The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur

"The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur" (Hardcover) by Daoud Hari is a must read for everyone who wants to know the heart and soul of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

I am posting the following editorial reviews and will post another analysis of the book by one of my editors next month.

Book Description
"I am the translator who has taken journalists into dangerous Darfur. It is my intention now to take you there in this book, if you have the courage to come with me."

The young life of Daoud Hari–his friends call him David–has been one of bravery and mesmerizing adventure. He is a living witness to the brutal genocide under way in Darfur.

"The Translator" is a suspenseful, harrowing, and deeply moving memoir of how one person has made a difference in the world–an on-the-ground account of one of the biggest stories of our time. Using his high school knowledge of languages as his weapon–while others around him were taking up arms–Daoud Hari has helped inform the world about Darfur.

Hari, a Zaghawa tribesman, grew up in a village in the Darfur region of Sudan. As a child he saw colorful weddings, raced his camels across the desert, and played games in the moonlight after his work was done. In 2003, this traditional life was shattered when helicopter gunships appeared over Darfur’s villages, followed by Sudanese-government-backed militia groups attacking on horseback, raping and murdering citizens and burning villages. Ancient hatreds and greed for natural resources had collided, and the conflagration spread.

Though Hari’s village was attacked and destroyedhis family decimated and dispersed, he himself escaped. Roaming the battlefield deserts on camels, he and a group of his friends helped survivors find food, water, and the way to safety. When international aid groups and reporters arrived, Hari offered his services as a translator and guide. In doing so, he risked his life again and again, for the government of Sudan had outlawed journalists in the region, and death was the punishment for those who aided the “foreign spies.” And then, inevitably, his luck ran out and he was captured. . . .

"The Translator" tells the remarkable story of a man who came face-to-face with genocide– time and again risking his own life to fight injustice and save his people.

About the Author
Daoud Hari was born in the Darfur region of Sudan. After escaping an attack on his village, he entered the refugee camps in Chad and began serving as a translator for major news organizations including The New York Times, NBC, and the BBC, as well as the United Nations and other aid groups. He now lives in the United States and was part of SaveDarfur.org's Voices from Darfur tour.

Dear Aisha, It started yesterday in Juba

Dear Aisha,
It started yesterday.
One of the most prophetic Sundays in Southern Sudan, but will the skies no longer be gloomy in Darfur?
I know that David must be happy for you.




The lanky Senator John Kerry and George “the debonair” Clooney were there. They flew all the way from America to witness the making of history. The week-long independence referendum to free your people of the south from the shackles Khartoum. They joined the crowds sweating in the heat of the Sunday sun. January 9, 2011, will be an unforgettable day in the history of southern Sudan.


Nobody seemed tired of standing in the long queues as they were waiting to cast their votes in the last leg of the long march to freedom.
The harrowing nightmares of the horrifying and terrifying years of the rampaging devils on horsebacks will no longer haunt your people?


Dr. Halima Bashir will no more drink from the pool of the tears of the desert and the sleepless nights of Daoud Hari The Translator of the years of the wrath of the Janjaweed of Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir will no longer linger?


For the vultures will no longer be overfed with the carcasses of your people littering the ravine of Jebel Marra, because their corpses will no longer be left unburied.


“This is the moment the people have been waiting for,” said Southern president Salva Kiir as he was rejoicing in Juba yesterday.


Omar Bashir is kicking and cursing, because he has lost the battle and his northern region will be dependent on the over 75% of oil in the south and hoping he will not siphon it as it passes the northern pipeline to the sea.


But will the referendum will bring succor to Darfur?
Not until the rest of the world can read the secret letters from Darfur.
The testimonies of the agonies of the bereaved ones who have been scarred for life from the Massaleet to the Zagawa communities in the land of the Fur


May the overflowing joys of the new dawn wash away the ashes of the sorrows of the past. For the people of Juba shall be redeemed like the children of Judah.

Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.

Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:

But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.

Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.

Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

~ Joel 2:18-27 (King James Version)