a black African "from the bush" in her country) and war seemed to have overridden everything, making years of study seem somehow so irrelevant. My final-year tutor tried to encourage me. I had attended each and every one of my lectures and he knew that I stood to do well. Those students who skipped lectures used to rely on me to copy their lecture notes from. The three weeks of final examinations were hell but I felt confident that I had done well. All that remained now was for me to pass my oral exam -- my viva.
The viva is a one-on-one interview, and I knew it could make all the difference in getting a top mark. As I stood before my tutor and the outside examiner, I felt confident that they would back me with a strong recommendation. The external examiner asked me a few easily answered questions and then turned to my tutor to ask how my attendance had been at lectures. "I'm afraid that's the one area wherein this pupil has failed to excel," he remarked. "If truth be told, there were many times where she failed to attend. As her tutor I have looked into this, and I understand that she had a similarly poor record with all lectures."
I stood there in shock, refusing to believe what I had just heard. Barely a month ago my tutor had been congratulating me on my perfect attendance. Yet here he was telling the external examiner a pack of lies. The examiner fixed me with a stern eye but I could detect just a hint of an amused sneer. "Failure to attend lectures is a serious matter. Your studies are about saving a human life. I cannot think of another degree qualification that carries such onerous responsibility."
"I did attend. I attended everything...all of my studies. In fact, I can't think of a single lecture that I missed..." I saw the examiner scribble a note onto my viva. "Your duty as a doctor is not only to uphold life," he remarked, without glancing up at me. "It is also to be truthful...your viva is over. You may go now." I turned to leave the room and as I reached for the door handle I felt hot tears of rage prickling my eyes. Just as soon as I stepped out of my room my friends were asking me what had happened. Rania wiped my tears from my face, as she tried to comfort me. "The tutor is a coward," she told me as she gave me a reassuring hug."A coward and a liar. No one has a better attendance than you and everyone knows it. You know what this is all about? It's their way to make sure that you don't get a top mark. The examiner's been put there by the government and the tutor is scared of him."
Several of the other students agreed. With Darfuris rebelling across the country, how could they let me, a Darfuri, come in at the top of the year? I had been marked down as a shirker and a liar in my viva -- that's how they got me in the end. I felt so cheated and betrayed, as if the system and the country itself were against me. (Can you imagine this happening to someone where you live and all just because of the color of their skin?)
I'm not even done reading this book but for some reason I had to stop and get this down. It's an interesting look at the life of Halima Bashir who is lucky to belong to a family full of love (and reading about them has made me laugh out loud several times) and happiness. The war is just starting though so I am scared to find out what may happen in the end. So far, I think it will be a 5-star-rating but I still have the second half to read.
July 7, 2009
If ever there was a book that fit the description "life changing" than this is that book. Dr. Bashir writes elegantly about her idealic (almost too fantasticly perfect) youth and upbringing in the as yet war torn southern Sudan. Her peaceful, intelligent and wealthy father. Her quiet and nurturing mother and her traditional and fierce, warrior of a grandmother all live in harmony with nature and each other. Then like a sudden thunderbolt her peace is shattered not by war but the insiduous traditional custom of female circumcision..which is really a euphemision for genital mutilation...I had a tough time getting through these explicit passages..where once I may have wavered in my condemnation of the practice....in deference to African tribal and religious traditions..any such excuses escape me now. That the female elders of the village, who had themselves endured it, were the enforcers of the practice says a lot about the sometimes destructive power of traditional ingrained notions and attitudes toward sex and gender. But as life somehow returns to normal for them, each days readings becomes more filled with trepidation for me because I already know that these very vividly drawn people are going to come to a malevolent end. And they do..and it rips your heart out if you have any human compassion...That Dr. Bashir somehow escaped does not make up for the lost lives and destruction and famine unleashed in the name of religious and ethnic intolerance. Why humans continue to pat themselves on the back for their civilization while allowing unbridled genocide and racism (because it is Arab-African racism at the heart of the conflict) free riegn I'll never understand.
September 9, 2012
I highly recommend this book to all those wishing to know more about the Darfur Conflict / Darfur Genocide that began in 2003. The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) accuse the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese, i.e. the black Africans of Sudan. When Britain left Sudan they left it in the hands of the Arabs. The guerrilla conflict is between the blacks and the Arabs of Sudan. The Arabs had been a nomadic people, the blacks were farmers. With the support of the Sudanese government, the Janjaweed, a Sudanese militia group recruited primarily from the Arabized indigenous Africans, have murdered, raped and burned black African villages throughout Darfur. This book is about one woman, a Black Muslim who grew up in a village of Darfur. She has lived through this genocide. The book was published in 2008. The conflict remained unresolved art this time. The number killed, by disease, starvation and direct violence, is disputed, but most likely it significantly exceeds 450,000.
You learn both about the genocide and the traditions and customs of the black villagers, the people of the Zaghawa tribe. Halima Bashir, the author, was educated in Sudan and became a doctor. Her own dreadful female circumcision influenced her wish to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology. This book, describing her experiences and her life story, is hard to put down.
You learn both about the genocide and the traditions and customs of the black villagers, the people of the Zaghawa tribe. Halima Bashir, the author, was educated in Sudan and became a doctor. Her own dreadful female circumcision influenced her wish to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology. This book, describing her experiences and her life story, is hard to put down.
December 15, 2014
The writing skills are more than adequate but not at a 5 star level, but little else could push me to cut this one from the full load reward. Good Earth, and Snowflower and the Secret Fan territory here.
Halima tells her own life's story in this non-fiction memoir of her girlhood in Darfur and the events she experienced until 2011. No spoilers, and that is no easy feat. But this book holds incredible honesty from the heart AND from the intellect.
Reading like an Anthropology Ethnography of her Zaghawa tribe from the Sudanese desert, it yet reveals stupendous levels of detail and base cognition of her own world. Not only hers, but that of her clan (3 basic clans make up the whole of the Zaghawa).
The deep nuance achieved for her Grandmother, Father, brothers- that alone is enough to sustain interest. Not just in personality, but in the onus of their "eyes" to connection, daily actions and future plans, but absolutely in the belief of what they "know" about themselves, as well. This all in a family unit that lives in close quarters and within a mesh of 24/7 economic, educational, aspirational, physical entwining. Few secrets remain.
Her connection with and support and love by her Father is explained and celebrated to the point it deserves. A fair and savvy man in herding, trading and with intelligent good intent as his base, his character became Halima's support and empowerment.
The honesty and bravery in telling this factual story, right now in this era of double talk and generic labeling to cause or blame! With all that she has been through, I believe the most courage will be needed in what comes ahead for Halima.
If reality of life for girls who experience genitalia mutilation, called female circumcision, is impossible for your perusal, than you will have difficulty with some aspects here. Put it on a scale, at least, to the foot breaking in "Snowflower". But consider that 140 million women on this Earth live this and have not just read about it. Nearly all of those on the scale of Halima's complete removal, and almost entirely within the continent of Africa.
Halima has a white eyelash from birth, which makes her lucky and special. She is the only child of her parents for 5 years and becomes her father's heart. Her love of learning inspires her Father to support her in a course to become, eventually, a medical doctor. Her travails in schools and in transport are a delightful book in itself. Schooling is SO different in various cultures, that all of these years were enjoyable to read about. Her groups of friends, and divisions of competitions- never a "whole". Cultural clash in essence exists predominantly in each aspect of life. Style, gender relationships, self-identity, neighborhood style and interaction, electrical or mechanical use, food- you name it. (And believe me, not any different than areas holding 4 or 5 ethnic and racial divides on the South and West sides of Chicago in this and the last century.)
Over some years Janjaweed (Arabic Islamic Jihad) topples the short lived democratic government and Halima's life becomes more difficult. It little matters that her people are also Muslim, because they are considered "Black slaves and dogs".
The last quarter of the book tells of her girl school's raid and her doctoring of the victims, her village's fate of her witness, and the aftermath to her escape out of Africa. (She and all of her relatives are on a hit list as prime enemies, but absolutely in connection to her, herself.) So they must completely separate. Her Mother and sister going to Chad cousins. Some known details are written up in after notes. As of 2011, she is still not knowing locations or even if they or her brothers are alive. Her exact legal processing to become an English citizen is also in the last parts of the book.
Horror! Oh yes, horror of war and genocide. But there is far, far more in this memoir. And that's why I had to give it a 5 star. It will remain in my memory. The clouds of locust, the "bad" goat- all of it. But most of all it is her moral core, levels of supreme honesty and bravery that I will remember. I sure hope her message is heard. The world ignores the beheadings of children and burning of babies, as someone else's problem. Opening her difficult and so deeply revealing life's story, may help the world to know what cores the tragedy that is prevailing.
Halima tells her own life's story in this non-fiction memoir of her girlhood in Darfur and the events she experienced until 2011. No spoilers, and that is no easy feat. But this book holds incredible honesty from the heart AND from the intellect.
Reading like an Anthropology Ethnography of her Zaghawa tribe from the Sudanese desert, it yet reveals stupendous levels of detail and base cognition of her own world. Not only hers, but that of her clan (3 basic clans make up the whole of the Zaghawa).
The deep nuance achieved for her Grandmother, Father, brothers- that alone is enough to sustain interest. Not just in personality, but in the onus of their "eyes" to connection, daily actions and future plans, but absolutely in the belief of what they "know" about themselves, as well. This all in a family unit that lives in close quarters and within a mesh of 24/7 economic, educational, aspirational, physical entwining. Few secrets remain.
Her connection with and support and love by her Father is explained and celebrated to the point it deserves. A fair and savvy man in herding, trading and with intelligent good intent as his base, his character became Halima's support and empowerment.
The honesty and bravery in telling this factual story, right now in this era of double talk and generic labeling to cause or blame! With all that she has been through, I believe the most courage will be needed in what comes ahead for Halima.
If reality of life for girls who experience genitalia mutilation, called female circumcision, is impossible for your perusal, than you will have difficulty with some aspects here. Put it on a scale, at least, to the foot breaking in "Snowflower". But consider that 140 million women on this Earth live this and have not just read about it. Nearly all of those on the scale of Halima's complete removal, and almost entirely within the continent of Africa.
Halima has a white eyelash from birth, which makes her lucky and special. She is the only child of her parents for 5 years and becomes her father's heart. Her love of learning inspires her Father to support her in a course to become, eventually, a medical doctor. Her travails in schools and in transport are a delightful book in itself. Schooling is SO different in various cultures, that all of these years were enjoyable to read about. Her groups of friends, and divisions of competitions- never a "whole". Cultural clash in essence exists predominantly in each aspect of life. Style, gender relationships, self-identity, neighborhood style and interaction, electrical or mechanical use, food- you name it. (And believe me, not any different than areas holding 4 or 5 ethnic and racial divides on the South and West sides of Chicago in this and the last century.)
Over some years Janjaweed (Arabic Islamic Jihad) topples the short lived democratic government and Halima's life becomes more difficult. It little matters that her people are also Muslim, because they are considered "Black slaves and dogs".
The last quarter of the book tells of her girl school's raid and her doctoring of the victims, her village's fate of her witness, and the aftermath to her escape out of Africa. (She and all of her relatives are on a hit list as prime enemies, but absolutely in connection to her, herself.) So they must completely separate. Her Mother and sister going to Chad cousins. Some known details are written up in after notes. As of 2011, she is still not knowing locations or even if they or her brothers are alive. Her exact legal processing to become an English citizen is also in the last parts of the book.
Horror! Oh yes, horror of war and genocide. But there is far, far more in this memoir. And that's why I had to give it a 5 star. It will remain in my memory. The clouds of locust, the "bad" goat- all of it. But most of all it is her moral core, levels of supreme honesty and bravery that I will remember. I sure hope her message is heard. The world ignores the beheadings of children and burning of babies, as someone else's problem. Opening her difficult and so deeply revealing life's story, may help the world to know what cores the tragedy that is prevailing.
May 2, 2020
Gosh, it's appears kind of disrespectful to give stars for enjoying this book. It is a harrowing read but is beautifully told and I have nothing but admiration for this young lady. How can fellow human beings be so unkind?
Thank you for having the courage to share and I hope you have found the peace that you deserve.
Warning, this book contains graphic details on torture, rape and FGM.
Thank you for having the courage to share and I hope you have found the peace that you deserve.
Warning, this book contains graphic details on torture, rape and FGM.
July 12, 2020
Better to have died and preserved one's dignity, than to have suffered the soul death of rape-that's what the Massalit and the Zaghawa, believed.
At least God, let me die quickly. Please God, let it be painless. Please God, don't let them torture my soul.
At least God, let me die quickly. Please God, let it be painless. Please God, don't let them torture my soul.
January 14, 2010
i knew little about darfur and the conflict there before i read this book. i would say it's an easy way to learn about the general relations and cause of conflict in the country, tied up in a very disturbing and personal account of one woman's life before and during the genocide. i cannot imagine the amount of courage it must have taken halima bashir to write this book. you cannot help but be moved by this book. not only will it shock you when you read what human beings are capable of doing to each other, but it will also make you realize how strong the human spirit can be in the face of adversity like this. bashir is a brave woman, and i pray that her country will one day be restored to peace.
March 25, 2024
Salina Bashir is a woman with amazing strength! She is a survivor of a conflict that occurred in her homeland. Hundreds of thousands were killed, raped, traumatized in Darfur. This is a book worth reading!
May 24, 2019
بعض الكتب تجبرك علي التفاعل معها. بعض الكتب تؤلمك و بعض الكتب تدهشك و أخري تثير غضبك. هذا الكتاب استطاع ان يفعل بي كل هذا. بنهاية قصة حليمه الهاربة من جحيم دارفور تملكتني مشاعر هي مزيج من الخزي و الخجل و العجز. الخزي لانتمائى لنفس الجنس البشري الذي يستطيع ان يرتكب كل هذه الفظائع و يبررها. و الخجل ان معلوماتي عن هذه القضية كانت ضحلة و سطحية و العجز لعدم القدرة علي فعل اي شى ازاء هذا الظلم الفاجر و ان كان الشعور الاخير معتادا بسبب قضية فلسطين.
الكتاب قصة حياة شابة من قبيلة الزغاو احدي قبائل دارفور الافريقية و التي تعرضت في أوائل الالفية مع قبائل الفور و المساليت لحرب ابادة جماعية من ميليشيات الجنجويد العربية بغطاء و مباركة الحكومة السودانية. تحكي الشابة التي كانت تعمل طبيبة قصص القتل و الحرق و الاغتصاب الجماعي للاطفال. كما تحكي عن اغتصابها هي شخصيا علي يد الشرطة السودانية عقابا لها علي علاج المتمردين و التحدث مع منظمات الاغاثة. تنتهي القصة بهروبها الي انجلترا و رحلة معاناة اخري حتي تمكنت من الحصول علي حق اللجوء.
الواضح ان حروب الابادة و التطهير العرقي درجات و مقامات. فقضية دارفور التي لم يمر عليها الا بضع سنوات و تداعياتها مازالت مستمرة لا تحظي بتغطية اعلامية مثل الهولوكوست التي حدثت منذ اكثر من ستين عاما. بل ان معرفتنا بتفاصيل معسكرات اعتقال النازي تفوق تفصيلا معرفتنا اصلا بمكان دارفور علي الخريطة.
الكتاب يصلح كمدخل للقراءة عن ما يدور في دارفور
الكتاب قصة حياة شابة من قبيلة الزغاو احدي قبائل دارفور الافريقية و التي تعرضت في أوائل الالفية مع قبائل الفور و المساليت لحرب ابادة جماعية من ميليشيات الجنجويد العربية بغطاء و مباركة الحكومة السودانية. تحكي الشابة التي كانت تعمل طبيبة قصص القتل و الحرق و الاغتصاب الجماعي للاطفال. كما تحكي عن اغتصابها هي شخصيا علي يد الشرطة السودانية عقابا لها علي علاج المتمردين و التحدث مع منظمات الاغاثة. تنتهي القصة بهروبها الي انجلترا و رحلة معاناة اخري حتي تمكنت من الحصول علي حق اللجوء.
الواضح ان حروب الابادة و التطهير العرقي درجات و مقامات. فقضية دارفور التي لم يمر عليها الا بضع سنوات و تداعياتها مازالت مستمرة لا تحظي بتغطية اعلامية مثل الهولوكوست التي حدثت منذ اكثر من ستين عاما. بل ان معرفتنا بتفاصيل معسكرات اعتقال النازي تفوق تفصيلا معرفتنا اصلا بمكان دارفور علي الخريطة.
الكتاب يصلح كمدخل للقراءة عن ما يدور في دارفور
July 15, 2008
I have a review due tomorrow morning and I'm stuck because I know that there is nothing that I can say that will do this memoir justice. I finished this three days ago and have been walking around with this story resonating in my soul like a bell tone that refuses to fade.
The book is beautifully written, when Bashir tells of her life in Sudan before the genocide began you can not only see Africa, but hear and smell it as well. The Darfur of Bashir's childhood, while not easy by our standards, was a beautiful, magical, loving place and the reader feels as if they are there. In turn, this makes the retelling of the horrors of the following genocide, of torture and rape, feel personal. This book is not for the faint of heart. I cried. I felt physically ill a number of time while reading this. From the retelling of providing treatment to raped schoolgirls, Bashir is a medical doctor, and of her own subsequent rape, a punishment for said medical care, to the massacre of her village, the horrors of the genocide in Darfur rise from the pages of the memoir with a life of their own.
In a way, I wish I hadn't read this. I wish I didn't know how beautiful and simple and free life was for the Zaghawa before the genocide. I wish this horror and sadness and pain of the genocide was not rolling around in my head. But then, that may be why so many turn their heads from the tragedy that is Darfur. It is so horrible, so painful, and so wrong, that to even think on it causes pain.
Some books are just books. Some change how you see yourself, how you see the world. Halima Bashir and her Tears of the Desert have changed how I see and they will never leave me.
The book is beautifully written, when Bashir tells of her life in Sudan before the genocide began you can not only see Africa, but hear and smell it as well. The Darfur of Bashir's childhood, while not easy by our standards, was a beautiful, magical, loving place and the reader feels as if they are there. In turn, this makes the retelling of the horrors of the following genocide, of torture and rape, feel personal. This book is not for the faint of heart. I cried. I felt physically ill a number of time while reading this. From the retelling of providing treatment to raped schoolgirls, Bashir is a medical doctor, and of her own subsequent rape, a punishment for said medical care, to the massacre of her village, the horrors of the genocide in Darfur rise from the pages of the memoir with a life of their own.
In a way, I wish I hadn't read this. I wish I didn't know how beautiful and simple and free life was for the Zaghawa before the genocide. I wish this horror and sadness and pain of the genocide was not rolling around in my head. But then, that may be why so many turn their heads from the tragedy that is Darfur. It is so horrible, so painful, and so wrong, that to even think on it causes pain.
Some books are just books. Some change how you see yourself, how you see the world. Halima Bashir and her Tears of the Desert have changed how I see and they will never leave me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 9, 2008
Wow-Another story of our AFrican brothers and sisters killing each other!1 This was a poignant first person account of Bashir's middle class-albeit village(her Dad had houses in the nearby town-hundreds of livestock,a Landrover-the first TV in the village)idealistic-family oriented upbring-A feisty young lady bestowed with a lucky charm of a white eyelash-Halima was the first girl in her village to attend elementary school and highschool in the city. This book showed that many Muslim societies in the last and present century encourage their womwn to be educated. Halim attends University in Darfur and becomes a doctor-However-again the minorityArabs-bequeathed rulership by the exiting British colonialists-have always hated and looked down on the Black African majority.Halima is sexually and physically abused for speaking to international aid groups as well as tending to the wounds of her tribesman who are guerilla fighters-Halima flees to her village-which is soon decimated by a swarm of bombing Arab helicopters as well as infantry-Talk about a Diaspora!! As of present Halima-her husband(who she married in absentia) and small children are in exile in England. This is a very powerful story-It is real-Reading this book will bring the Genocide in the Darfur Region of the Sudan-HOME to your heart,mind, and conscience!!!!
October 11, 2012
One of those books that should inspire me to volunteer with the local refugees. This is a horrendous story of the life of a Darfuri survivor who's only desire is to become a doctor to help people in her village. Instead she is lied to, cheated, threatened, forcibly moved, beaten, raped, and hunted. It is an incredibly infuriating story that embarassingly brings hatred to my life. It would be a strong person indeed who could read this book and not be moved. After blowing the rest of the female students out of the water academically in the city school Halima is fortunate enough, and wealthy enough, to be sent to the university to become a medical doctor. During those six years a civil war had been brewing and came to a head. Only trouble followed that ended with Halima initially being denied asylum in England after finally finding her husband; losing her father; not knowing where her brothers, sister, or mother are; being hunted, literally by the government; and selling her entire families gold to escape the country. I can't say enough about this book. I hope every takes the challenge to read it, become educated about what's going on around them, and pass that motivation to read on to others.
March 28, 2013
This is a difficult book to read, but if you want an insiders view of what has transpired in the Darfur region of Sudan over the last decade, this is it. I was so truly touched by the simplicity of life in Halima Bashir's tribal village ... and so taken back and personally devastated by the government-backed genocide that wiped out her village and brought brutality into her world that no one should ever know
It's appalling that genocide like this still exists today and while these types of books are emotionally harrowing experiences, I do believe in experiencing these stories, which propel one to take a stand and personally get involved. This is a story of a courageous woman and a belief that one voice can make a difference. As a medical doctor, she defied the authorities and refused to abandon her people. She treated them (often in secret), including victims of a brutal attack on a village school (gang-raping and beatings of elementary school children). Her courage to treat these children led to her being horribly brutalized herself and becoming a hunted woman who needed to seek asylum in another country.
Read this book. Get involved. And join the millions of people who promised after WWII, "never again."
It's appalling that genocide like this still exists today and while these types of books are emotionally harrowing experiences, I do believe in experiencing these stories, which propel one to take a stand and personally get involved. This is a story of a courageous woman and a belief that one voice can make a difference. As a medical doctor, she defied the authorities and refused to abandon her people. She treated them (often in secret), including victims of a brutal attack on a village school (gang-raping and beatings of elementary school children). Her courage to treat these children led to her being horribly brutalized herself and becoming a hunted woman who needed to seek asylum in another country.
Read this book. Get involved. And join the millions of people who promised after WWII, "never again."
January 16, 2019
To everyone who gave this a one star review....you must be such a blessed person that you can’t sympathize with the events in this book. After living through what this woman lived through and saw what she saw, you can’t expect her to also write a shaking literary piece that caters to disconnected academia. This is a real story of a real person who lived through a real hell that we should be reacting to and work to prevent in the future rather than critiquing the writing. That’s not what this book is about.
August 22, 2012
Words escape me right now. This woman's story is one of the most tragic I have ever read in my life. My God, human endurance knows no bounds...All I can say is read this book!
May 29, 2017
An important and compelling memoir in need of a strong editor.
March 4, 2023
Seveda že po podnaslovu knjige vemo, za kaj bo v vsebini šlo. A knjiga ni napisana v tistem pompoznem, večinoma ameriškem stilu, bezanju grozodejstev. Kar dve tretjini avtorica namreč opisuje svoje življenje v Sudanu. Spremljamo jo od otroštva dalje. Življenje njenega plemena v vasi, njihove običaje in spoznamo družino. Strogo babico, ki nadvse nasprotuje prihodu televizorja v njihovo hišo. Pogumnega očeta. Mamo, dva brata in mlajšo sestrico. Halimi pa oče nameni študij zdravnice. Tako se Halima sooči s sovraštvom arabcev do njihove črne kože že takoj v šoli. Na univerzi tega ni tako čutiti, dokler v njihovo deželo ne vstopi vojna. Vojna, v kateri hoče vlada uničiti črne ljudi, vključno s Haliminim plemenom. Zdaj že zdravnica, se mora soočiti s krutostjo, ki jo vojna povzroča ljudem, tudi majhnim otrokom. Kot ona, se tudi sama sprašujem, do kod seže hudobija ljudi in zakaj je to potrebno. A odgovora na to ni.
Halima o tem govori šele v zadnjem delu. Pripoveduje pa tudi o svojem prebegu in boju za to, da je naposled dobila azil v Angliji.
"Veš, kaj je babica vedno pravila? Rekla je: "Ti kavajat (beli ljudje), oni sploh ne vedo, da se je treba med delom ustaviti, ne poznajo počitka in ne vedo, da je treba delati počasi...Če delaš z njimi, te izmozgajo do smrti in nekega dne preprosto umreš."
To je en odlomek iz knjige, ki pove vse o tem, kako drugačno je naše življenje od življenja plemena, del katerega je Halima. Toda, ko opisuje tiste otroške dni, tisto življenje, njihove običaje in njihovo miselnost, se ti včasih zazdi, da je veliko bolj smiselna; vsaj meni se je to podilo po glavi. Način, kako oni obravnavajo sočloveka, ali tujca, ki stopi v njihovo hišo, ali starejše ljudi; no to je nekaj, na kar smo mi že davno pozabili. Seveda pa je tudi precej stvari, ki je močno spornih, predvsem obrezovanje deklic, a to je del njihove tradicije, ta pa se le stežka spreminja in prilagaja.
Prepričljiva knjiga je to. Vpogled v svet, ki nam je tuj. Pa tudi pogled na grozodejstva, ki danes ne bi smela obstajati. Nikjer.
Halima o tem govori šele v zadnjem delu. Pripoveduje pa tudi o svojem prebegu in boju za to, da je naposled dobila azil v Angliji.
"Veš, kaj je babica vedno pravila? Rekla je: "Ti kavajat (beli ljudje), oni sploh ne vedo, da se je treba med delom ustaviti, ne poznajo počitka in ne vedo, da je treba delati počasi...Če delaš z njimi, te izmozgajo do smrti in nekega dne preprosto umreš."
To je en odlomek iz knjige, ki pove vse o tem, kako drugačno je naše življenje od življenja plemena, del katerega je Halima. Toda, ko opisuje tiste otroške dni, tisto življenje, njihove običaje in njihovo miselnost, se ti včasih zazdi, da je veliko bolj smiselna; vsaj meni se je to podilo po glavi. Način, kako oni obravnavajo sočloveka, ali tujca, ki stopi v njihovo hišo, ali starejše ljudi; no to je nekaj, na kar smo mi že davno pozabili. Seveda pa je tudi precej stvari, ki je močno spornih, predvsem obrezovanje deklic, a to je del njihove tradicije, ta pa se le stežka spreminja in prilagaja.
Prepričljiva knjiga je to. Vpogled v svet, ki nam je tuj. Pa tudi pogled na grozodejstva, ki danes ne bi smela obstajati. Nikjer.
April 5, 2023
I don’t recommend it if you are those who prefer not to know the terrible things happening in the world, or that can be triggered by the events portrayed in this memoir.
This is but one story that tells of the genocide in Darfur of the Black Muslims.
It starts with a happy childhood, marked with some difficulty accepting some of the traditions of her people, followed by learning the hate from the Arabic Muslims in school, to becoming a doctor among the political tumult and stories of attacks to villages, to Halima being persecuted by working in a hospital and helping others like her, and all that so many suffered in Darfur, to finally after a long period in the U.K. being granted asylum.
I barely remember this happening, and it’s so horrible to perceive how outside, these people, these stories are just numbers and letters on a newscast, but not anymore, not after this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, War, Genocide, Racism, Hate crime, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Deportation, Gang Rape, Death of parent, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Classism, and Animal death
This is but one story that tells of the genocide in Darfur of the Black Muslims.
It starts with a happy childhood, marked with some difficulty accepting some of the traditions of her people, followed by learning the hate from the Arabic Muslims in school, to becoming a doctor among the political tumult and stories of attacks to villages, to Halima being persecuted by working in a hospital and helping others like her, and all that so many suffered in Darfur, to finally after a long period in the U.K. being granted asylum.
I barely remember this happening, and it’s so horrible to perceive how outside, these people, these stories are just numbers and letters on a newscast, but not anymore, not after this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, War, Genocide, Racism, Hate crime, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Deportation, Gang Rape, Death of parent, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Classism, and Animal death
August 8, 2023
Exceptional read!! Brave & remarkable true story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I honestly believe everyone should read this book. Thank you so much for sharing such a raw and detailed account of your experiences. I am so glad that you were able to find safety and gain status with your husband and child. I hope that by now you may have word on your other family members.
As a Social Worker supporting unaccompanied minors in the UK currently, it feels so poignant, powerful and needed to widen societal understanding of what you experienced in your Country and what is still happening now.
It was graphic at times, but I am grateful for this because, we should not be sheltered from the harsh and devastating circumstances that forced you to flee your home and seek refuge. You have helped to enhance my political and cultural awareness.
I think you should be proud for providing a voice for your people- for those you lost, who are too afraid or at risk to speak themselves.
I honestly believe everyone should read this book. Thank you so much for sharing such a raw and detailed account of your experiences. I am so glad that you were able to find safety and gain status with your husband and child. I hope that by now you may have word on your other family members.
As a Social Worker supporting unaccompanied minors in the UK currently, it feels so poignant, powerful and needed to widen societal understanding of what you experienced in your Country and what is still happening now.
It was graphic at times, but I am grateful for this because, we should not be sheltered from the harsh and devastating circumstances that forced you to flee your home and seek refuge. You have helped to enhance my political and cultural awareness.
I think you should be proud for providing a voice for your people- for those you lost, who are too afraid or at risk to speak themselves.
July 30, 2018
This is such a great memoir. What Halima has to go through from her nearly idyllic childhood, at least until having to endure the tradition of female circumcision through her teen years on into university to become a medical doctor and afterwards. What she and millions of others had to go through during the genocide in Darfur. It is remarkable that she stayed so strong throughout the ordeal. My only complaint with this book was that it could have been better edited. There were several word and phrases that should have been proofread and corrected; for this I almost gave it 4 stars, but after thinking about what to write in my review, I reconsidered and gave it 5 stars on Goodreads, pushing it back to 4.5 stars.
Read
December 30, 2018I started the year 2018 reading: Mende Nazer's - The True Story of a Girl's Lost Childhood and Her Fight for Survival and its fitting to finish the year with Tears.
The author, Dr. Bashir, sees all the misfortunes to fall upon her country first hand and undergoes personal horror during peak of mass genocide. With close to half a million people dead since then, not just due to conflict but the aftermath as well, this book gives a deep background on the commonality of Darfur's inhabitants, its culture and its (violent) political history.
Resilience is truly a marvelous thing. Her sense of morality is something else.
The author, Dr. Bashir, sees all the misfortunes to fall upon her country first hand and undergoes personal horror during peak of mass genocide. With close to half a million people dead since then, not just due to conflict but the aftermath as well, this book gives a deep background on the commonality of Darfur's inhabitants, its culture and its (violent) political history.
Resilience is truly a marvelous thing. Her sense of morality is something else.
May 31, 2020
A terrible tale of survival in the midst of catastrophe. Halima is a clever girl from a close knit village family who qualifies as a doctor before war tears her country apart. Racial hatred isn’tjust a black / white affair when the lines are drawn between Arab Sudanese, black Sudanese, tribes and religion. The added complicity of the Chinese in arming the Sudanese government is not really touched on, but money is always at the bottom of these genocidal conflicts. Halma has survived to tell the world, but I am not sure anyone is listening.
March 13, 2019
"But after all that I had been through I didn't care anymore. What could touch me? What could really hurt me or scare me? If we exploded in a fireball, what would I have lost? I had begged for death so many times, and death had failed to find me. What was there to fear if it did so now?" (p. 313)
Wow. This book is filled with heartache and sorrow and despair. A story of hope despite suffering. Growth despite pain. I 100% recommend reading Halima's story.
Wow. This book is filled with heartache and sorrow and despair. A story of hope despite suffering. Growth despite pain. I 100% recommend reading Halima's story.
December 12, 2020
A heartbreaking account of Halima Bashir’s life and flight from Darfur. I loved reading about her idyllic childhood and how her father was determined that she had an education and become a doctor. The book details her FGM, her torture and rape which makes harrowing reading. She ultimately flees Sudan and seeks asylum in the UK where she tells the world about the genocide being carried out in her homeland. How can humans be so evil?
October 19, 2021
Wow! Very powerful memoir!!
November 4, 2024
Este livro foi uma sugestão da @Paula Garcia para o projecto 12 livros para 2024, e embora seja uma autobiografia e como tal não ficção foi um livro que mexeu comigo por ver mais uma vez como o Homem em contexto de Guerra não se coibe de fazer o maior dano possivel a quem lhe é de algum modo diferente. Fiquei com vontade de saber qual o estado actual do Darfur porque estes acontecimentos passaram em 2008.
March 2, 2017
It's an emotional and touching personal story.
April 22, 2013
Halima Bashir is one of millions caught up in this tragedy. If not for the combination of her personal skills (academic excellence, fortitude, stamina) and her very supportive father this story would never have been told.
Halima's girlhood is a stunning narrative, and worth a read in and of itself. This unique glimpse into village life has well defined characters and reflects a strong but changing culture. There is a stubborn grandmother who wants the old ways but accepts the radio. The successful father, ahead of his time, and supportive of Halima as he may be, does not protect her from "cutting". The dynamics of the family upon the return of their scholar/doctor are interesting as is the distance now placed between Halima and neighbors/patients, potential suitors and childhood friends.
There is a good portrait of the educational experience in the third world. Students are beaten at the whim of those in control. Tuition paying families accept their daughters will clean the latrines/toilets. In medical school, students catch their own frogs for dissection.
These difficult experiences pale when the war reaches this family. The upside down world has only loss and danger. There is no heroic rescue on the horizon, only the family "savings" that comes to Halima due to all the unique characteristics of her father, grandmother and mother. Circumstances and pluck bring Halima to England and with the help of caring refugee advocates is able to communicate the problem to the world.
I hadn't understood the situation in Sudan until this book. There is little depth in what is presented in the US press. I had read The "Translator: A Memoir" which focuses on the violence through a number of narrow escapes and the guile of its writer. "Tears" gives a much richer portrait individuals and what is being destroyed.
I do not think, as stated in the epilogue, that China's reliance on Sudan for oil necessarily means there has to be genocide. While my knowledge of this is shallow, the situation seems to be the product of racism fueled by petrodollars.
Credit is due to Halima Bashir for telling her story and also to Damien Lewis of the BBC who made this a page turner.
Halima's girlhood is a stunning narrative, and worth a read in and of itself. This unique glimpse into village life has well defined characters and reflects a strong but changing culture. There is a stubborn grandmother who wants the old ways but accepts the radio. The successful father, ahead of his time, and supportive of Halima as he may be, does not protect her from "cutting". The dynamics of the family upon the return of their scholar/doctor are interesting as is the distance now placed between Halima and neighbors/patients, potential suitors and childhood friends.
There is a good portrait of the educational experience in the third world. Students are beaten at the whim of those in control. Tuition paying families accept their daughters will clean the latrines/toilets. In medical school, students catch their own frogs for dissection.
These difficult experiences pale when the war reaches this family. The upside down world has only loss and danger. There is no heroic rescue on the horizon, only the family "savings" that comes to Halima due to all the unique characteristics of her father, grandmother and mother. Circumstances and pluck bring Halima to England and with the help of caring refugee advocates is able to communicate the problem to the world.
I hadn't understood the situation in Sudan until this book. There is little depth in what is presented in the US press. I had read The "Translator: A Memoir" which focuses on the violence through a number of narrow escapes and the guile of its writer. "Tears" gives a much richer portrait individuals and what is being destroyed.
I do not think, as stated in the epilogue, that China's reliance on Sudan for oil necessarily means there has to be genocide. While my knowledge of this is shallow, the situation seems to be the product of racism fueled by petrodollars.
Credit is due to Halima Bashir for telling her story and also to Damien Lewis of the BBC who made this a page turner.
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