Like the title says, this book is based on the true story of Henry.  Beginning when he’s just a boy, Henry doesn’t know how old he is.  Slaves aren’t supposed to have birthdays.  When his master falls ill he hopes that he will be set free, like some other slaves.  But he’s instead given to the master’s son and torn from his family.  Henry grows older, meets Nancy, and they marry and have three beautiful children.  While Henry is working at the factory, a friend comes to tell him that his wife and children were just sold at the slave market.  He arrives just in time to see them being carted away.

Knowing that he will never see his family again, he decides to take desperate measures to secure his freedom.  He literally nails himself into a crate and mails himself to Philadelphia.  For 27 hours, he is crammed into this little box as he is thrown around, put upside down, and travels more then 350 miles.  And amazingly, it worked!  As the author’s note states, “Henry ‘Box’ Brown became one of the most famous runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad – the man who mailed himself to freedom.”

Kadir Nelson’s illustrations are simply stunning.  What more is there to say than to know that you’ve got your hands on something special?  Henry’s Freedom Box is a 2008 Caldecott Honor Book.  Amazing story.  Amazing book.

Kadir Nelson’s website.

Henry’s Freedom Box:  A True Story from the Underground Railroad is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month.  Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans.  Also reviewed this month Moses:  When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russel Freedman, Letters from a Slave Girl, The Story of Harriet Jacobs by Mary E. Lyons, The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox,  Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grime, The Well by Mildred D. Taylor,  Freedom Walkers, The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman, Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges and  Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson.  Other reviews of interest:  A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman.

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

Harriet Tubman relied deeply upon her faith in God.  Her journey back and forth is very much a spiritual journey, as the voice of God guides her.  Told in a lyrical text that incorporates the voice of both Harriet and God, the story flows well.  I also loved the use of font.   Enhancing the reading experience is a comprehensive author’s note that details the life of Harriet Tubman as well as a forward putting the text into context.

The illustrations by Kadir Nelson are dynamic, beautiful, and striking.  Well deserved of the Caldecott.  A picture book that should be read to all especially to introduce the story of one of the Underground Railroad’s most inspiring figures.

Visit Carole Boston Weatherford website and Kadir Nelson’s website.

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month.  Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans.  Also reviewed this month: Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russel Freedman, Letters from a Slave Girl, The Story of Harriet Jacobs by Mary E. Lyons, The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox,  Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grime, The Well by Mildred D. Taylor,  Freedom Walkers, The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman, Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges and  Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson.  Other reviews of interest:  A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman.

It isn’t long before Dr. Norcom begins making sexual advances on Harriet, even to the point of building Harriet her own cottage to be out of the house from his wife.  Harriet begs to be married to a free black man, but Dr. Norcom becomes enraged.  Thinking that if she becomes pregnant with a white man’s baby, Dr. Norcom will sell her, she does just that not once but twice.  But to no avail.  When she realizes that he plans to sell her two children to a plantation owner, she knows that she must take matters into her own hands.

She does manage to trick Dr. Norcom to selling the children who are then purchased by their white father, who athough is a kind man, doesn’t set them free.  Harriet then sets her eyes on her own escape to freedom.  Harriet runs away and leads Dr. Norcom to believe that she has fled North, but in all actuality she is hiding in a crawlspace at her grandmothers house.  She lives in this tiny crawlspace for SEVEN years watching her children, unbeknown to them, through a peep hole in the wood.  She eventually does escape to the north and is able to be reunited with her children and become a force in the abolition movement and writing her autobiography.

The notice put out by her master, when she escaped:

Letters from a Slave Girl is written in a journal format, as letters that Harriet writes knowing full well that they’ll never be sent (she writes to some who have already passed on).  I particularly enjoyed this format of storytelling.

Mary E. Lyons, the author, states in the author’s note:

Harriet Ann Jacobs did not actually write Letters from a Slave Girl.  But a biographer is also a storyteller, and after reading Harriet’s correspondence, a letter format seemed the natural way to tell her story.

Letters also suit Harriet’s biography because learning to read and write was a rare accomplishment for an enslaved child.  Many slaveholders were fearful that literate slaves would be more difficult to control.

. . .  To retell portions of Harriet’s story, particularly her childhood years, I reconstructed details thout would bring her to life: social occasions, meals eaten, words spoken.  (Even Harriet, when recalling events from years long past, had to make up dialogue for her autobiography.)  But the major events in Letters from a Slave Girl are true.  Every person and place mentioned in the letters really existed.  Even the weather conditions are accurate.

Letters from a Slave Girl is a great book to introduce younger readers to Harriet Jacobs and her amazing story.  You can learn more about Harriet Jacobs at PBS, or of course, read Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. I think Mary E. Lyons did an excellent job conveying Harriet’s voice and story.

Letters from a Slave Girl is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month.  Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans.  Also reviewed this month: The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox,  Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grime, The Well by Mildred D. Taylor,  Freedom Walkers, The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman, Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges and  Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson.  Other reviews of interest:  A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.

The Slave Dancer is not an easy read.  It’s very slow to start and I admit that I would often set the book down because it really dragged.  The story certainly picked up after arriving in Africa and acquiring its cargo.  By cargo, I mean men, women and children taken from their homeland and forced into conditions that no human should ever have to experience.  There are some difficult scenes to read about.  I heard somebody describe it as a “casual cruelty.”   That’s exactly what makes this book such an emotional read.  There is a scene where they just start throwing people overboard.  It’s just awful.

Jessie has a lot of guilt about the role that he plays in the slave trade.  He learns about prejudice, racism, trust, and eventually friendship.  The Slave Dancer is well worth reading and an excellent insight into the slave industry.

The Slave Dancer is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month.  Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans.  Also reviewed this month:  Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grime, The Well by Mildred D. Taylor,  Freedom Walkers, The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman, Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges and  Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson.  Other reviews of interest:  A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.

Based on Barack Obama’s memoir Dreams From My Father, Nikki Grimes has created a simple biography for young readers.  A mother sits with her young son as he asks her who is that man on TV.  She tells him Obama’s story from his beginnings in Hawaii to his arrival in Washington D.C. I think that this is a great introduction to learn the basic background of Obama.  It is not in any way unbiased though.  Barack Obama is portrayed in only the most positive light.  Fans of Barack Obama will enjoy this book, those who are not probably won’t.

As far as the illustrations by Bryan Collier they are very artistic. But personally, it’s not a style that I liked.  Collier says “Each page is created in watercolor and collage, which acts as a metaphor for piecing different parts or issues together to make something new, whole, or complete.”   So I understand it, I can appreciate it, but in this case I didn’t care for it at all.

Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope isn’t for everyone.  I think either you’ll like it or you won’t.  I think I would have enjoyed it a bit more with a slightly different execution.

Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month.  Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans.  Also reviewed this month:  The Well by Mildred D. Taylor,  Freedom Walkers, The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman, Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges and  Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson.  Other reviews of interest:  A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.

David, age ten, and his brother Hammer, age 13, don’t like it that they have to share their water.  Hammer’s pride and temper finally gets the best of him when he gets in a fight with Charlie Simms.  At a time when just looking the wrong way at a white man can a black man hung from a tree, the tension is tight.  The families conflict finally comes to an end that affects the entire community and shames one family entirely.

I was on the edge of my seat while reading The Well and I was angry.  I was angry at the injustice of it all, the humiliation of this family, and the inability for them to have control over their own lives.  I was angry at their submission and I was angry for the fear that was brought into their lives.  An excellent and emotional novel that shares a powerful message about racism and character.

The Well is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month.  Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans.  Also reviewed this month: Freedom Walkers, The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman, Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen, Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges, Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson.  Other reviews of interest:  A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.

To say that life is difficult for the slaves is a most horrific understatement.  They are treated as property in the truest sense.  You would think that you would take care of your property.  Right?  Not Master Waller.  He’s brutal – a whipping, kicking, beating, spitting kind of man who thinks the only way slaves can be motivated is through fear and intimidation.

I’d like to have somebody show me a meaner antagonist than Master Waller.  He is the worse that I have ever read about.  He is pure evil and if there is a hell for fictional characters I’m sure he’s there.  But what makes this story all the more horrifying is the imprint before the book “Except for variations in time and character identification and placement, the events written in this story are true and actually happened.”

John, known as Nightjohn, arrives at the plantation in shackles, a rope around his neck and stark naked.  From the scars on his back everybody knows that he’s a runner and a difficult one.  Sarny discovers that John knows his letters and numbers and that he’s willing to teach her.  He had once escaped to the North but came back to secretly teach slaves how to read.  To both teach and learn reading is a huge risk and those who are caught risk dismemberment of their toes, feet, fingers or hands.

Mammy talking to John:

“Why does it matter? Mammy leaned against the wall.  She had one hand on the logs, one on her cheek.  Tired.  “Why do that to these young ones?  To Sarny here.  If they learn to read -”

“And write.”

“And write, it’s just grief for them.  Longtime grief.  They find what they don’t have, can’t have.  It aint good to know that.  It eats at you then – to know it and not have it.”

“They have to be able to write,” John said.  Voice pushing.  He stood and reached out one hand with long fingers and touched mammy on the forehead.  It was almost like he be kissing her with his fingers.  Soft.  Touch like black cotton in the dark. “They have to read and write.  We all have to read and write so we can write about this – what they doing to us.  It has to be written.”

Mammy she turned and went back to her mat on the floor.  Moving quiet, not looking back.  She settled next to the young ones and John he turned to me and he say:

“Next is C.”

A very powerful book, gut-wrenching at times.  An awesome testament to the importance of literacy and the great lengths and dangers that many went through to obtain it.  One that I will not soon forget.  Highly recommended.

Nightjohn is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month.  Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans.  Also reviewed this month: Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges and  Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson.  Other reviews of interest:  A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.

Links of interest:  An excellent teacher’s guide on using Nightjohn in the classroom and Gary Paulsen’s website.  My friend Cari and her sister Holly also have a great discussion about Nightjohn over at Book Scoops.  More book blogger reviews.
Genre:  Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Publisher:  Delecorte Books for Young Readers.  January 1, 1993.
Hardcover, 96 pages.  ISBN:  0385308388
Nightjohn is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Somaly Mam, born in a small village in Cambodia, is orphaned at a young age.  She doesn’t even know her real name or her birthday and most of her memories consist of scavenging for her food and finding a place to sleep at night.  No one really takes her in.  Somaly’s childhood coincides with the Khmer Rouge regime but her village was so remote that she has no recollection of soldiers, but later learns that many of her troubles in the future can be blamed on the political upheaval of Cambodia.

At the age of nine or ten, Taman, one of the men in the village sold Somaly to  her “grandfather” as an indentured servant.  For the next few years, Somaly is abused, beaten, starved, and let’s not forget to mention the back breaking work that she must do.  To pay off a debt, her grandfather sends her to another man who has paid for her virginity.  This agonizing rape at such a young age is her first encounter with what will become almost a lifetime of heartbreak, as soon afterward her grandfather sells her into sexual slavery at the age of twelve.

Somaly goes from brothel to brothel in an unending cycle of abuse and rape.  As if the the forced prostitution isn’t hard enough, she’s abused with unthinkable methods including snakes and maggots being poured all over her body.

With this physical devastation, naturally, an emotional devastation comes as well.  Somaly literally feels like garbage, always dirty, ugly, and unworthy.  But of all of this Somaly says,

This was ordinary prostitution.  Stinking mouths and bodies, dirty rooms, violence.  The blows hurt, but the act itself was much worse.  Sometimes there would be only two or three men a day, sometimes many more.  If there weren’t enough, Li would tell Aunty Peuve not to feed us, so we’d try harder.  If there were too many, you hurt inside and out, until you managed to shut all feeling off.

It’s still happening, today, tonight.  Imagine how many girls have been raped and hit since you started to read this book.  My story doesn’t matter, except that it stands for their story too, and their stories are why I don’t sleep at night.  They haunt me.

Ordinary prostitution?  How sad that there is even such a thing!  The effects are longlasting, as Somaly recounts:

The memories that torment me most are those of rape and the stink of sperm.  In brothels, they don’t bother changing sheets much.  The smell of sperm is everywhere.  It’s unsufferable.  Even today, I often have the sense that I’m breathing in the smell of whorehouses.  The custoemrs were dirty.  They never showered . . .

I lived amid this stench for so long, that I can’t bear it now.  Even fifteen years later, I feel dirtied by it.  So I was myself like a madwoman, put cream on and cover myself in eau de toilette in order to mask the stench that persues me.  At home I have a cupboard full of perfume.  I spend money to blot out a smell that exists only in my imagination.  I try to chase it away with the contents of my bottles.

As Somaly enters her late teens/early twenties she manages to escape the brothels with the help of a French aid worker (it’s not as angelic as you think, he does start off as a customer).  She begins to attend some classes and even lives in France for almost two years.  When she returns to Cambodia, she is no longer the same woman.  She’s mad as hell, she’s bold, and she’s not going to let what happened to her happen to other young girls.

Somaly becomes the angel that she herself could have used when she was younger.  She founds an organization to rescue girls, builds shelters, raids brothels, takes down judges in court, and rescues thousands of women and children in not only Cambodia, but also Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos.  It’s difficult work.  Now with two children of her own, their lives were continually threatened and she almost lost her own daughter to sexual prostitution when she was kidnapped.  She witnesses children as young as six being sold for their virginity, being sewn up, and then sold over again.  Many at the hands of their own parents, who don’t view them as a child, but rather as a means to their paycheck.  The abuse is getting worse and the girls are becoming younger.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper reports from Cambodia:

Sex trafficking is a industry that brings in $9.5 billion a year.  Sounds daunting to take on doesn’t it?  Why does she keep persevering?

For the moment, our opponents are winning the war, but we’ve won one battle at least.  They’ve lost face and respect.  We’ve investigated this traffic, exposed it for what it is, and made it shameful.  We’ve shown that these people aren’t invincible, and I’m glad we’ve managed that.  People ask me how I can bear to keep doing what I do.  I’ll tell you.  The evil that’s been done to me is what propels me on.  Is there any way to exorcise it?

A portion of the proceeds from The Road to Lost Innocence is donated to the Somaly Mam Foundation.  I highly encourage visiting the website, for being such a ugly topic, it’s a beautiful site.  This video gives great insight into the work that Somaly Mam is doing:

A interview with Somaly Mam about The Road to Lost Innocence:

This memoir is a testament to the power of an individual to bring about change in the lives of thousands of girls who have nowhere to turn.  Somaly Mam shows them the beginning of a flicker of hope, the realization that they can get out, and that there is somebody who loves them.  One person can make a difference in this world of unthinkable horror and evil.  I give The Road of Lost Innocence, The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine by Somaly Mam my highest recommendation.

First off, let me give you some background information about The Sudan Project and how this book came into existence. After realizing that they needed and could make a difference in Sudan, the people of the Ginghamsburg Church in Dayton, Ohio banded together and created The Sudan Project, a relief organization dedicated to serving their local brothers and sisters in Sudan. Since 2004 they have worked with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and created a five year plan to help sustain local farmers with seed and tools, create a children’s protective services program, teacher training, and provide safe sanitary water supplies. Each year $1,000,000 arrives at the church from all over the country to sustain it’s ongoing efforts.

A portion of the proceeds from The Sudan Project: Rebuilding With the People of Darfur, A Young Person’s Guide goes to The Sudan Project. The Sudan Project is a visual ABC book for children approximately ages 9-12. Each letter of the alphabet highlights a fact about Sudan. Words that children may not understand are highlighted and featured in a glossary in the back of the book.

The Sudan Project is a great resource to use in the home with included study unit plans and activities, as well as questions for further discussion, fund raising ideas, and even a Sudanese recipe. The Sudan Project is funded by the Ginghamsburg Church and the UMCOR, so naturally the book is very Christian based but it’s focus is not on them but rather the displaced people of Darfur. Just as it should be.

The photos are large, bright and informative. The only drawback that I could even say about this wonderful little book is that some of the photos were pixilized (about 3-4 out of 26), the photographer in me was slightly bothered by this. But no matter. The subject matter of this book is what is the most important! If there is just one child or even just one adult who learns about Darfur, Sudan and feels a call to action then, in my opinion, it’s well worth the time invested to write it.

Melissa Leembruggen was gracious enough to sit down and discuss The Sudan Project and how we can help.

NM: How did you become involved with the Ginghamsburg church, UMCOR and The Sudan Project? And why did you feel a need to personally become an advocate?

ML: When we found out we were moving to Dayton we started to look at churches online and watch their services, we felt drawn to the work going on at Ginghamsburg. After finally moving 10 months later, we started attending the services and began hearing in-depth stories about The Sudan Project and the partnership with UMCOR. It was heading into the second year of the program, so there had already been a harvest in Darfur and the child protective services programs were beginning. When I enter a new church, I’ve learned to pray about the work God is doing there and then to pray about how I can be involved in it. I don’t like to assume that I can come into a church and start with my agenda.

During that time of transition and prayer, my heart was softened toward the people of Darfur. I had always felt in the past that things happening in other parts of the world were too far removed and out of my purview of influence. But as I listened to reports, I began thinking about the moms just like me, with kids just like mine, trying to feed them and keep them out of harms way. I thought of their husbands being killed or recruited and realized that if it were my family, I would not sit by and just hope and pray things would improve. I would do something. So, at that point I felt I had to do something for them, in case they couldn’t. And do something that would have a lasting impact so that in the future these kinds of atrocities will be a thing of the past.

NM: Wow. Being a mother myself, I know how that feels, I’ve found my heart really has been softened towards small and helpless children. I really liked how The Sudan Project is aimed at a younger generation. Most adults haven’t even heard of Darfur, and worse yet, don’t even want to know. Why a book about Sudan for kids?

ML: Kids aren’t as tainted and de-sensitized to world tragedies like some adults are and they are the future leaders. I hope that the book will help children understand another culture and recognize that people are just people all over the world and we have commonalities just like we have differences. But I think the most important reason why I wrote the book, is because children hear and understand more than we give them credit for in our world. They hear news blurbs on the radio or see it on TV. But parents, and adults don’t always talk to their kids about the hard subjects in life like genocide and war. So I wanted to write an age-appropriate book that would just touch on the issues and would allow conversation and learning to flow from it naturally. Children are fascinated to find out how kids in other cultures live and to realize that their lives touch and connect through things like candy and soda or daily chores.

NM: I agree that we don’t give enough children credit for what they understand and what they are capable of doing with their knowledge. So what are some ways that children can become involved in humanitarian work, advocacy, or awareness in regards to the current genocide in Darfur?

ML: Children are also passionate and powerful. There are many children who have made a great impact on behalf of The Sudan Project both by helping educate others on the crisis and through raising financial resources to support the three main project areas: sustainable agriculture, child protective services, and clean water facilities. Schools have been holding rallies, educational programs, and fundraisers.

I’ve been asked by students, teachers, and parents to present programs to entire schools to help other students learn about the culture and crisis in Darfur. Children are doing swim-a-thons, run-a-thons, and all kinds of -thons. They are writing letters to political representatives on a local and national level. But one of the biggest activities that children are participating is the Birthday for Darfur. Children invite guests to bring donations for Darfur rather than presents for the birthday child. Last year alone the kids at Ginghamsburg raised over $20,000.

Here is a video of a swim–thon, Olivia Jones raising money for the Sudan Miracle Offering by asking people she knows to sponsor her as she attempts to swim 100 laps in one hour:

NM: I have to admit that that video made me cry. It’s a powerful thought that even one person using their God given talents can really can make a difference. What is the single, most memorable story that you encountered while researching this book? How has it touched you?

ML: The single most memorable story involving this book has to do with the picture on the Zz page. It is a picture of a celebration, but I wondered what they were celebrating. It turns out that the first harvest was exceptionally good. There was a 400% profit on the peanut crop. Because the project is designed for sustainable agriculture the first 5200 families were asked to give one bag of seed peanuts back to the organization to help other families get back to farming. When it was time to collect the seed bags, only some of the families were handing in their portion. The project workers weren’t sure why so they started asking around.

Then a delegation from Ginghamsburg, Ohio arrived to visit and encourage the local Darfurians and to show them that we were committed to long term change. When they arrived there was a huge celebration and time of thanksgiving. They were singing. “You have set our children free.” It turns out, that many of the families had sold there children into slavery to keep them alive and from starvation. With the bountiful peanut harvest, they bought over 500 children back out of slavery and brought them home. All because of some peanut seeds and tools paid for by ordinary people from a church in Ohio.

NM: You’re making me cry again. Wow, that is simply amazing. What are some of the current projects that Ginghamsburg Church is involved in and what can we do if we’d like to help?

ML: Ginghamsburg committed to a 5 year program to begin a sustainable agricultural program, child protective services (education, food, shelter), and clean water facilities. We have been told by the tribal leaders and vice-president of Sudan that clean water for all will equal peace. It is essential. We are in year 4 of the project and Ginghamsburg and our partners raised over $3 million dollars to fund these life-changing projects. We are
hopeful that other people from around the country and the world will continue to help us fund the projects.

People at Ginghamsburg have been giving up Christmas presents for 3 years (”Christmas is not your birthday” has been the theme) and making additional sacrifices, digging deep into our wallets to make a difference in Darfur. Maybe someone reading this will feel inspired to do the same. 40% of my profit from the book goes to The Sudan Project. 100% of donations to The Sudan Project goes to fund programs in Sudan. We do not keep any of it for overhead. For more information, project updates, and to donate visit www.thesudanproject.org.

NM: If you could share just one thought about Sudan with us, what would it be?

ML: Every person can make a difference. I only imagined that I would be able to reach 1000’s of people all over the world with the message of HOPE for Darfur, Sudan. But then I did it.

Thanks Melissa! and I urge each of you to learn more about Darfur and what you can do to help. The Sudan Project is an excellent resource to help you sit down with your children and discuss the ugly face of genocide.

Please visit www.thesudanproject.org and Melissa Leembruggen’s website to learn how you can donate or help the cause. Melissa has an early elementary aged fiction book called Benny the Baffled Behemoth, illustrated by award winning artist Trish McKinney coming out late fall 2008. A portion of the proceeds will go to help children in poverty.

I could not put this book down. Even though I already had ten other books due back from the library before this one, I made the mistake of reading the first sentence. And then the first paragraph. And then the first page. And then the first chapter. And then the kids got ignored. Dinner didn’t get made. The dishes didn’t get done. I stayed up way too late. And then I finished.  And then I sat back and thought with utter disbelief, “Wow. I had no idea! I have to tell people about this book!” Which made be so grateful that I have this blog so I can share this book with you.

Slave is the true story of Mende Nazer who grew up in a very remote village in the Nabu mountains of Sudan. When you think of tribal Africa, this is the type of village I’m talking about. The type where nobody wears clothes, where the girls are married at age 14 to men they were engaged to at birth, where the men have multiple wives and they are cut off from the outside world.

I was fascinated with Mende’s descriptions of her village, her family, her friends, her customs, her traditions, and even the more barbaric female circumcision. On a tangent, makes me so happy that I was born into a society that doesn’t do that, because I think I would have died from the sheer pain, both from the procedure itself and then after marriage. I’m getting chills just thinking about it again.  I think I had my hand over my mouth the entire time I read through that passage.  Aside from the circumcision, Mende’s life is one of family, love, laughter, and kindness. The perfect childhood. Mende describes her childhood so wonderfully that the rest of her story just shakes you to the core.

About the time Mende was twelve (the Nuba’s don’t keep records of birthdays) in 1993, Arab raiders attacked the small village, slitting throats, burning village huts, raping women and girls, and rounded up young children, including Mende. They were taken to a military camp and then to Sudan’s capital city, Khartoum. Mende has no idea what is going on and what kind of world she has just been thrust into A world with electricity, cars, tv’s, dishwashers, showers.  A world with cruelty, anger, and violence. A world that doesn’t care about one little girl.  One lost, little girl named Mende.

Mende is sold to a very wealthy Arab family as a slave. A slave in every sense of the word. She cleans the house from top to bottom every day, cooks, scrubs the dishs, washes the clothes, tends the children. She works for nothing, receives no wages, no time off. She sleeps in a locked shed outside, is only allowed to eat the leftovers from the family meal, and hasn’t left the house in years. She even calls her owners “master.” She suffers beatings, sexual advances, and the most horrific mental abuse. Not knowing whether her family is alive or dead, she gives up on her past life and has no hope for the future. Just a child when she became a slave she grew into womanhood as a slave. This is no life.

She truly believes that this is the way life is. That for some reason, somebody had decided that she was to be slave, and that was that. A passage that illustrates this really well is,

And I, for my part, began to forget my own family. I’m ashamed to say this now. But after I had been with Rahab four years or so, my memories just began to fade. Rahab had told me when I first arrived that I would stay with her for the rest of my life. I’d started to believe her. And if I did ever think about my wonderful, loving family, it just caused me grief and pain. For all I knew, they had all died in the raid. It was too horrible to think about. So I just blanked it out completely.

I had started to tell myself that my future, such as it was, now lay here, in Khartoum. I had a new family now, though I was their slave and they were my masters. There was no one that I could turn to, no one with whom I could talk about the past, no one with whom I could talk about the past, no one to help me remember the faces and the stories, the laughter and the love, to reaffirm my true identity. I had nothing tangible to remind me of my life as a Nuba, as not one single thing – not even my string of beads – had survived the raid. I had started to believe that these Arabs were all-powerful, that they had some God-given right to rule over us. I saw this evidence in my day-to-day life in Khartoum. I’d started to believe that this was how the world was: The Arabs enslaved the blacks. I had become convinced that they were invincible.

Nearing her twenties, Mende is sent to London to be a slave for her master’s sister. There she is treated the same. Locked in the house, she cooks, cleans and believes that there is no way to escape. But she begins to see a glimmer of hope as the family she “works” for slowly allows her more and more freedoms. Through sheer chance, having found out that her family is alive, Mende becomes desperate and is able to get into contact with another Sudanese man in London (she literally walked around until she found somebody she thought she could trust). On September 11, 2000 Mende finally finds freedom.

Once freed, she amazingly has a network of people to help her fight back, seek asylum, and write her memoir. Damien Lewis who helped her write her book says at the end, “What would you say to the people of the world about slavery in Sudan today?”

Mende’s message is:

I’d say that there is slavery going on, right now, today. I am an example and I am the living proof and it happened to me, personally. It happened to me in Sudan and then in London. And I know that there are lots of other people still enslaved in Sudan. I want people to realize this and that they need to do something to help stop it.

Sudan has denied that slavery exists in their country, although there is extensive evidence that it does. But the sad thing is that it’s not just in Sudan. Slavery still exists in many parts of the world, right under our noses. Even in London.  It’s still happening.  Just Google modern day slavery and slavery in Sudan and you’ll see what I mean.

Slave:  My True Story was powerful. Mende’s voice was so real. It was my privilege to read her story.  And I ask you now to read it as well.