Former slave's memoir elicits horror, inspiration.
By Joanne Skerrett - Globe Staff
Francis Bok's "Escape From Slavery" is a touching, modern-day slave narrative that is more than just an account of his journey from childhood to manhood under the worst of circumstances. It is an inspirational story meant to heighten support for the antislavery movement of the 21st century, and it most likely will.
Bok describes being given strength and confidence by his father that he credits with keeping him alive through his experiences. Kidnaped at age 7, he endured 10 years of forced labor and abuse that included two failed escape attempts; subsequent imprisonment in Khartoum, Sudan (he was falsely accused of speaking against the government); and a long, red taped-filled wait before the entered the United States as a refugee. Throughout his ordeals Bok displays an earnestness and tenacity that keep him hopeful that his life will someday be normal. "Normal" begins with a brutal winter in Fargo, N.D., and includes a struggle to learn English and adjust to American culture and high profile work as an activist who speaks before students and Congress and meets with US presidents.
The source of Bok's strength and optimism is not just God, to whom he refers frequently. In the early pages, Bok recalls his father, a well-respected and affluent Dinka in the Aweil section of south Sudan, telling him: "You are like twelve men. I think you will be successful man. I think you will able to do something important when you grow up." The entire book hinges on this statement. The words not only inspire Bok throughout his ordeal, they encourage the reader to believe in him.
The raid in which Bok and several other children are stolen by Arab murahilin, or militiamen, is a heartbreaking, violent scene. Bok details the brutality and horror and tries to re-create the wonder and shock he felt then. He doesn't focus too much on his fear, as he believed, with a child's optimism, that his father would soon come to rescue him. The raid took place in 1986 and was one of the worst in the long-running civil war between Sudan's mostly Arab north and its Christian and animist south. International aid groups estimate that since 1972, the conflict in Africa's largest country has claimed 2 million lives and displaced 4 million south Sudanese.
Though Bok describes the raid with the guileless honesty of a child, the barbarity of it raises the question of why such tragedies are tolerated both by the Sudanese government and the rest of the world - a point that Bok raises often. As if to answer that question, the roots of the conflict between north and south Sudan are explained later in the book. Those several pages of historical details are eye-opening and provide a glimpse into what can happen when religion is the impetus in the governing of a nation. They also attest to the veracity of Bok's story and that of other former slaves whose accounts have been challenged.
Bok's captor, Giemma Abdullah, a devoutly religious man who regarded Bok as inferior to his cattle, is potrayed as more than just a one-dimensional, cruel slave owner. Bok does not express hatred for the man who mistreated and enslaved him for 10 years; instead he tries to understand why Abdullah valued him so much as a slave but not as a human being: "I am amazed at how much Giemma trusted me. He had no idea what was going on in my mind. I guess he did not think I had any mind at all. I had now spent half my life among Muslim people, and I understand that they thought they were better than the people of the south. We were not only abeed, black slaves, we were 'infidels,' inferior, who could not drink from a Muslim's cup or eat from his plate."
Bok offers more insights into the conflicts between the north and south and, at the urging of his mentors in the American Anti-Slavery Group, based in Boston, he bravely takes the Sudanese government and other world leaders to task for their indifference to his people's suffering. Although he at first was an unwilling ambassador, he became a leading voice for the antislavery movement in the United States.
Some of the lighter moments in Bok's story occur when he describes coming to this country. His adventure with a bicycles on the snowy streets of Fargo, distaste for American food, instantaneous affinity for hip-hop music and clothing, and first experience with bullies at night school remind us that despite his eventful life so far, this is still a young man trying to form his identity.
The book was written with Ed Tivnan of Time magazine. Bok, now 23, is still trying to gain command of the English language, but Tivnan does an excellent job of getting Bok's words to translate clearly into an informative and inspiring read.
Escape From Slavery: the True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity - and My Journey to Freedom in America. By Francis Bok with Edward Tivnan.
St. Martin's, 284 pp., illustrated, $24.95.
ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS ASK NICELY
A lot of us do not realize it doesn't much effort to be respectful and courtesy, especially when we need help from somebody. Be it a teller at the bank, a girl behind the counter at Dunkin Donut, a cashier at the supermarket, a man inside a token booth, a janitor, a waitserver, or whoever we become contact with. You argue and say:
"That's their jobs."
"They get paid to do it."
"Well, if they don't like to do it, go and get another job."
And the most popular snap,
"Go and get a job that doesn't deal with people."
I agree with you and all the above arguments are right.
But, yeah...there is but,
How many of us are fortunate enough end up doing what we love to do and get paid for it?
Besides volunteer jobs, how many of us are willing to spend 8 hours at work plus the one hour or more commuting and not getting paid for it?
How many jobs out there that don't require us to deal,
communicate and contact directly with people? Unless you work with animals.
Instead of I want this, I want that,
give me this, give me that
why not adding pelase and end with thank you.
Look at the person you're talking to would a lot nicer instead of talking on your cell phone while you're asking or ordering something from that person.
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