Slavery in Sudan

[Mushroommarioman]

Finally free

By Jodie Briggs

Former slave Francis Bok discusses modern-day servitude

"Why do you call me 'abeed' and make me sleep among animals?" asked
the young boy.

Without a word, the master grabbed his stick and began beating his
slave. Two days later, the master finally responded: "The reason you
sleep with animals is that you are an animal."

For 10 years, Francis Bok was enslaved in his native Sudan. After he
escaped at age 17, Bok immigrated to the United States. Now 25, Bok
works with the Boston-based American Anti-Slavery Group to tell his
story of servitude and raise awareness of modern slavery. According
to the AASG and other human-rights organizations, 27 million people
are enslaved throughout the world.

One day in 1986, 7-year-old Bok followed his mother's instructions to
go to the market in their South Sudanese village to sell eggs and
beans. While Bok was in the market, militiamen from north Sudan
swarmed the area, shooting men and kidnapping children. He never saw
his family again.


Tied to a donkey, Bok endured a lengthy trip before his kidnappers
delivered him to Giema Abdullah, in Northern Sudan. Rarely fed and
beaten regularly, Bok was forced to sleep among the cattle that he
tended by day. Although his master had three children near Bok's age,
the child slave was only a source of amusement to them. "Kids were
told not to be friends with me," Bok said. The children taunted and
struck Bok, calling him "abeed," Arabic for "black slave." Their
mother, the lone adult female in young Bok's life, regularly
warned: "If my husband would allow it, I would shoot you."

At age 14, Bok tried to escape, but failed. Although he was beaten
for fleeing, he soon tried again. After the second attempt, Bok's
master reacted more violently. "He threatened me with a gun and told
me, 'This is going to be the last day you're alive.'"

Bok concluded that death would be preferable to a life of slavery,
and escaped again at age 17. This time, he made it far enough to meet
a truck driver. "Please help me," Bok cried to the driver. With his
help, Bok left the town and family that had held him captive for a
decade.

Bok traveled to the Sudan capital of Khartoum. When police discovered
Bok, they immediately arrested and jailed him. "What was my crime?"
Bok asked during a September 2000 testimony before the U.S.
Senate. "I was an escaped slave and the government of Sudan did not
want me to tell my story."


After five months, he was released from jail. In 1998, after
traveling for a week to reach Cairo, Egypt, Bok told his story to
officials at the United Nations Refugee Office. In 1999, the UN
granted him a visa to the United States, and Bok moved to Fargo,
North Dakota. "I was lucky to be accepted by the UN. Many people hope
to get visas. I was very lucky," Bok said.


With the assistance of the Lutheran social services, Bok secured a
small apartment and began work that did not require him to speak
English. "I couldn't speak English when I first arrived," he
recalled. "I was very confused and frustrated." A year later he moved
to Iowa, where a small community of Sudanese lives. In Iowa, he
worked in a hotel and a meat-packing plant, and dreamed of starting
school.


While he was in Iowa, the American Anti-Slavery Group tracked down
Bok through the Egyptian consulate and encouraged him to come to
Boston to tell his story. Since Bok joined the AASG, he has testified
before Congress and met with President George W. Bush. In his
September 2000 testimony, Bok spoke for the voiceless in his country,
stating, "My people are being killed and my people are being made
slaves. Many, many boys and girls - the same as the boys and girls
here today - they are slaves. These children could not be here even
if you invited them."

"Senators, we have a big question," he added. "Why is President
Clinton silent about slavery in Sudan? And why is the world silent?
This is a country that freed its slaves. But my people are still
slaves. Will the United States come and free us?"


Bok continues to raise these questions as he travels around the
country, giving speeches to high schools and universities. Bok is
often approached by people who are surprised to learn that slavery
still exists. "If you think slavery ended in 1865, think again," Bok
said. "Slavery is still alive. Twenty-seven million slaves. Think
about it. That's more than the number of people living in Canada."


Although Bok plans to begin studies at Tufts University in the fall,
he will continue his work with AASG. "I can't forget my past," Bok
said. "When I think about my life during those 10 years, it makes me
cry."


Through the Sudanese community, Bok received word that his parents
and sister had been murdered. He also learned recently that his older
brother is alive in Sudan and spoke with him by phone. But Bok has
found a way to use his memories to help other slaves. "I realized
that I had to turn my experience into a positive thing," Bok
said. "When I was a child, I would lie awake at night wondering who
would free me. Now I think about all of the children and wonder who
will free them." •


By Jodie Briggs

[Sim Kid]

[Ditto]

People always act surprised at the brutality that exists outside our borders.

[Link47]

And what do you propose we do about it? Sanctions don't work, cause Sudan doesn't have an economy worth crushing, and if we invade people will call us warmongers.

Either way, it's still a horrible and sad thing.

[BEARD BURGER MASTER]

Originally posted by Ditto, Sadly, Not a Boss In SSB:M:
People always act surprised at the brutality that exists outside our borders.

Actually, there's brutality inside our borders as well.


Visit Chao Adventures in the Comix Thread! Go and read them, now!

[Ditto]

Said by a Wise Man

And what do you propose we do about it? Sanctions don't work, cause Sudan doesn't have an economy worth crushing, and if we invade people will call us warmongers.

Either way, it's still a horrible and sad thing.

Well, this is SUPPOSED to be the sort of thing the United Nations makes note of, passes a resolution against, and then commits a multi-national force to implement when it's ignored, but... apparently we live in a world where using controlled, civilized force to back up laws is too violent and monstrous to consider.

Actually, there's brutality inside our borders as well.

*facepalm*

[ June 22, 2004, 01:06 PM: Message edited by: Ditto, Sadly, Not a Boss In SSB:M ]

[Erdawn Il Deus]

We also live in a world where 'no profit' means 'no humanity'.

[Ditto]

We liberated Afghanistan and Iraq, didn't we? We're never going to see a dime from either of those endeavors, are we? Then again, we liberated Germany and Japan and they never really paid us back, either.

Except maybe by joining the world as economic democracies and manufacturers of good products (until their economies fell apart, but their conservative parties are making a comeback so I'm not worried).

Oh, and not trying to kill us, as well, since the inevitable result of oppression and brutality is the creation of murderers.