The Translator: A Memoir

This book is amazing! I knew the situation in Darfur was bad, but this narrative makes it more real. Some of the things that have happened over there are worse than unforgivable. I wish I could go over there and stop the horror right now, but I'll have to settle for raising awareness and other "small" things I have the power to do. I highly recommend this book. You should read it, then write to your congressmen, urging them to push the government into doing something more to stop this nightmare. There are men out there who I would no longer consider human because of the atrocities they have committed. It's time for them to be stopped!

I finished "The Translator" by Daoud Hari, an LT Early Reviewers pick that I feel very privileged to have read. What a wonderful, poignant book! Hari's voice is humble and conversational. His story is concise and straightforward. His imagery simple, but incredibly powerful. Throughout what is a difficult narrative of his own experiences in Darfur, are glimpses of cunning and humor and self-possession that seem way out of place. "The Translator" is indeed a quick read, but a necessary one. It is a contrast of evil and transcendant grace. A great book.

In the modern Western world, vivid documentary photojournalism plays an important role in how we world learn about major world events. However, when the story is genocide, the visual record can be so horrific that most people instinctually flinch and turn away, unable to bear the sight of so much human suffering. Croatia, Rwanda, Darfur--we are bombarded by harrowing nightmarish images. It is easy to see why most people might not want to read a book about genocide. But they fail to realize that books work on the brain in an entirely different manner than images. A well-conceived book can promote understanding and provoke action. Take "The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur" by Daoud Hari as an example. Readers would be making a grave mistake if they turned away from this powerful and unforgettable memoir. This book is more than a recounting of genocide. It is a fierce story of heroism and survival--it is also a loving lament to a culture and people on the brink of extinction. This book is definitely not what you might expect. There are no indictments against the international community's indifference. There is no anger--no blame. Instead, there is a calm heartfelt recounting of three years in the life of one tribesman working as a translator for Western journalist covering the story of war-torn Darfur. The years covered are 2003 through 2006. During this period, the author took immense risks to lead first a team of UN genocide investigators, and then six separate teams of Western journalists into dangerous war-torn Darfur. That he has come out of these ordeals alive is a miracle. Daoud Hari tells an incredible story! For the last one-third of the book, I found myself gripping the book, unable to tear myself away before knew what happened. Compelling is a word that hardly does this book justice! Although most of the book deals with the three years that he served as a translator, the author also tells us briefly about his early childhood. These are fascinating tales that bring to life the ancient and vibrant culture of Darfur's peoples. As a young boy, Hari demonstrated a gift for languages. He was proficient in Arabic as well as his native Zaghawa language, but he also learned English. He learned it so well that could easily lose himself in the English classics--books like Brontë's "Jane Eyre," Stevenson's "Treasure Island," Dickens' "Oliver Twist," Orwell's "Animal Farm," and Paton's "Cry the Beloved Country." His father wanted him to become a camel herder, but Daoud had a head full of dreams. He took off for Libya and found work as a restaurant worker in rich hotels serving international tourists. Later, he tried to smuggle himself across the border into Israel to get a better paying job, but ended up first in an Israeli jail, and then later transferred to an Egyptian jail. Eventually, he was freed to return back to Darfur. He arrived home in 2003, a day before his village was savagely attacked. First, came the Sudanese government

Daoud Hari was born to the Zaghawa tribe in Darfur, the westernmost region of Sudan. At the age of 13, Daoud's father sent him to live in the city of El Fasher, located in North Darfur, to further his education - and distance his youngest son from the Sudanese military raids that were just beginning to foment the genocide in Darfur. Upon completion of his studies, Daoud traveled to Libya in search of work, and then on to Egypt and Israel. Daoud was apprehended while trying to cross the Gaza Strip in to Israel, and because he was deemed an "illegal immigrant" (his visa only allowed him to enter Libya), he was sent back to Egypt. There he was imprisoned as he awaited deportation back to his native country of Sudan - where he would surely be executed for his supposed "defection." Incredibly, a kind Egyptian jailer contacted Daoud's friends in Cairo, who in turn reached out to the United Nations and Human Rights Watch. Daoud was eventually freed and allowed to "sneak back" into Sudan through Chad. This is only the beginning of Daoud's amazing and inspiring story, however. During his time spent "seeing the world," the conflict in Darfur erupted in government-sponsored genocide. Daoud's homecoming quickly turned into a rescue mission: as soon as he reached his village, he and his family were forced to evacuate as the Sudanese military and the government-backed militia groups called the Janjaweed tore through Darfur, bombing villages, battling rebel groups, raping and kidnapping women and children, and massacring members of the Fur, Zaghawa, and Massaleit ethnic groups. Luckily, Daoud did not become one of the estimated 200,000 to 400,000 to die at the hands of the Sudanese Army, but he does represent the more than 2.5 million persons displaced by the conflict. After finding safety in neighboring Chad, Daoud volunteered to serve as a translator for non-governmental organizations and journalists. While some of his childhood friends chose to take up arms against the Sudanese government, Daoud's education afforded him a unique opportunity to advocate for his people by assisting in the distribution of aid and spreading word of the atrocities unfolding in his native lands. THE TRANSLATOR: A TRIBESMAN'S MEMOIR OF DARFUR is the story of Daoud's risky work as a translator: sneaking across the Chadian border into Sudan (and back again), cultivating relationships with rebels and militia groups, navigating the shifting alliances and, above all else, trying to guide his employers safely through their travels so that they might bring awareness to the plight of millions of Sudanese refugees through their reporting. Curiously, Daoud's account of his journey back into Sudan from Chad in order to find and flee with his family has a strangely detached feel to it. I can't help but compare it to Ayaan Hirsi Ali's INFIDEL, which I recently finished. Born in Somalia and raised in Ethiopia and Kenya, Hirsi Ali eventually settled in the Netherlands and, later, t

There are a number of compelling memoirs by Sudanese authors such as They Poured Fire On Us From The Sky (2005), What Is the What (2006), and at least 4 more by or about "The Lost Boys" of southern Sudan. As the conflict has moved north and west, like birds flying before the storm, we are now seeing a new wave of heartbreaking memoirs arriving from the Darfur region. Each story is as unique as the person telling it, and all offer a glimpse into a world few know about because western journalists have so much difficulty working in the country, thus making this first-hand narrative by a native Darfurian a unique and important source. As a young man Daoud Hari witnessed the destruction of his idyllic rural village by modern Russian-made helicopter gunships and, like the logs of a raft breaking apart in the rapids, he and his family spun off in many harrowing directions. Hari decided early on that he would "use his brains and not a gun to make a better life" for himself. After arriving at a refugee camp in Chad, his skill at languages allowed him to work as a translator and guide for westerners on fact-finding trips across the border into Darfur. On about his 7th trip in August 2006 he became embroiled in an international incident with kidnapped National Geographic journalist Paul Salopek, making headlines around the world. Through the help of friends Hari was able to get out of Sudanese jail and move to the United States, where he now works for SaveDarfur.Org Hari's easy to read book is an excellent entry point for learning about the Darfur conflict. A nine-page Appendix called "A Darfur Primer" is, the author says, what any Darfurian in a bar would know about their own history. Hari's book contains the most complete version yet of Pulitzer-Prize winning Paul Salopek's 2006 harrowing kidnapping ordeal, taking up nearly the last third of the book; Salopek has not yet published an account, he was severely beaten and almost died (a fate nearly shared by Hari). Hari tells us about the unintended consequences of the Iraq War, saying "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." Finally, Hari is perhaps most remarkable for never loosing his humanity despite the horror around him, reminding the reader "loosing a baby is hard. It doesn't matter where in the world you live for that." This is a wonderful memoir, intelligent, thrilling, educational, recommend highly.